The concept of heresy has played a major role across Christian history. Traditionally, heretical sects have been regarded as distinct, real-life groups of people who had departed from the stable orthodox traditions of Christianity and who posed a threat that needed to be addressed, sometimes through violent repression. More recently, scholarship has focused on the notion of heresy as discourse, placing particular emphasis on its literary construction and the social and cultural contexts in which it was deployed. This literature has generated significant debates about the nature and historicity of many heresies. The Cambridge Companion to Christian Heresy provides a systematic and up-to-date guide to the study of this topic and its methodological challenges. The opening chapters explore different forms of written material that have played vital roles in historical disputes and in modern scholarly accounts. These are followed by case studies of thirteen notable heresies, ranging from the Gnostics through to the Hussites at the dawn of the Reformation.

• Focuses on the label and discourse of ‘heresy’ over time, rather than merely narrating the details of particular theological disagreements
• Includes separate chapters on methodologies and types of source, as well as case studies of individual heresies
• Covers a broad chronological span of around 1,500 years

Richard Flower is Professor of Classics and Late Antiquity at the University of Exeter. A scholar of religious conflict, he is the author of Emperors and Bishops in Late Roman Invective (2013) and co-editor (with Morwenna Ludlow) of Rhetoric and Religious Identity in Late Antiquity (2020).

Table des matières :

Introduction Richard Flower

Part I. Approaches and Evidence:

1. Theories and definitions of heresy John H. Arnold
2. Dialogue literature Richard Lim
3. Heresiological catalogues Richard Flower
4. Councils, popes and canon law Rebecca Rist
5. Inquisition and trial records Christine Caldwell Ames

Part II. Case Studies:

6. Gnosticism Michael A. Williams
7. Manichaeism Jason BeDuhn
8. Arianism and other Christological disputes Robin Whelan

Informations pratiques :

The Cambridge Companion to Christian Heresy, éd. Richard Flower, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2025 ; 1 vol., 472 p. (Cambridge Companions to Religion). ISBN : 978-1-10845-485-8. Prix : GBP 30,99.

Source : Cambridge University Press