Thomas Erastus 1524-83, Swiss Protestant theologian. He opposed Calvinist doctrine and the punitive power of the church. The term Erastianism has come to represent approval of the dominance of civil authority in punitive matters and, by extension, complete dominance of state over church.

• Thomas Erastus 1524-83, Swiss Protestant theologian. He opposed Calvinist doctrine and the punitive power of the church. The term Erastianism has come to represent approval of the dominance of civil authority in punitive matters and, by extension, complete dominance of state over church.

• George Gillespie, a Presbyterian delegate to the Westminster Assembly, wrote Aaron’s Rod Blossoming to refute Erastianism, arguing that in OT Israel, the king did not assume the duties of the priests such as the authority to excommunicate (“cut off”) an “unclean” person from the temple ordinances.