What is "orthopraxy"

Orthopraxy \Or"tho*prax`y\, n. [Gr. 'orqo`s straight + ? a doing.] (Med.) The treatment of deformities in the human body by mechanical appliances.

1840, from ortho- + Greek praxis "a doing, action, performance" (see praxis).\n\nErrata -- Page 263, line 9 from bottom, for 'orthodoxy' read orthopraxy. This is a new coin from the mint of Dr. [Andrew] Wylie [of Bloomington College, Indiana], at least I have not before noticed it. Its etymology places it in a just contrast with orthodoxy: for if that consecrated word indicates thinking right, orthopraxy will legitimately import doing right, and hence, as Mr. Wylie says, orthopraxy in the last dread day will pass the divine ordeal incomparably better than orthodoxy. O! that a zeal for orthopraxy would transcend the zeal for orthodoxy!

["The Millennial Harbinger," vol. IV, no. VIII, Bethany, Va., August 1840]

n. 1 Correct practice or action 2 Right belief combined with right practice, with the emphasis being on the latter, a term specially used in Latin American liberation theology, often in contrast with an orthodoxy seen as insufficiently interested in the practical and political content of faith.

In the study of religion, orthopraxy is correct conduct, both ethical and liturgical, as opposed to faith or grace etc. This contrasts with orthodoxy, which emphasizes correct belief, and ritualism, the use of rituals. The word is a neoclassical compound— (orthopraxia) meaning 'correct practice'.

While orthodoxies make use of codified beliefs, in the form of creeds, and ritualism more narrowly centers on the strict adherence to prescribed rites or rituals, orthopraxy is focused on issues of family, cultural integrity, the transmission of tradition, sacrificial offerings, concerns of purity, ethical systems, and the enforcement thereof. Typically, traditional or folk religions ( paganism, animism) are more concerned with orthopraxy than orthodoxy, and some argue that equating the term " faith" with " religion" presents a Christian- biased notion of what the primary characteristic of religion is. In the case of Hinduism orthopraxy and ritualism are mixed to the point that they become a single identity.