1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Brief History of Heresy, June 14, 2011
This review is from: A Brief History of Heresy (Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion) (Paperback)
On first sitting down to write this review I was going to start with quite a negative review stating that this had been given an inaccurate title and that the nearest to history was its eclectic mention of various - predominately medieval - heresies, however, on reflection this is a little unfair. If you are looking for a narrative history of the development of orthodoxy and the boundaries of acceptable divergence then this is not the book for you (I was). Rather than being a strictly historical book this is rather more of an introductory study into the prevailing idea of heresy through the Church's history, it is therefore more of a thematic study.
In the first chapter Evans introduces the idea of Christian Unity and its importance for self-identity. Evans suggests that there needs to be a consensus of common ideals and therefore, with the geographical divergence of Christian communities there was a move towards ecclesiastical centralisation under a strong theology of papal primacy.
In the second and third chapters Evans delineates what are to be considered two of the variants of heresy that consistently re-assert themselves. In chapter two Evans describes the importance of theological orthodox and the central place of the creeds, particularly the apostle's creed, for determining who was outside the bounds of acceptable doctrine. This branch of heresy is essentially intellectual and is represented by the Christological controversies of the fourth century of which Arianism is the archetype. The second type of heresy is less an overstepping of doctrinal boundaries but the lack of appropriate orthopraxis. Where the first type of heretic was a rationalistic one, the second was charismatic and political, often involving the call to return to the apostolic primitive church and rebelling against the corruption of the establishment, these movements were often supported by lower social classes than the elite higher clergy. Hence this second group was, on one level less theological, the concern being mainly a moral one. This is a helpful clarification by Evans. The next two chapters offer some historical comments on each of these tendencies. Chapter four outlines the main intellectual fault-lines of the (rationalist) heresies while chapter five offers a survey of the links of heresy to social challenge which characterise the charismatic fringe. In Chapter six Evans offers a brief survey of the recurring trend to Gnostic criticisms of the church while in the final chapter there is a survey of how the `Church' has dealt with heretics.
By way of criticism I would perhaps make one point. Whilst this book, as I mentioned earlier, is not strictly a history the limited scope of the examples used did confuse me. Aside from discussion of early heresies and the occasional aside about modern movement I did wonder whether Evans thought heresy began and ended in the middle ages; this is not entirely surprising as this is her academic specialty. Nonetheless, a more comprehensive range of historical examples would have been helpful. This is particularly pertinent to her closing chapter when she discusses contemporary approaches to doctrinal diversity. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have had their own heresy trials and yet these were not discussed. This seems a great shame.
This book is aimed at providing an introduction that does not pre-suppose theological knowledge and this I think has been achieved very well. In clear writing Evans has offered a good, although incomplete, introduction to the idea of heresy as well as introducing its most famous proponents.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Can be read by anyone seeking a framework and vocabulary for approaching this difficult topic, August 29, 2010
This review is from: A Brief History of Heresy (Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion) (Paperback)
I just finished this handy little book and found it very illuminating. It gives a history of how dissent came to be defined as "heresy", which were the important ones from the time of Saint Augustine and after, and why it is difficult to preach the "social gospel" even today. I would like to read some of the other books in this series.
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13 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Misses the Point, November 22, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: A Brief History of Heresy (Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion) (Paperback)
This is one in a series of Blackwell books aimed at providing short, accessible, and engaging treatments of theological and religious subjects for "the common reader." It is a worthy project that deserves better than this once-over-lightly survey of heresy in the Christian tradition. The author, a Cambridge historian, is both superficial and slanted in her benign view of the heretic as a kind of whistle-blower who helps us to be more "tolerant" in obedience to what the World Council of Churches prescribes as "unity in diversity." The temper of the times, she suggests, requires a sharply tempered devotion to truth. THis is from a First THings review.
You would do much better to read "The Cruelty of Heresy."
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