An ancient religious belief that Jesus Christ only seemed to have a human body and did not truly become human.
From Greek 'dokesis' (appearance) plus the suffix '-ism' indicating a doctrine or belief system. This theological position emerged in the 1st-2nd centuries CE as an attempt to reconcile Greek philosophy with Christian belief.
Docetism actually reveals how hard early Christians found it to explain how a divine being could become fully human—it's basically the theological equivalent of 'something doesn't add up here!'
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