Orthodoxy
Orthodoxy is adherence to a purported "correct" or otherwise mainstream- or classically accepted creed, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in antiquity, but different Churches accept different creeds and councils. Such differences of opinion have developed for numerous reasons, including language and cultural barriers. In the Christian world, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy are sometimes referred to simply as "the Orthodox" or "Orthodoxy".
In some English-speaking countries, Jews who adhere to all the contemporarily-applicable commandments legislated in the Written and Oral Torah are often called Orthodox Jews. As this can include many Jews that may not necessarily identify with the term "Orthodox", such as many Masorti Jews, Jewish communities that consider themselves Orthodox are normally united through a diverse, but shared Hashkafic origin from the period of 1818-1821.
Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as "Orthodox Islam".
Religions
Buddhism
The historical Buddha was known to denounce mere attachment to scriptures or dogmatic principles, as it was mentioned in the Kalama Sutta. Moreover, the Theravada school of Buddhism follows strict adherence to the Pāli Canon and the commentaries such as the Visuddhimagga. Hence, the Theravada school came to be considered the most orthodox of all Buddhist schools, as it is known to be highly conservative, especially within the discipline and practice of the Vinaya.Christianity
In classical Christian use, the term orthodox refers to the set of doctrines which were believed by the early Christians. A series of ecumenical councils were held over a period of several centuries to try to formalize these doctrines. The most significant of these early decisions was that between the homoousian doctrine of Athanasius and Eustathius and the heteroousian doctrine of Arius and Eusebius of Nicomedia. The homoousian doctrine, which defined Jesus as both God and man with the canons of the 431 Council of Ephesus, won out in the Church and was referred to as orthodoxy in most Christian contexts, since this was the viewpoint of previous Christian Church Fathers and was reaffirmed at these councils.Following the 1054 Great Schism, both the Western Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church continued to consider themselves uniquely orthodox and catholic. Augustine wrote in On True Religion: "Religion is to be sought…only among those who are called Catholic or orthodox Christians, that is, guardians of truth and followers of right." Over time, the Western Church gradually identified with the "Catholic" label, and people of Western Europe gradually associated the "Orthodox" label with the Eastern Church. This was in note of the fact that both Catholic and Orthodox were in use as ecclesiastical adjectives as early as the 2nd and 4th centuries, respectively.
Much earlier, the earliest Oriental Orthodox Churches and Chalcedonian Christianity separated into two after the Council of Chalcedon, because of several Christological differences. Since then, Oriental Orthodox Churches have maintained the orthodox designation as a symbol of their theological traditions.
Lutheran orthodoxy was an era in the history of Lutheranism, which began in 1580 with the publication of the Book of Concord and ended with the onset of the Age of Enlightenment. Lutheran orthodoxy was paralleled by similar eras in Calvinism and Tridentine Roman Catholicism after the Counter-Reformation. Lutheran scholasticism was a theological method that gradually developed during the era of Lutheran orthodoxy. Theologians used the neo-Aristotelian form of presentation, already popular in academia, in their writings and lectures. They defined the Lutheran faith and defended it against the polemics of opposing parties. Reformed orthodoxy or Calvinist orthodoxy was an era in the history of Calvinism spanning the 16th to 18th centuries. Calvinist orthodoxy was paralleled by similar eras in Lutheranism and Tridentine Roman Catholicism after the Counter-Reformation. Calvinist scholasticism, also known as Reformed scholasticism, was a theological method that gradually developed during the era of Calvinist Orthodoxy.
