寂静主义是一种神秘的灵修神学，指信徒在灵修中，当单单享受与神交通的神秘经验，而这经验乃是神主动白白赐下的，并非来自个人修为。 十七世纪的法国，寂静主义者模利诺斯、盖恩夫人、主教非尼伦就是因为不同意人能够靠人为的努力来达到完美的境界，他们主张应该把自己交给上帝，通过祈祷人才会达到不会犯罪的境界，因为没有自己的意志，就算因诱惑而犯罪，那也不算为罪刑。（这是新教一般来说对寂静主义的认识） 他们的主张触怒了天主教，因为这主张有忽视圣事、脱离教会的倾向，1687年教宗伊诺森十一世予以谴责。

Quietism is the name given (especially in Roman Catholic Church theology) to a set of Christian beliefs that rose in popularity in through France, Italy, and Spain during the late 1670s and 1680s, were particularly associated with the writings of Miguel de Molinos (and subsequently François Malaval and Madame Guyon), and which were condemned as heresy by Pope Innocent XI in the papal bull Coelestis Pastor of 1687. The “Quietist” heresy was seen to consist of wrongly elevating ‘contemplation’ over ‘meditation’, intellectual stillness over vocal prayer, and interior passivity over pious action in an account of mystical prayer, spiritual growth and union with God (one in which, the accusation ran, there existed the possibility of achieving a sinless state and union with the Christian Godhead).