discipleshipn.
/dᵻˈsʌɪplʃɪp/, U.S. /dəˈsaɪpəlˌʃɪp/ 1. A group or company of disciples or followers; esp. the disciples of Jesus during his lifetime.
ΚΠ
1549 H. Latimer 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie 6th Serm. sig. Yiii Christe..dyd it not onely to allure them to hys discipleshippe, but also for our commoditye.
1710 J. Norris Treat. Christian Prudence viii. 355 Wisdom..invites us to come into her Discipleship.
1915 J. Orr Internat. Standard Bible Encycl. I. 389/1 The rite seems also to have existed among the discipleship of Jesus before his death.
2003 T. P. Rausch Who is Jesus? iv. 75 It is clear from the New Testament that there were different ‘circles’ or groups within the discipleship.
2.
a. Christian Church. The state, condition, or position of being a disciple or professed and committed follower of Jesus Christ (cf. disciple n. 1a, disciple n. 1d); (now esp.) the habit or fact of devoting oneself to following the teachings and example of Christ.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > Christianity > person > [noun] > condition
ChristendomOE
Christianitya1400
Christiandom1549
discipleship1612
Christianimity1637
Christianness1645
1612 S. Hieron Life & Death Dorcas 4 Such as is a mans Disciple-ship, such is his Christianitie.
1624 A. Logie Cum Bono Deo xviii. 70 Who perhaps was first called to the Apostleship, though Andrew was called prior to the Discipleship.
1685 H. Killigrew Serm. xvi. 298 The Secret wherein their Strength lyes..is their Discipleship to Christ.
1734 J. Wesley Let. 10 Dec. (1931) I. 176 It is the badge of his discipleship..that, though a man may be despised without being saved, yet he cannot be saved without being despised.
1845 National Temperance Chron. Dec. 102 The use of wine as a beverage, is nowhere enjoined in the scripture, or made a test of discipleship.
1948 R. H. Fuller tr. D. Bonhoeffer Cost of Discipleship ii. 54 Discipleship can tolerate no conditions which might come between Jesus and our obedience to him.
1971 I. D. Illich Deschooling Society (1973) vi. 102 It does so at the cost of making personal discipleship almost vanish.
2005 Guardian (Nexis) 17 Mar. 7 Political involvement is an important part of Christian discipleship.
b. gen. The state, condition, or fact of being a pupil, follower, or adherent of any teacher, leader, doctrine, etc.; the position of a pupil, or follower. Cf. disciple n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > learning > learner > [noun] > disciple > condition of
disciplehoodeOE
discipleship1631
discipulate1809
1631 T. Powell Tom of All Trades 44 A Sea Captaine, is not a place for a young man to leape into instantly, and imediately out of a Ladies Vshership; a Great mans bed chamber, or a Littletons discipleship.
1817 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 167 His discipleship to Luther's doctrines.
1832 T. Carlyle in Fraser's Mag. 5 383 The old reverent feeling of Discipleship..had passed utterly away.
1889 A. C. Swinburne Study of Jonson 98 No Lydgate or Lytton was ever more obsequious in his discipleship.
1916 Amer. Mag. Art 7 220/1 Toward the close of the last century, a band of painters in Scotland manifested discipleship of the French Impressionists.
1941 PMLA 56 1257 An account of Byron's activities in the House of Lords, of his political discipleship to Lady Oxford, and of his relation to the reform movement.
2005 ELH 72 747 A series of tales of literary discipleship.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1549