Hinduism
Orthodoxy does not exist in Hinduism, as the word Hindu itself collectively refers to the various beliefs of people who lived beyond the Sindhu river in India. It is a record of the accepted teachings of each of thousands of gurus, who others equate to prophets, and has no founder, no authority or command, but recommendations. The term most equivalent to orthodoxy at best has the meaning of "commonly accepted" traditions rather than the usual meaning of "conforming to a doctrine", for example, what people of middle eastern faiths attempt to equate as doctrine in Hindu philosophies is Sanatana Dharma, but which at best can be translated to mean "ageless traditions", hence denoting that they are accepted not through doctrine and force but through multi-generational tests of adoption and retention based on circumstantial attrition through millennia. Still, the concepts of āstika and nāstika of Indian philosophy are quite similar to orthodoxy and heterodoxy respectively, the ātiska being those who accept the epistemic authority of the Vedas.Islam
is sometimes referred to as "Orthodox Islam". Other scholars of Islam, such as John Burton, believe that there is no such thing as "Orthodox Islam".Judaism
is a form of Judaism that seeks to maintain the continuity of traditional Jewish belief and practice, rooted in the Tanakh and the Oral Torah, and interpreted through Jewish law as transmitted by rabbinic authority, while also shaped in practice by diverse minhagim. More specifically, the term "Orthodox" is used to describe those communities whose hashkafa are correlative—not necessarily identical or in agreement—yet originating from a 19th-century reaction to the challenges of modernity and secularization that arose during the Haskalah, the so-called Jewish Enlightenment. In essence, Orthodox Judaism developed as a reconciliatory reaction of the historically cobelligerent Hasidic Jewish community and non-Hasidic Misnagdim to the genesis of Reform Judaism precipitated by the Haskalah.Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as being literally revealed by God to Moses on the biblical Mount Sinai and faithfully transmitted without alteration ever since. The movement advocates a strict observance of halakha, which is to be interpreted only according to received methods due to its divine character. Orthodoxy considers "halakha" as eternal – unchanged, unchanging, and unchangable – being applied differently to changing circumstances but essentially static in its nature. This viewpoint differs even from the opinions of other Traditionalist Jewish approaches, whose adherents – to varying degrees – may disagree in the existence of a separation between halakha and how it is interpreted and practiced, and/or acknowledge that halakha has shifted in some way, such as between the Pre-Temple Era, First and Second Temple Era, and the Post-Temple Era.
Orthodox Judaism is not a centralized denomination. Relations between its different subgroups are sometimes strained, and at times in history openinly bellicose and violent amongst one another. Accordingly, the exact limits of Orthodoxy are subject to intense debate, and the labels used to describe groups that consider themselves to be Orthodox have and continue to shift. A major example is the development of Open Orthodoxy in response to Modern Orthodoxy's "sliding to the right" from the latter 20th-century and onwards, and the Orthodox Union's the latter's adoption of the term "Centrist Orthodoxy".
Very roughly, Orthodox Judaism can be divided between Haredi Judaism, which is more conservative and insular, and Modern Orthodox Judaism, which is relatively open to the outside world and tends to engage in political activism, especially concerning Israel advocacy. It is to such a degree that within Israel itself, Modern Orthodoxy is known as Religious Zionism, fusing religious practice with political philosophy. This is one of the factors which lead to Rabbi Avi Weiss' ignition of the Open Orthodoxy movement, which nominally seeks to preserve the critical ambivalence, and even opposition, of Diaspora Orthodoxy towards Zionism. Haredi Judaism is also composed of multiple independent streams, some of which may be Hasidic or Mitnadic Haredim and the Modern Orthodox are almost uniformly exclusionist, regarding their Orthodoxies as the only authentic form of Judaism and rejecting all non-Orthodox interpretations as illegitimate. This includes most non-Orthodox conversions, which has complicated Israel's Law of Return due to the political dominance of the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate over many parts of Israeli civics, such as marriage, and contentiously considering some non-Orthodox converts, and even some Orthodox conversions done outside of Israel as being not Jewish.
Others
is an orthodox secular philosophical belief based on the correct pursuit of pleasure and a natural rather than supernatural worldview. It has forty Principal Doctrines, and Vatican Saying 41 mentions ὀρθῆς φιλοσοφίας φωνὰς ἀφιέντας.Kemetic Orthodoxy is a denomination of Kemetism, a reform reconstruction of Egyptian polytheism for modern followers. It claims to derive a spiritual lineage from the Ancient Egyptian religion. There are organizations of Slavic Native Faith which characterize the religion as Orthodoxy and by other terms.
Non-religious contexts
Outside the context of religion, the term orthodoxy is often used to refer to any commonly held belief or set of beliefs in some field, in particular, when these tenets – possibly referred to as "dogmas" – are being challenged. In this sense, the term "orthodox" can have a mildly pejorative connotation. Among various "orthodoxies" in distinctive fields, the most commonly used terms include:- Political orthodoxy
- * Orthodox Marxism
- Social orthodoxy
- Economic orthodoxy
- Scientific orthodoxy
- Artistic orthodoxy
- Orthodox medicine