heresy

1. 1. An opinion or a doctrine at variance with established religious beliefs, especially dissension from or denial of Roman Catholic dogma by a professed believer or baptized church member.
   2. Adherence to such dissenting opinion or doctrine.
2. 1. A controversial or unorthodox opinion or doctrine, as in politics, philosophy, or science.
   2. Adherence to such controversial or unorthodox opinion.

[Middle English heresie, from Old French, from Late Latin haeresis, from Late Greek hairesis, from Greek, a choosing, faction, from haireisthai, to choose, middle voice of hairein, to take.]

Definition: unorthodoxy
Antonyms: orthodoxy

For more information on heresy, visit Britannica.com.

It was not until Maimonides (12th cent.) drew up 13 Principles of Faith that Judaism had a clearly formulated list of dogmas. Denial of any of these principles, according to Maimonides, meant that the heretic had forfeited his portion in the World to Come (Afterlife). Simeon ben Tsemaḥ Duran (1361-1444), while generally agreeing with Maimonides' formulation, argued that a person did not lose his portion in the World to Come if he denied any of the principles erroneously. If he were taught incorrectly, or came to incorrect conclusions based on his own faulty reasoning, he was not a true heretic. Various writers after Maimonides offered different formulations of basic Jewish beliefs. Most of them viewed the lists of principles as effective teaching devices or as important (but not the only) statements of Jewish faith. Isaac Abravanel and David Ibn Zimra, writing in the generation of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, argued that each and every detail of the Torah must be maintained. The denial of any point, however small, was heresy. Ibn Zimra stated in a responsum (Vol. 1, no. 344): "My mind does not agree to designate any essential principle of our perfect Torah, because it is all essential."

The Mishnah (Sanh. 10.y:1) does classify certain heresies which cause a man to lose his portion in the World to Come. These include denial that Resurrection of the dead is taught by the Torah; denial that the Torah is from heaven; holding beliefs which make one an Epikoros. Maimonides (Yad, Teshuvah 3:8) defines an epikoros as a person who denies that God communicates with humans through prophecy; who denies the prophecy of Moses; or who denies God's knowledge of the affairs of humans. The Talmud (Sanh. 99b) defines an epikoros as one who scorns rabbinic sages or who scorns others in the presence of rabbinic sages. The Shulḥan Arukh (YD 243:6) rules that it is a great sin to humiliate or hate rabbinic scholars. One who holds the sages in contempt has no portion in the World to Come. Denigration of sages leads to the mocking of rabbinic authority---and of the halakhah which depends on rabbinic authority.

Maimonides (Yad, Teshuvah 3) defines other terms which refer to individuals who hold incorrect beliefs. A Min ("sectary") is one who denies the existence of God; or believes in more than one God; or that God is corporeal; or that God is not alone eternal; or worships stars or other objects as mediators between himself and God (cf. Sanh. 38b-39a). A mumar is one who consistently and intentionally does not observe a Torah commandment, acting as though it does not exist. A broader category of mumar includes one who abandons the Jewish religion under duress, stating that it is better to join the stronger group than to remain part of the oppressed Jewish people. A kofer is one who denies the Torah, resurrection of the dead, and the future coming of the Messiah.

In rabbinic literature, a person guilty of heresy is frequently referred to as kofer ba-ikkar, a denier of a basic principle. The term is often used generically to designate an individual whose beliefs or actions reflect disregard for the Divine origin of the Torah and for the halakhah. It is incorrectly used to denigrate someone whose opinion differs from that of the defining group---even though that person's opinion has ample support in tradition. For example, in some fundamentalist Jewish circles, the term epikoros is used for a student of secular wisdom---even though he accepts the 13 Principles of Maimonides and the other basic Jewish beliefs.

When religions, especially in the case of historical Christianity, have established doctrines or dogmas that they insist must be accepted as true, people who don't accept them are declared heretical or heretics. They are guilty of heresy, or disagreeing with the accepted norm.

In the past, the Roman Catholic Church, for instance, established a whole department to "inquire" into questions of heresy. The Inquisition employed extreme measures to root out possible heretics (See Galilei, Galileo). The Puritans of New England used the same methods during the Salem witch trials.

The word has since come to be used outside of religion. Even Republicans and Democrats have been known to accuse those within their ranks as heretics.

