heresy

heresy in religion, especially in Christianity, beliefs or views held by a member of a church that contradict its orthodoxy, or core doctrines. It is distinguished from apostasy, which is a complete abandonment of faith that makes the apostate a deserter, or former member. Heresy is also distinguished from schism, which is a splitting of or from the church brought about by disputes over hierarchy or discipline, rather than over matters of doctrine. The heretic considers himself or herself not only a church member but, in a doctrinal controversy, the true believer; indeed, some persons originally labeled heretical were rehabilitated after once abhorred views become accepted.

The battle for doctrinal control of Christianity began with the declarations of St. Paul in the New Testament. In the religion's first three centuries, numerous sects, many arising from Gnosticism , were in conflict. The first Council of Nicaea (AD 325), which addressed the challenge of Arianism , was among convocations at which a Christian orthodoxy was established.

Excommunication was the usual method of dealing with heretical individuals or small groups. The medieval church undertook military action (as against the Albigenses , in 1208) and extensive legal and punitive campaigns (such as the Inquisition ) in striving to suppress large-scale heresy. The Protestant Reformation created new churches that at first campaigned against heresy from their own doctrinal bases; over time, however, the Roman Catholic church has remained the only Christian body that has continued with any frequency, on the basis of canon law , to prosecute heretics.

See also blasphemy .

Heresy (Gk., hairesis, ‘choice’). The adoption of false views and practices. Basically, the Gk. word may mean simply the adoption of a particular opinion or school of thought (e.g. Acts 5.17), but in religious terms it is usually a choice of belief which is held to be aberrant (i.e. heretical) by the main continuing body of believers. A heresiarch is the originator of a heresy or heretical movement. In Christianity, where the term is essentially located, Roman Catholic theologians distinguish ‘formal heresy’ (the grave sin of wilful persistence in error) and ‘material heresy’ (the holding of heretical doctrines through no fault of one's own).

In other religions, the term is not formally appropriate, but similar considerations, derived from the necessity for systems to have boundaries, can be found. Thus in Judaism, neither Bible nor Talmud present creeds or dogmas to which Jews must conform. However, Deuteronomy 17. 8–13 isolates the zaqen mamre, the obstinate teacher (rebellious elder). Already in the Mishnah serious aberrancy is recognized. Heresy now is belief in ideas condemned by the Orthodox religious authorities. In Judaism, a heretic is still considered to be a Jew, and is described by a number of terms such as min, apikoros, and kofer (cf. kāfir).

The nearest equivalent in Islam is ilḥād, ‘deviation’. Heretics are called malāḥidah. Right practice (sunna) is as important as right belief, but in any case the heretic is, quintessentially, one who denies the reality of God. Thus the major offences in Islam are shirk and bidʿa. One who forsakes Islam is an apostate (murtadd), and if he turns against Islam in public attack, he should be executed.

In E. religions, it might seem, superficially, that there is little room for a concept equivalent to heresy. ‘Hinduism’ and ‘Buddhism’ contain diversities of an even more spectacular kind than Christianity. Hinduism as sanātana dharma is able to include conceptually even those breakaway religious movements, such as the Jains and Buddhists, which are usually described as separate religions. They are interpretations (darśana) of the revelation in the Vedas, but unorthodox ones—nāstika as opposed to āstika. In a sense which is now eroded, the orthodox is defined geographically: it is the area in which dharma can be observed. Thus Manusmṛti:

The land between the two sacred rivers Sarasvati and Drsadvati, this land created by divine powers, is the Brahmavarta. The customs prevailing in this land, passed on from one generation to another, constitute right behaviour (sadācāra). From a brahman born and bred in this land all people should learn how to live.… Beyond is the land of the mlecchas: a twice-born should remain in this land; a śūdra may, to gain his livelihood, live anywhere.

Buddhism was not even confined to territory, since it was, at least in terms of teaching, opposed to caste, sacrifice, and dharma determined by Vedas and brahmans. However, it was not on trivial issues that the early schools divided (see COUNCILS (BUDDHIST)); and the subsequent elaboration into sūtra-based Buddhism (i.e. Mahāyāna) led to an immense proliferation of schools and traditions. But although there has been considerable hostility between Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna (witness the latter name itself), the different forms of Buddhism have in general flourished in different geographical areas. The definition of the heretic has therefore been extremely local, leading to expulsion from communities, especially of monks (see EXCOMMUNICATION). The nearest equivalent to heresy is ‘false views’: see DIṬṬHI.

heresy is the holding of religious views regarded or defined as unacceptable by the church and, if persisted in, carried the punishment of burning. The first notable British heretics were Pelagius and Celestius, who taught in Rome in the early 5th cent., and argued, against Augustine, that man's own efforts could steer him towards salvation. Condemned by Pope Innocent I, pelagianism continued to find support in Britain and St Germanus was sent over in 429 specifically to deal with it. Accusations of heresy were rarely made against lay people, who neither preached nor published, and whose grasp of Christian doctrine was often, as their pastors complained, distressingly approximate. The assumption was that they were ignorant of the truth and seldom persisted in error when it was pointed out to them. Heresy was hardly a problem in the Anglo-Saxon church or in the immediate post-Conquest period, and only a handful of cases can be identified. Nevertheless the church remained on its guard. A group of weavers, possibly Cathars, arrived in 1165 from Flanders or Germany and settled in Worcester: they were branded and not allowed to remain. Concern over heresy dates from Wyclif's challenge to the doctrine of transubstantiation and his attacks upon the wealth of the church, which, coming in the 1370s at a time of economic unrest, gained him considerable support. Though Henry IV's act De heretico comburendo passed in 1401 it was only after Oldcastle's lollard rebellion in 1414 that systematic persecution of heresy began. In Scotland, James Resby, a follower of Wyclif, was burned at Perth in 1407, and a Hussite at St Andrews in 1432. There was a marked revival of lollardy in the late 15th and early 16th cents., which merged with the Lutheran heresy. Henry VIII repealed De heretico comburendo in 1533 but retained the right to burn heretics. Edward VI then repealed all statutes against heresy, though it remained an offence at common law. Mary at once revived the previous statutes and Elizabeth abolished them again in 1558. anabaptists continued to suffer since they were regarded as totally subversive of the social order, James ordering a burning in 1612. In Scotland the laws against heresy were repealed by the Reformation Parliament of 1560. In Charles II's reign, an Act of 1677 abolished the writ De heretico comburendo, but reiterated the right of ecclesiastical courts to punish heresy, short of death.

Though persecution of laymen for heresy ceased, the careers of clerics and academics (in holy orders) could still be jeopardized by charges of heresy, and the offence of blasphemy remained dangerous. James Nayler, a quaker, was whipped, branded, and had his tongue bored for blasphemy in 1656/7, and Thomas Aikenhead, a mere youth, was executed in Edinburgh in 1697. William Whiston, Newton's successor at Cambridge, was deprived of his chair in 1710 for arianism; John Simon, professor of divinity at Glasgow, was suspended in 1729 on the same charge; Thomas Woolston, a fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, lost his fellowship in 1721, was prosecuted for blasphemy in 1729, and died in prison. Later prosecutions included the publishers of Paine's The Age of Reason (1797, 1812, 1819), the publisher of Shelley's Queen Mab (1821), and George Holyoake for a lecture (1842). In 1977 Mary Whitehouse brought a successful private action against Gay News for printing a poem portraying Christ as a homosexual. Existing legislation against blasphemy protects Christianity only and there has been pressure to extend it to cover Islam and other religions.

J. A. Cannon