Christian Cyclopedia

(1) Term first used in good faith by mystical interpreters of Scripture to indicate that certain passages of Scripture conveyed higher thoughts than mere literal expressions exhibited. (2) Socinian writers used it to denote the equivocal character supposed to inhere in sacred writers. (3) More recently it was applied to OT quotations in the NT which seemed quoted out of context (e.g., Mt 2:15, 17–18; 3:3; 8:17; 13:35). (4) It also designates a rationalistic theory acc. to which Christ accommodated Himself to mental conditions and errors of the times. (5) In RCm the Accommodation Controversy raged in 17th and 18th c. because Jesuits* permitted converts in China and India to continue pagan practices, claiming these to be harmless accommodations. See also China, 6; Nobili, Robert(o) de; Popes, 24. (6) In evolutionary hypotheses it is applied to the adjustments that an organism is held to achieve or perfect in the lifetime of an individual.