Heresy and Apostasy

The earliest form of Christian heresy originates in Jewish sectarianism. The teachings of the Gnostic master Simon of Samaria, which combined Jewish teaching with some Christian doctrines, appear in the early catalogue of heretics, and Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260–c. 339) recorded him as the prime author of every kind of heresy. Perhaps the most prominent of heresies is Arianism, which claimed that Christ was mere creation, thereby rejecting the eternity of the Son of God. The Arian view, despite official condemnation by Alexander, patriarch of Alexandria (St. Alexander; c. 250–328), continued to spread until the emperor Constantine's (ruled 306–337) call for unity at the Council of Nicaea (325). Among other early Christian heresies were Manichaeism and Donatism. Manichaeism was a Gnostic dualistic doctrine influenced by St. Paul's teaching, whilst Donatism was a schismatic group in the African church dissenting from the appointment of Caecillian as bishop of Carthage. Faced by the Donatist controversy, St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), a Manichaean before his spiritual conversion, was a powerful proponent of the use of state punishment for the leaders of heresy. For Augustine, it is not only right for the public authority to use compulsive measures to punish wrongdoers, since in so doing they are acting on behalf of God. It is also an act of charity that is intended to correct and reform those who are punished.

In the twelfth century, speculative theologians like Peter Abelard and St. Bernard of Clairvaux viewed heretics as the Engraving showing Protestants being burned at the stake by Roman Catholics (1546). During the rule of Pope Innocent III (1198–1216), the practice of accusing people of heresy began to be replaced with inquisitions. The typical sentence for those found guilty was excommunication. A later inquisition in Spain, however, led to the execution of thousands of suspected heretics. © BETTMANN/CORBIS product of pride and the aspiration for fame. But heresy was not only the concern of doctrinal theology but also of canon law. Once Gratian of Bologna produced the Decretum (c. 1140), the juristic concept of heresy was established: the essential feature of heresy was considered pertinacity or obstinacy. Heresy was reduced to repeated refusals to submit to doctrinal correction by ecclesiastical authority. Heresy, therefore, required the church's authority to declare it; typically, it was maintained that the authority to declare heresy rested with the pope. This juristic idea of heresy pervaded the practice of inquisition and censure, which was triggered by the rise of popular heretical movements such as Cathars and Waldensians. The Cathars are a loosely identified group of heretics who embraced dualism: a belief that there are two powers in the universe, good and omnipotent God and its opponent Devil. Catharism, which increased its influence rapidly in Western Europe in the twelfth century, did not constitute a theologically coherent unity. The Albigensians, a rigorous branch of the Cathars who were mainly based in Southern France, were condemned by successive councils including the Fourth Lateran Council (1215).

Faced by the rapid and widespread proliferation of popular heresy, Pope Innocent III (ruled 1198–1216) recognized the urgent need for the efficient prosecution of heretics; therefore, he replaced the hitherto widely practiced accusatorial procedure with inquisitorial practice, thereby curtailing the presumption of innocence. This "persecuting" culture penetrated the academic community from the late thirteenth century onward; the bishop of Paris, Stephen Tempier's condemnation of 219 propositions (1277) restricted academic freedom and opened the way to the condemnation of the idiosyncratic teachings of thinkers like Peter John Olivi, Jean de Pouilly, and Thomas Waleys. Peter Olivi's teaching of usus pauper—the rigorous practice of poverty that rejects ownership and restricts use of the goods—attracted a number of followers constituting the Spiritual Franciscans, a significant heretical group of the "nonconformist" friars.

Heresy, however, was not a problem that could be observed among theologians and lay believers alone. Heretical ecclesiastics, including the pope, were an ecclesiological dilemma that troubled theologians and canonists alike, and the classical solution to this problem was that a heretical pope would be ipso facto deposed. However, this argument is, in practical terms, insignificant because no one is supposed to be superior to the pope in the ecclesiastical order. In his involvement with the dispute between the Avignon papacy and the Friars Minor, the Franciscan William of Ockham (c. 1285–c. 1347) propounded an extensive discourse on heresy with special reference to papal heresy. In it he redefined heresy as deliberate rejection of the truth of Christian doctrine manifested in the Bible and other doctrinal sources. Thus, Ockham reduced heresy to an interpretative category of theological enquiry into doctrinal texts, thereby rejecting the juristic idea of heresy as repeated disobedience to ecclesiastical authority. This implied that the discovery of heresy requires no ecclesiastical authority. This cognitive perspective on heresy was also evident in the polemical writings of the Italian political philosopher Marsilius of Padua (c. 1280–c. 1343), who proposed that the detection of heresy should be entrusted to the experts of Scripture rather than the holders of the ecclesiastical office.

The Oxford philosopher John Wycliffe's (c. 1330–1384) rejection of the scriptural foundations of religious life—papal authority and the mendicant orders in particular—and his attack on the doctrine of transubstantiation inspired the popular heretical movement of Lollardy. The Lollards were the loyal heir of Wycliffe's teaching of sola scriptura; the doctrinal appeal to the Bible alone was an antithesis to the contemporary practice of Roman Catholic Christianity. The influence of Wycliffe's teaching reached beyond England; in Bohemia, Jan Hus (1372 or 1373–1415) assimilated the Wycliffite reformative ecclesiology, which resulted in his official condemnation and execution at the Council of Constance (1414–1418)