A Brief History of Heresy

List of Illustrations viii

Preface x

1 The Importance of Being United 1

Forming Consensus 5

The Papacy 10

The Bible in the Hands of Heretics 13

Areas Where Disagreement May be Allowed 20

2 The Boundaries of Orthodoxy: Faith 23

The Apostles’ Creed 24

The Nicene Creed 29

Catechesis 34

Misdirected Worship and Taking the Name of God in Vain 38

Does the Faith ‘Develop’ Through History? 41

The Content of the Creeds and the Question of Orthodoxy 45

3 The Boundaries of Orthodoxy: Order 47

‘Disorder’ at the Wild Fringes 47

Orderliness 53

Ministry and Order 55

The Rigorist Dispute 57

Schismatics 59

Diaspora 61

Orthopraxis 62

4 Classifying Heresies 65

What Could be Imported from Ancient Philosophy? 66

Incarnation and Christology 67

The Augustinian Trio 70

The Easter Controversy 71

The Doctrine of Transubstantiation 72

1054 and the Schism of East and West 73

From Sect to ‘Confessional Identity’ 76

The Power of a Name 80

Categories of Unbelief 83

Pinning Accusations to Suspected Heretics 86

The Creation of a Critical Literature 88

5 Heresy and Social Challenge 90

Popular Heresy: The Anti-establishment Dissidents Speak up for Themselves 93

The Road to Dissent 98

The Waldensians 99

John Wyclif and the Lollard Movement 106

Jan Hus 110

The Hussite ‘Movement’ 117

Social Consequences After the Middle Ages 119

6 Good and Evil 123

The Mediaeval Dualists 126

7 Dealing with Heresy 134

University Sermons 136

The Preaching of the Heretics Themselves 138

Crusade 141

Inquisition 142

The Change in the Balance of Power 149

Living with Difference 151

Conclusion 157

Notes 166

Further reading 180

Index 186