Sources: Webster’s Third New International Dictionary and Seven Language Dictionary. 3 vols. Chicago: William Benton, 1966.

Heresy is the holding of religious views regarded or defined as unacceptable by the church. The first notable British heretics were Pelagius and Celestius in the early 5th cent., who 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. Heresy was hardly a problem in the Anglo-Saxon church and only a handful of cases can be identified. Concern over heresy dates from Wyclif's challenge to the doctrine of transubstantiation and his attacks upon the wealth of the church. 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. There was a marked revival of lollardy in the early 16th cent., 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. In Scotland the laws against heresy were repealed by the Reformation Parliament in 1560.

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. Later prosecutions included the publishers of Paine's The Age of Reason (1797, 1812, 1819), and the publisher of Shelley's Queen Mab (1821). Existing legislation against blasphemy protects Christianity only and there has been pressure to extend it to cover Islam and other religions.

Defined by the medieval church as ‘an opinion chosen by human perception, founded on the scriptures, contrary to the teaching of the Church, publicly avowed and obstinately defended’. It became a problem only when unorthodox opinion began to weaken the authority of the church itself, when responses included the Albigensian crusade of 1208, and the foundation of the Inquisition in 1231.

Quotes:

"If the individual, or heretic, gets hold of some essential truth, or sees some error in the system being practiced, he commits so many marginal errors himself that he is worn out before he can establish his point." - Ezra Pound

"A man may be a heretic in the truth; and if he believe things only because his pastor says so, or the assembly so determines, without knowing other reason, though his belief be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes his heresy." - John Milton

"I shall never be a heretic; I may err in dispute, but I do not wish to decide anything finally; on the other hand, I am not bound by the opinions of men." - Martin Luther

"The difference between heresy and prophecy is often one of sequence. Heresy often turns out to have been prophecy -- when properly aged." - Hubert H. Humphrey

"A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor." - Eric Hoffer

"The conscience of the world is so guilty that it always assumes that people who investigate heresies must be heretics; just as if a doctor who studies leprosy must be a leper. Indeed, it is only recently that science has been allowed to study anything without reproach." - Aleister Crowley

See more famous quotes about Heresy

For other uses, see Heresy (disambiguation).

This article's introduction section may not adequately summarize its contents. To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (July 2009)

Heresy is proposing some unorthodox change to an established system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established opinion of scholars of that belief such as canon.^{[clarification needed]} It is sometimes confused with apostasy which is disaffiliation from orthodoxy and blasphemy which is defamation of orthodox opinion.

The study of heresy is heresiology. The founder or leader of a heretical movement is called a heresiarch. One who espouses heresy is called a heretic.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Religious heresy 2.1 Christianity 2.2 Orthodox Judaism 2.3 Heresy in Islam 3 Contemporary heresy 4 Selected quotations 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Etymology

The word "heresy" comes from the Greek αἵρεσις, hairesis (from αἱρέομαι, haireomai, "choose"), which means either a choice of beliefs or a faction of believers, or a school of thought.

Used in this way, the term "heresy" has no purely objective meaning: the category exists only from the point of view of speakers within a group that has previously agreed about what counts as "orthodox". Any nonconformist view within any field may be perceived as "heretical" by others within that field who are convinced that their view is "orthodox"; in the sciences this extension is made tongue-in-cheek.

The term heresy is often perceived as a value judgment and the expression of a view from within an established belief system.

Religious heresy

Christianity

Main article: Christian heresy

The use of the word "heresy" in the context of Christianity was given wide currency by Irenaeus in his tract Contra Haereses (Against Heresies) to describe and discredit his opponents in the early Christian Church. He described his own position as orthodox (from ortho- "straight" + doxa "belief") and his position eventually evolved into the position of the early Christian Church.^{[citation needed]}

Heretics usually do not define their own beliefs as heretical. For instance, Roman Catholics hold Protestantism as a heresy while some non-Catholics considered Catholicism the "Great Apostasy." For a heresy to exist there must be an authoritative system of dogma designated as orthodox, such as those proposed by Catholicism.

The term heresy is less common today, with some notable exceptions: see for example Rudolf Bultmann and the "character" of debates over ordination of women and gay priests.

