{
  "id": "dict_001502",
  "term": "dominion",
  "slug": "dominion",
  "letter": "D",
  "entry_type": "doctrine",
  "entry_family": "doctrine",
  "depth_profile": "deep",
  "short_definition": "Dominion refers to the rule or stewardship God gives, especially in creation and kingdom contexts.",
  "simple_one_line": "In Christian theology, dominion means the rule or stewardship God gives, especially in creation and kingdom contexts.",
  "tooltip_text": "Dominion denotes exercised rule, authority, or stewardship under God's greater lordship.",
  "aliases": [],
  "scripture_references": [],
  "original_language_terms": [],
  "related_entries": [],
  "see_also": [],
  "lede_intro": "Dominion is a doctrinal category that should be defined from the passages that establish it, located within the biblical storyline, and stated with clear theological limits.",
  "at_a_glance_definition": "Dominion refers to the rule or stewardship God gives, especially in creation and kingdom contexts. This doctrine should be read from the passages that establish it and kept distinct from nearby theological claims.",
  "at_a_glance_key_points": [
    "Dominion should be defined from the biblical texts that establish it rather than from slogan-level shorthand alone.",
    "It belongs within the larger witness of Scripture and the history of redemption, so related doctrines must be distinguished carefully.",
    "A sound account states what this doctrine affirms, what it does not require, and why it matters for the church's teaching, worship, and discipleship."
  ],
  "description_academic_short": "Dominion refers to the rule or stewardship God gives, especially in creation and kingdom contexts. As a doctrine, it should be stated from the passages that establish it and distinguished carefully from adjacent theological claims.",
  "description_academic_full": "Dominion refers to the rule or stewardship God gives, especially in creation and kingdom contexts. This doctrine should be defined from the passages that establish it, located within the larger storyline of Scripture, and stated with care in relation to nearby doctrines. Responsible use clarifies what the term affirms, what limits belong to it, and why it matters for the church's teaching, worship, and discipleship.",
  "background_biblical_context": "dominion belongs to Scripture's teaching on creation, providence, and the order of the world and should be read within that Creator-creature frame. Its background lies in God's creative act, his continuing rule over the world, and the ordered relation between Creator, creatures, and history, so the doctrine is framed by dependence, purpose, and providential government.",
  "background_historical_context": "Historically, discussion of dominion grew where exegesis of creation and providence met philosophical reflection on being, order, causation, and the dependence of creatures upon God. Patristic and medieval theology, followed by Reformation scholasticism and modern dogmatics, used the term to clarify how the world relates to divine agency without collapsing the integrity of created realities.",
  "background_jewish_ancient_context": "",
  "key_texts_primary": [
    "1 Cor. 8:6",
    "Col. 1:15-17",
    "Gen. 2:1-3",
    "Gen. 2:7",
    "Heb. 1:10-12"
  ],
  "key_texts_secondary": [
    "Ps. 95:4-6",
    "Rom. 8:19-22",
    "Ps. 104:1-30",
    "Job 38:4-7"
  ],
  "original_language_note": "",
  "theological_significance": "dominion matters because doctrinal precision in this area protects the church’s speech about God, the gospel, the church, or the last things and helps prevent distortions that spill into neighboring doctrines.",
  "philosophical_explanation": "At the philosophical level, Dominion tests whether theology can clarify conceptual structure without outrunning the biblical witness. The main issues are ontology, agency, language, and coherence: what the term names, how it relates to adjacent doctrines, and how far theological inference may go without outrunning the biblical witness. Used well, it offers disciplined clarification rather than a substitute for biblical argument.",
  "interpretive_cautions": "Do not define dominion by polemical shorthand, confessional overreach, or a single disputed proof text. Distinguish Creator and creature, primary and secondary causes, and revealed doctrine from philosophical extrapolation, especially where theological language outruns the explicit wording of the text. Define the doctrine carefully enough to preserve real theological boundaries, but do not promote one tradition's preferred ordering of implications into the measure of orthodoxy where the text leaves room for qualified disagreement.",
  "major_views_note": "Dominion is widely used to articulate creation and providence, but traditions differ over how strongly it should be defined philosophically and how it should be related to biblical language and created causality. The main points of disagreement concern how this doctrine should be articulated in relation to temporality, causation, dependence, and the Creator-creature distinction.",
  "doctrinal_boundaries": "Dominion should be defined by the scriptural burden it actually carries, not by a slogan, party marker, or imported philosophical abstraction. It must not be inflated beyond the texts that warrant it, but neither should it be thinned into a merely emotive or metaphorical label. The point is to let dominion guard a real doctrinal boundary while still leaving room for legitimate intramural distinctions in explanation and emphasis.",
  "practical_significance": "Practically, the truth confessed in dominion belongs in the pulpit, the classroom, the counseling room, and ordinary Christian life. It shapes stewardship, vocation, wonder, and patience by placing creaturely life under God's providential care rather than under chance or autonomous power. In practice, that forms gratitude, stewardship, and humility in a world that often treats created reality as self-originating.",
  "meta_description": "Dominion refers to the rule or stewardship God gives, especially in creation and kingdom contexts.",
  "public_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/dominion/",
  "json_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/data/dictionary/dominion.json",
  "final_disposition": "PUBLISH_CANONICAL"
}