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What is a legalism?

What is a legalism? Here are some definitions.

Noun
  1. A philosophy of focusing on the text of written law to the exclusion of the intent of law, elevating strict adherence to law over justice, mercy, grace and common sense.
  2. (religion) A doctrine of salvation by strictly adhering to the requirements of divine law.
  3. A legal axiom, term or rule.
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Examples
On nonproliferation, India believes that the vacuous legalism of the current nonproliferation regime will lead the world nowhere.
The history of the Church, Coughlin notes, displays periods of both legalism and antinomianism.
They are brutal and remorseless killers, undeserving of the legalism of international conventions, the U.S. government argues.
Less often considered is whether this ascendant legalism is good or bad for global prosperity and stability.
And none of these ancient writers has seemed to me to lead to any sort of legalism.
As in many things, we must walk that line between legalism or pietism on the one hand and licentiousness on the other.

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