Heresy in Christianity denotes the formal denial or doubt of a coredoctrine of the Christian faith[1] as defined by one or more of theChristian churches.[2]
As the Christianity became stablished as a church, it defined orthodoxy and combated deviation from it by developing ecclesiastical, universal, and ecumenical councils.Excommunication,inquisition and execution (by civil authorities) were used against heretics who refused to recant,[3] and major heresies were sometimes dealt with bymilitary crusades. With the growth of toleration andecumenicalism, inquisitions have been abandoned.
The wordheresy comes fromhaeresis, a Latin transliteration of the Greek word αἵρεσις originally meaning choosing, choice, course of action, or in an extended sense a sect or school of thought,[7][8] which by the first century came to denote warring factions and the party spirit. The word appears in theNew Testament, usually translated assect,[9] and was appropriated by the Church to mean a sect or division that threatened the unity of Christians. Heresy eventually became regarded as a departure fromorthodoxy, a sense in whichheterodoxy was already in Christian use soon after the year 100.[10]
Heresy (in Christianity) is used today to denote the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Christian faith[1] as defined by one or more of theChristian churches.[2] It is distinguished from bothapostasy andschism,[2] apostasy being nearly always total abandonment of the Christian faith after it has been freely accepted,[11] and schism being a formal and deliberate breach of Christian unity and an offense against charity without being based essentially on doctrine.[12]
The development of doctrine, the position oforthodoxy, and the relationship between the early Church and early heretical groups is a matter of academic debate.Walter Bauer, in hisOrthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (1934/1971),[note 1] proposed that in earliest Christianity, orthodoxy and heresy did not stand in relation to one another as primary to secondary, but in many regions heresy was the original manifestation of Christianity.[13][14] Bauer reassessed as a historian the overwhelmingly dominant view[note 2] that for the period of Christian origins, ecclesiastical doctrine already represented what is primary, while heresies, on the other hand somehow are a deviation from the genuine (Bauer, "Introduction").[13]
Scholars such asPagels andEhrman have built on Bauer's original thesis. Drawing upon distinctions betweenJewish Christians, Gentile Christians, and other groups such as Gnostics andMarcionites, they argue that early Christianity was fragmented, and with contemporaneous competing orthodoxies.[15][16] Ehrman's view is that while the specifics of Bauer's demonstration were later rejected, his intuitions are broadly accepted by scholars and were confirmed beyond what Bauer might have guessed.[17]
According toH. E. W. Turner, responding to Bauer's thesis in 1954, "what became official orthodoxy was taught early on by the majority of church teachers, albeit not in fully developed form."[18] According toDarrell Bock, a Christian apologist,[19] Bauer's theory does not show an equality between the established church and outsiders includingSimon Magus.[20][note 3] According to Mitchell et al., each early Christian community was unique, but the tenets of the mainstream orcatholic Church ensured that each early Christian community did not remain isolated.[21]
Gnosticism (particularlyValentinianism) – reliance on revealed knowledge from an unknowable God, a distinct divinity from theDemiurge who created and oversees the material world.
Before AD 313 there was no true mechanism in place to resolve thevarious differences of beliefs within the early Christian Church. Heresy was to be approached by the leader of the church, according toEusebius, author of theChurch History.
