Abjuring implies renouncing a faith or creed.
Abjure is a verb that refers to renouncing, revoking, annulling or reversing a thought, a creed or a faith that was previously defended or professed . The term comes from the Latin word abiurāre .
The subject who renounces or renounces his religion is classified as a renegade by the faithful of the belief he has abandoned. On the other hand, the followers of a religion call someone who has assumed its dogma a convert . In this way, the same individual can be, simultaneously, a renegade for one group and a convert for another.
Abjuring in the Middle Ages
The act of abjuring a religion was very common in the Middle Ages , when Muslims and Christians fought to try to impose their beliefs in different territories. Today, only a few minor groups attempt to force people to renounce their faith.
An example of abjuration was what Galileo Galilei did in 1633 , when the Catholic Church forced him to maintain that the planet Earth did not revolve around the sun, a fact that the Italian physicist, astronomer and mathematician maintained based on his studies.
It is important to highlight that the action of abjuring can go beyond religion. In 1581 , several provinces of the Netherlands signed an Act of Abjuration declaring that they would no longer obey King Philip II .
The Spanish Inquisition forced people to abjure.
The Spanish Inquisition
During the time of the Spanish Inquisition - an institution that the Catholic Monarchs founded in 1478 with the purpose of protecting the orthodoxy of Catholicism in the territories that were under their rule - the individuals accused in the trials had to recognize the acts of heresy that they had committed. committed and show adequate repentance for it, and this was called abjuration .
This act in which a person persecuted by the Inquisition renounced his beliefs was an essential step for the authorities to give him the opportunity to reconcile with the Catholic Church. In this context, the following three kinds of abjuration were recognized: de levi , de vehementi and en forma . Let's see below a brief explanation of each one:
- From levi : this was the class that included those individuals who had not committed acts considered very serious, such as bigamy, blasphemy and deception. In cases like these, the Church did not suspect a significant level of heresy .
- De vehementi : unlike the previous type of abjuration, this includes people who were very seriously suspected, or those who refused to offer a confession , even when there was clear evidence against them. On the other hand, the abjuration of vehementi was also adopted if the accused had only two witnesses for the prosecution , that is, two natural persons who testified against them.
- In form : this type of abjuration is not necessarily opposite to the previous ones, but complementary, since it was applied once the accused confessed, as was the case with the Judaizers (a term that includes those who practiced ceremonies and rites of Judaism despite being Christians, either publicly or privately, or those who appeared to belong to said religion due to their physical features, which is why they had to face many episodes of discrimination).
Other uses of the term abjure
A person, on the other hand, can renounce his nationality , his political ideas or his affiliation with any institution or group.
“After abjuring the terrorist group, the young man became an important collaborator of the local government”, “I am not going to abjure my ideology no matter how much they pressure me or threaten me”y “The leader, disappointed by the acts of corruption, could renounce his political party” son expresiones que muestran este uso.