[f. as prec. + -ISM.] The principle of formulating a Confession of Faith; adherence to a formulated theological system.
1876. A. M. Fairbairn, Strauss, II., in Contemp. Rev., June, 132. Pietism in Würtemberg, Confessionalism in Prussia, were growing narrower.
1882–3. Schaff, Encycl. Relig. Knowl., I. 482. The age of scholastic and polemic confessionalism [from the middle of the 17th to the middle of the 18th century].