Late Antiquity (313–476) and Early Middle Ages (476–799)
The earliest controversies in Late Antiquity were generallyChristological in nature, concerned with the interpretation of Jesus' (eternal) divinity and/or humanity. In the 4th century,Arius andArianism held that Jesus, while not primarily mortal, was not always divine and was, therefore, of lesser status thanGod the Father. Arianism was condemned at the Council of Nicea (325) but nevertheless was widely believed in the church of that century.Trinitarianism held thatGod the Father,God the Son, and theHoly Spirit were all strictly one being with threehypostases. TheEuchites, a 4th-centuryantinomian sect fromMesopotamia, held that the triune God transformed himself into a single hypostasis to unite with the souls of the perfect. Euchites wereanti-clerical and rejected baptism and the sacraments, believing that the passions could be overcome and perfection achieved through prayer.[22]
Many groups helddualistic beliefs, maintaining that reality was composed of two radically opposing parts: matter, usually seen as evil, and spirit, seen as good.Docetism held that Jesus's humanity was merely an illusion, thus denying the incarnation. Others held that both the material and spiritual worlds were created by God, and therefore both were good, and that these two realms were represented in the unified divine and human natures of Jesus.[23]
The legalisation of Christianity underConstantine I in AD 313 led to the uniformity of proto-orthodox beliefs and the formulation of dogma through canons from theecumenical councils. The first known usage of the term 'heresy' in a civil legal context was in 380 by the "Edict of Thessalonica" ofTheodosius I. Before the issuance of this edict, the Church lacked state-sponsored support for any specific legal mechanism to address what it identified as 'heresy.' With this edict, the distinction between theChurch and the Roman government became less clear. One of the outcomes of this blurring of Church and State was a sharing of State powers of legal enforcement between Church and State authorities, with the state enforcing what it determined to be orthodox teaching.Within five years of the official criminalization of heresy by the emperor, the first Christian heretic,Priscillian, was executed in 385 by Roman officials.[4]
A few decades later, the edict ofTheodosius II (435) provided severe punishments for those who had or spread writings ofNestorius.[24] Those who possessed writings of Arius were sentenced to death.[25]
TheSecond Ecumenical Council - held at Constantinople in 381, with the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch presiding over 150 bishops. It decided and declared that the Holy Spirit is as divine as the God the Father and Jesus the Christ, forming a co-equal Holy Trinity. This council also condemned Arianism.
TheThird Ecumenical Council - held in Ephesus, in 431 with the Patriarch of Alexandria presiding over with 250 bishops. It was mired in controversy because of the absence of the patriarchs of Constantinople and Antioch, the absence of the Syrian clergy, and violence directed against the archbishop of Constantinople,Nestorius, and his supporters. It affirmed thatMary is the "Bearer of God" (Theotokos), contrary to the teachings of Nestorius, whom it anathematized. A mirror Council held by Nestorius, the Patriarch of Antioch, and the Syrian clergy affirmed Mary asChristokos, "Bearer of Christ", and anathematizedCyril of Alexandria.
TheFourth Ecumenical Council - held in Chalcedon in 451, with the Patriarch of Constantinople presiding over 500 bishops. This council affirmed that Jesus has two natures: God and man, distinct yet always in perfect union. It was based largely onPope Leo I'sTome. It condemnedmonophysitism and would be influential in refutingmonothelitism.
TheFifth Ecumenical Council - held in Constantinople in 553. It interpreted the decrees of Chalcedon and further explained the relationship between Jesus's two natures; it also condemned the teachings ofOrigen on thepre-existence of the soul.
TheSixth Ecumenical Council - held in Constantinople in 681, declaring that Jesus had two wills of his two natures, human and divine, contrary to the teachings of themonothelites.
Not all these Councils have been universally recognised asecumenical. In addition, theCatholic Church has convened numerous other councils that it deems have the same authority, making a total of twenty-one Ecumenical Councils recognised by the Catholic Church.
This 1711 illustration for theIndex Librorum Prohibitorum depicts the Holy Ghost supplying the book burning fire.
From the late 11th century onward, heresy once again came to be a concern for Catholic authorities, as reports became increasingly common. The reasons for this are still not fully understood, but the causes for this new period of heresy include popular response to the 11th-century clerical reform movement, greaterlay familiarity with theBible, exclusion of lay people fromsacramental activity, and more rigorous definition and supervision ofCatholic dogma. The question of how heresy should be suppressed was not resolved, and there was initially substantial clerical resistance to the use of physical force by secular authorities to correct spiritual deviance. As heresy was viewed with increasing concern by thepapacy, however, thesecular arm was used more frequently and freely during the 12th century and afterward.
