Arthur Guirdham. The Great Heresy. Saffron Walden: The C.W. Daniel Company Limited, 1993 (1970). Paperback, 186 pages. ISBN 0852072716
Books about Catharism tend to be of two kinds. Serious studies of this magnificent efflorescence of Gnosticism in Medieval Languedoc seem to have been produced almost exclusively by French scholars and are of course in French, while many of the more popular treatments in English have tended towards the fanciful and sensationalistic.
Given this, Guirdham's rich and fascinating book comes as a welcome surprise. Although, in a sense, a 'popular' treatment in that he has not cluttered his book with footnotes and other scholarly paraphernalia, it is at the same time a serious and valuable account of the origin, history, philosophy, beliefs, practices and final suppression of the Cathars insofar as they can be known today, and one based on a thorough knowledge of both the scholarly sources and the extant artefacts. It is also an objective, fair-minded, and extremely well-written book.
Readers who are themselves fair-minded will find in this book a feast that will enrich them in many ways. Among other things, it certainly led me to understand what true religion should look like, and what a tragedy it was for the world that Catharism and the amazingly advanced civilization it gave rise to were suppressed by the Roman international theocracy with a brutality and viciousness so horrible it is impossible to find words to describe it other than to say it could only have been diabolically inspired.
Finally, readers should beware the hostile reviews of books on the Cathars as these can come from the orthodox camp which today have to content themselves with scoffs, smears and lies but which in the old days (on the authority of John 15.6) used to burn people to death for holding different beliefs.
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