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Absolution vs Dispensation - What's the difference?

absolution | dispensation | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between absolution and dispensation

is that absolution is an absolving of sins from ecclesiastical penalties by an authority while dispensation is the act of dispensing or dealing out; distribution; often used of the distribution of good and evil by God to man, or more generically, of the acts and modes of his administration.

absolution

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (ecclesiastical) An absolving of sins from ecclesiastical penalties by an authority.
  • Forgiveness of sins, in a general sense.
  • The form of words by which a penitent is absolved.
  • (Shipley)
  • An absolving, or setting free from guilt, sin, or penalty; forgiveness of an offense.
  • Government ... granting absolution to the nation.
  • (obsolete) Delivery, in speech.
  • (Ben Jonson)

    Derived terms

    * Absolution day

    See also

    * indulgence

    References

    Anagrams

    * ----

    dispensation

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of dispensing or dealing out; distribution; often used of the distribution of good and evil by God to man, or more generically, of the acts and modes of his administration.
  • That which is dispensed, dealt out, or appointed; that which is enjoined or bestowed
  • A system of principles, promises, and rules ordained and administered; scheme; economy; as, the Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian dispensations.
  • The relaxation of a law in a particular case; permission to do something forbidden, or to omit doing something enjoined; specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, exemption from some ecclesiastical law or obligation to God which a man has incurred of his own free will (oaths, vows, etc.).