There were many Christiansects,cults,movements and individuals throughout the Middle Ages whose teachings were deemed heretical by the established church, such as:
Tondrakians – anArmenian group (9th to 11th centuries) who advocated the abolition of theChurch along with all its traditional rites.
Bogomils – a group arising in the 11th century inBulgaria who sought a return to the spirituality of the early Christians and opposed established forms of government and church.
Gundolfo – an itinerant 11th century preacher nearLille,France, who taught thatsalvation was achieved through a virtuous life of abandoning the world, restraining the appetites of the flesh, earning food by the labor of hands, doing no injury to anyone, and extending charity to everyone of their own faith.
Cathars – a major Christian movement in theLanguedoc region of southernFrance from the 12th to 14th centuries. The Cathars believed that humansouls were the spirits ofangels trapped within the physical creation of an evil god. Through living a pure and sinless life, the soul could become perfect and free from the snare of matter.
Henricans were 12th century followers of Henry of Lausanne in France. They rejected thedoctrinal and disciplinary authority of thechurch, did not recognize any form ofworship orliturgy and denied thesacraments.
Humiliati – a 12th-century group from northern Italy who embraced poverty, charity andmortification. Initially approved by the church, they were suppressed for disobedience in 1571.
Apostolic Brethren (later known asDulcinians) – a 13th to 14th century sect from northern Italy founded byGerard Segarelli and continued byFra Dolcino ofNovara. The Apostolic Brethren rejected the worldliness of the church and sought a life of perfect sanctity, in complete poverty, with no fixed domicile, no care for the morrow, and no vows.
Fraticelli (or Spiritual Franciscans) –Franciscan through the 13th to 15th centuries who regarded the wealth of the Church as scandalous.
Nicholas of Basel – a 14th-centurySwiss leader who, after a spiritual experience, taught that he had the authority to useepiscopal andpriestly powers (even though he was not ordained), that submission to his direction was necessary for attaining spiritual perfection, and that his followers could notsin even though they committed crimes or disobeyed both theChurch andpope.
At the beginning of the 13th century, the Catholic Church instituted the papal or monasticInquisition which began as an extension and more rigorous enforcement of pre-existing episcopal powers (possessed, but little used, by bishops in the early Middle Ages) to inquire about and suppress heresy, but later became the domain of selectedDominicans andFranciscans[26] under the direct power of the Pope. The use of torture to extract confessions was authorized by Innocent IV in 1252.[26]
In the 16th century several preachers/scholars (Martin Luther,John Calvin, and others) attempted to reform the Catholic Church, disagreeing with church doctrine on thenature of salvation, thesale of indulgences, etc. This movement developed into theProtestantReformation and a majorschism in Christianity. Unlike many other heresies, Protestantism was not eliminated by the Catholic church and as of 2010 is estimated to comprise 37% of all Christians.[36]
At theCouncil of Trent (1545–1563) Catholic leaders declared all forms of Protestantismheretical.Some of the doctrines of Protestantism that the Catholic Church considers heretical are the belief that theBible is the only supremely authoritative source and rule of faith and practice in Christianity (sola scriptura), that only by faith alone can anyone ever accept the grace of salvation and not by following God's commandments (sola fide), and that Christian priesthood should be a universalpriesthood of all believers.[37]
Among the positions in violation of the views of the Catholic Church thatMartin Luther had taken when he was a Catholic priest were, "Haereticos comburi est contra voluntatem Spiritus" (It is contrary to the Spirit to burn heretics). This phrase was the name given to summarized version of his comments that were included inExsurge Domine, a 1520 papal bull[38][39] that listed his anti-heretic killing sympathies along with 40 other positions Luther had taken in his writings that were allegedly heretical, and which he was ordered to recant. When Luther failed to accept the bull and give a broad recantation of his writings, he was excommunicated in the subsequent 1521 papal bullDecet Romanum Pontificem.
