docetism
The belief that Jesus was fully divine and only appeared or pretended to be human and to suffer.
countable, uncountable
His Passion and Resurrection in history were therefore not fleshly events, even if they seemed so; they were heavenly play-acting (the doctrine known as Docetism, from the Greek verb dokein, ‘to seem’).
Where it comes from
From Docetae + -ism, from Late Latin Docetae, from Koine Greek Δοκηταί (Dokētaí) coined 197–203 CE by Serapion of Antioch, from Ancient Greek δοκεῖν (dokeîn, “to seem, to appear”). Related to latter component of synecdoche.
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry docetism (CC BY-SA 4.0).