Brief History of Heresy

G. R. Evans is Lecturer in History at the University of Cambridge. Her previous publications include Law and Theology in the Middle Ages (2002), The Church and the Churches (1994), Philosophy and Theology in the Middle Ages (1993), and Problems of Authority in the Reformation Debates (1992). She is also the editor of The Medieval Theologians (Blackwell Publishing, 2000). She was for ten years a prominent member of the Church and Order Advisory Group of the Church of England, and is a former diarist for The Church Times.

"A clear and elegant book." The Guardian "What Gill Evans's lively and accessible study shows is that if the Church today is to proceed towards a unity truly based upon Christ, we need to distinguish between desirably dissident ‘whistle-blowers’ where the official Church has gotten out of step with its founder, and those voices of dissidence which, on examination, prove clearly contrary to the teaching of Christ. This is accordingly a timely as well as entertaining book, a distillation of wide learning designed for the intelligent common reader." David Lyle Jeffrey, Baylor University "It is an excellent survey of heresy throughout the church's history. Those who read for information and insight will be abundantly rewarded." Ashland Theological Journal

• List of Illustrations viiiPreface x1 The Importance of Being United 1Forming Consensus 5The Papacy 10The Bible in the Hands of Heretics 13Areas Where Disagreement May be Allowed 202 The Boundaries of Orthodoxy: Faith 23The Apostles’ Creed 24The Nicene Creed 29Catechesis 34Misdirected Worship and Taking the Name of God in Vain 38Does the Faith ‘Develop’ Through History? 41The Content of the Creeds and the Question of Orthodoxy 453 The Boundaries of Orthodoxy: Order 47‘Disorder’ at the Wild Fringes 47Orderliness 53Ministry and Order 55The Rigorist Dispute 57Schismatics 59Diaspora 61Orthopraxis 624 Classifying Heresies 65What Could be Imported from Ancient Philosophy? 66Incarnation and Christology 67The Augustinian Trio 70The Easter Controversy 71The Doctrine of Transubstantiation 721054 and the Schism of East and West 73From Sect to ‘Confessional Identity’ 76The Power of a Name 80Categories of Unbelief 83Pinning Accusations to Suspected Heretics 86The Creation of a Critical Literature 885 Heresy and Social Challenge 90Popular Heresy: The Anti-establishment Dissidents Speak up for Themselves 93The Road to Dissent 98The Waldensians 99John Wyclif and the Lollard Movement 106Jan Hus 110The Hussite ‘Movement’ 117Social Consequences After the Middle Ages 1196 Good and Evil 123The Mediaeval Dualists 1267 Dealing with Heresy 134University Sermons 136The Preaching of the Heretics Themselves 138Crusade 141Inquisition 142The Change in the Balance of Power 149Living with Difference 151Conclusion 157Notes 166Further reading 180Index 186