InTestem benevolentiae nostrae, issued on 22 January 1899,Pope Leo XIII condemned as heresy,Americanism, "the rejection of external spiritual direction as no longer necessary, the extolling of natural over supernatural virtues, the preference of active over passive virtues, the rejection of religious vows as not compatible with Christian liberty, and the adoption of a new method of apologetics and approach to non-Catholics."[42]Cardinal James Gibbons responded to Pope Leo XIII that no educated Catholic Christian in the United States subscribed to these condemned doctrines.[42]
The last case of an execution by the inquisition was that of the schoolmasterCayetano Ripoll, accused ofdeism by the waningSpanish Inquisition and hanged on 26 July 1826 inValencia after a two-year trial.[5]
Protestant responses to heresy of other Protestants
Martin Luther andPhilip Melanchthon, who played an instrumental part in the formation of theLutheran Churches condemnedJohannes Agricola and his doctrine ofantinomianism—the belief that Christians were free from the moral law contained in theTen Commandments—as a heresy.[46] Traditional Lutheranism, espoused by Luther himself, teaches that after justification, "the Law of God continued to guide people in how they were to live before God".[46]
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist tradition, harshly criticized antinomianism,[48] considering it the "worst of all heresies".[49] He taught that Christian believers are bound to follow themoral law for theirsanctification.[48] Methodist Christians thus teach the necessity of following the moral law as contained in the Ten Commandments, citingJesus' teaching, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (cf. Saint John 14:15).[50] Luther advocated the death penalty for Anabaptists in 1530, 1531, and 1536.[51][52]
Protestant Christians did not have Ecumenical Councils, Inquisitions or some of the other institutions for establishing orthodoxy and preventing deviation from it, but were known to kill individuals for heresy and related matters during the Reformation and Counter reformation. As mentioned above Martin Luther opposed the burning of heretics.[39][38] However he did not oppose the execution of members of at least one radical protestant sect -- Anabaptist -- and advocated the death penalty for them in 1530, 1531, and 1536.[51][52] One of the results of theDiet of Speyer (1529) was an agreement between attending Catholics and Lutherans to kill Anabaptists.[53]
In Home Postils 1533, Luther explained the need for civil authorities to execute those who create "scandal" with "false doctrine".
The worldly authorities bear the sword with orders to prevent all scandal so that it may not enter and inflict harm. But the most dangerous and horrible scandal is where false doctrine and worship penetrates ... They (i.e. state officials) must resist it (i.e. scandal) stoutly, and realize that nothing else will avail save their use do the sword and of the full extent of their power in order to preserve the doctrine pure and the worship clean and undefiled.[54]
Protestant leaderJohn Calvin also advocated for the execution of UnitarianMichael Servetus, though he favored beheading rather than his burning. Servetus was killed in 1533.[55]
According to theUniversity of Notre Dame, approximately 300 Catholics were "killed for their faith" in Britain between 1534 and 1681 CE. (300 protestants were also killed from 1553-1558 under the Catholic reign of "Bloody Mary", Mary I.)[56]
Eastern Orthodox response to Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism
^Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum Tübingen 1934 (a second edition, edited by Georg Strecker, Tübingen 1964, was translated asOrthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity 1971).
^Bauer (1964:3f) instancedOrigen,Commentarius II in Cant., andSel. in Proverb. andTertullian,De praescript. haer. 36 as espousing the traditional theory of the relation of heresy.
^According to Gregory & Tuckett, Bock "is not an expert on the Christian Apocrypha, and his shortcomings are often apparent."[19]
^Prümmer, Dominic M.Handbook of Moral Theology Mercer Press 1963, sect. 201ff
^Cross & Livingstone (eds)Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1974 artsapostasy,schism
^abBauer, Walter (1971).Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity.ISBN0-8006-1363-5.
^Behr, John (2013).Irenaeus of Lyons: Identifying Christianity. OUP Oxford. pp. 5–6.ISBN978-0-19-166781-7.[Walter Bauer claimed] that Christianity was a diverse phenomenon from the beginning, that 'varieties of Christianity' arose around the Mediterranean, and that in some places what would later be called 'heretical' was initially normative [...] Although some of Bauer's reconstructions are inaccurate and have been dropped, the idea that Christianity was originally a diverse phenomenon has now been generally accepted.
