Intheology or thehistory of religion,heresiology is the study ofheresy, andheresiographies are writings about the topic. Heresiographical works were common in bothmedieval Christianity andIslam.
Heresiology developed as a part of the emerging definition of Christian orthodoxy. Church scholars studied and documented the teachings of various Christian sects in order to clearly distinguish between those they accepted as orthodox and those they rejected as heretical.[1] Other Christian communions developed their own competing heresiological traditions as well.
Early Christian heresiologists included figures such asIrenaeus of Lyon,Hippolytus of Rome, andEpiphanius of Salamis, who wrote from a Christianapologetic perspective.[2]
InIslam, heresiology surveyed both the various Muslim sects, and also other religions such as Christianity and Judaism. Some, likeAbu Mansur al-Baghdadi andIbn Hazm wrote polemical works, arguing the falseness of sects and religions other than their own. Others, likeal-Shahrastani'sAl-Milal wa al-Nihal, took a more impartial approach closer to modernreligious studies works.[3]
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