Orthodox Judaism

Main article: Heresy in Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism considers views on the part of Jews which depart from the traditional Jewish principles of faith to be heretical. In addition, mainstream Orthodox Judaism holds that all Jews who reject the simple meaning of Maimonides's 13 principles of Jewish faith are heretics.^[1] As such, most of Orthodox Judaism considers Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism to be heretical movements, and regards most of Conservative Judaism as heretical. The liberal wing of Modern Orthodoxy is more tolerant of Conservative Judaism, particularly its right wing, as there is some theological and practical overlap between these groups.

Heresy in Islam

Main article: Heresy in Islam

Many in the two main bodies of Islam—Sunnis and the Shi'as—have regarded the other as heretical. Groups like the Ismailis, the Hurufiya, the Alawis, the Bektashi and even the Sufis have also been regarded as heretical by some^[who?]. Although Sufism is often accepted as valid by Shi'a and many Sunnis, the relatively recent movement of Wahhabism view it as heretical.

Contemporary heresy

Today, heresy can be without a religious context as the holding of ideas that are in fundamental disagreement with the status quo in any practice and branch of knowledge. Religion is not a necessary component of the term's definition. The revisionist paleontologist Robert T. Bakker, who published his findings as The Dinosaur Heresies, jokingly treated the mainstream view of dinosaurs as dogma.

The term heresy is also used as an ideological pigeonhole for contemporary writers because by definition heresy depends on contrasts with an established orthodoxy. For example, the tongue-in-cheek contemporary usage of heresy, such as to categorize a "Wall Street heresy" a "Democratic heresy" or a "Republican heresy", are metaphors which invariably retain a subtext that links orthodoxies in geology or biology or any other field to religion. These expanded metaphoric senses allude to both the difference between the person's views and the mainstream, and the boldness of such a person in propounding these views.

Variance from orthodox Marxism-Leninism is described as "right" or "left deviationism." The cult of Scientology uses the term "squirreling" to refer to unauthorized alterations of its teachings or methods.

Selected quotations

• James G. March on the relation between madness, heresy, and genius: "... we sometimes find that such heresies have been the foundation for bold and necessary change, but heresy is usually just new ideas that are foolish or dangerous and appropriately rejected or ignored. So while it may be true that great geniuses are usually heretics, heretics are rarely great geniuses."^[2]

• Isaac Asimov distinguished between two types of scientific heretic: "Endoheretics are appropriately credentialed scientists. If the person is outside the scientific community or at least outside of his specialty, he is an exoheretic. If a person is an endoheretic, he will be considered as eccentric and incompetent, whereas if the person is an exoheretic, he will be regarded as a crackpot, charlatan, or fraud."

See also

• Apostasy
• Binitarianism
• Cherem, a related concept in Judaism
• Christian anarchism
• Christian theological controversy
• Eclecticism
• Heresy in the 20th century
• Heterodoxy
• History of Christianity
• Infallibility of the Church
• Inquisition
• List of people burned as heretics
• Orthodoxy
• Sabbath Breaking
• Schism
• Status quo

References

1. ^ The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised, by Marc B. Shapiro, ISBN 1874774900
2. ^ Coutou, Diane. Ideas as Art. Harvard Business Review 84 (2006): 83-89.

External links

Look up heresy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Some quotes and information in this article came from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
• De Fide, a non-profit association which uses Canon Law to defend the Faith and Church from Heresy, through lawsuits in Ecclesiastical Court.
• [1] Heresy-On video
• (French) Cathars of the middle age, Philosophy and History.
• What Is Heresy? by Wilbert R. Gawrisch (Lutheran)
• [2] Inquisitions and Protestant persecutions site.
• [3] A Celebration of Heresy Conference: Critical Thinking for Islamic Reform.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - kætteri

Nederlands (Dutch)
ketterij

Français (French)
n. - hérésie

Deutsch (German)
n. - Ketzerei

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (θρησκ., μτφ.) αίρεση

Italiano (Italian)
eresia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - heresia (f)

Русский (Russian)
ересь

Español (Spanish)
n. - herejía

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kätteri

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
异端, 异教

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 異端, 異教

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 이단, 이교, 이설

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 異教, 異端, 異説

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) بدعه, هرطقه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮כפירה, דעה הנוגדת את המקובל‬

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