^Bock, Darrell L. The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities /ISBN978-0-7852-1294-2
^Frances M. Young (2006),The Cambridge History of Christianity Volume 1: Origins to Constantine, Series: Cambridge History of ChristianityISBN978-0-521-81239-9.
^Gatti, Hilary (26 October 2012)."Why Giordano Bruno's "Tranquil Universal Philosophy" Finished in a Fire". In Lavery, Jonathan; Groarke, Louis; Sweet, William (eds.).Ideas under Fire: Historical Studies of Philosophy and Science in Adversity. Fairleigh Dickinson. pp. 116–118.ISBN978-1-61147-543-2.One of the first and most notable developments consisted in a growing awareness that earlier commentators had indeed been right to consider Bruno's trial as being closely linked to that of Galileo (...) Jean Seidengart underlined the particular emphasis to be found throughout the trial on Bruno's doctrine of a plurality of worlds." and "Bruno, however, by admitting so candidly his distance from the Catholic theology, was indirectly questioning such a system of law, which imposed on his conscience views different from his own. (...) he was doing it in the name of a principle of religious pluralism which derived directly from his cosmology.
^Koyré, Alexandre (1980).Estudios galileanos (in Spanish). México D.F.: Siglo XXI Editores. pp. 159–169.ISBN978-9682310355.
^Yates 1964, p. 450. sfn error: no target: CITEREFYates1964 (help)
^Michael J. Crowe,The Extraterrestrial Life Debate 1750–1900, Cambridge University Press, 1986, p. 10, "[Bruno's] sources... seem to have been more numerous than his followers, at least until the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century revival of interest in Bruno as a supposed 'martyr for science.' It is true that he was burned at the stake in Rome in 1600, but the church authorities guilty of this action were almost certainly more distressed at his denial of Christ's divinity and alleged diabolism than at his cosmological doctrines."
^Adam Frank (2009).The Constant Fire: Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate, University of California Press, p. 24, "Though Bruno may have been a brilliant thinker whose work stands as a bridge between ancient and modern thought, his persecution cannot be seen solely in light of the war betweenscience and religion."
^White 2002, p. 7 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWhite2002 (help): "This was perhaps the most dangerous notion of all... If other worlds existed with intelligent beings living there, did they too have their visitations? The idea was quite unthinkable."
^Shackelford, Joel (2009). "Myth 7 That Giordano Bruno was the first martyr of modern science". InNumbers, Ronald L. (ed.).Galileo goes to jail and other myths about science and religion. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 66. "Yet the fact remains that cosmological matters, notably the plurality of worlds, were an identifiable concern all along and appear in the summary document: Bruno was repeatedly questioned on these matters, and he apparently refused to recant them at the end.14 So, Bruno probably was burned alive for resolutely maintaining a series of heresies, among which his teaching of the plurality of worlds was prominent but by no means singular."
^Brown, Steart J.; Brown, Stewart J.; Brown, Stewart Jay; Tackett, Timothy; Bowie, K. Scott; Young, Frances Margaret; Mitchell, Margaret Mary; Casiday, Augustine; Norris, Frederick W.; Angold, Michael; Noble, Thomas F. X.; Baranowski, Roberta A.; Smith, Julia M. H.; Rubin, Miri; Hsia, R. Po-chia; Gilley, Sheridan; Simons, Walter; McLeod, Hugh; Stanley, Brian (2006).The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 7, Enlightenment, Reawakening and Revolution 1660–1815. Cambridge University Press. p. 307.ISBN978-0521816052.
^Brechka, Frank T. (2012).Gerard Van Swieten and His World 1700–1772. Springer Science & Business Media.ISBN978-9401032230.
^Hägglund, Bengt (2007).Teologins Historia [History of Theology] (in German). Translated by Gene J. Lund (Fourth Revised ed.). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
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