Heresy

Heresy in Christianity

In the New Testament, the word is used with a pejorative connotation nine times: For example, the sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees are termed

The concept of heresy has always been crucial for any religion that was invested in creating a coherent doctrinal body by which it could define its own identity in opposition to other, different religious phenomena within its confessional boundaries and that could count on a relatively functional institutional system in charge of preserving the orthodoxy of that doctrinal body and eliminating the heretical component. The process of constructing the categories of heresy and heretics as a means to build, refine, and defend a religion's doctrinal identity is perhaps most visible in the history of the Christian religion. The dialectic between orthodoxy and heterodoxy was and, to a certain extent, still is pivotal in helping Christianity build its identity as the only true church and in conceptualizing its relationship to other religions. In this respect, it is significant that St. Paul, who was the first significant figure to understand the importance of constructing a Christian identity in opposition to Judaism, explained rather at length the meaning of heresy and its difference from schism: While the first was a permanent dissent, the second was only temporary (1 Corinthians 11:19).

After Paul, the concept of heresy, far from being marginalized, was further refined, adapted, and conceptualized. By studying the different theoretical and pragmatic approaches that the Christian church took to the issue of heresy, one can see a series of snapshots of the most relevant developments of Christianity. For example, the construction and application of the category of heresy was of central importance for the Christian church at the beginning of its existence, when it needed to separate itself from Eastern Christianity and ally itself with the Western Roman Empire, as we can see in the manner in which the Christian church dealt with the question of Arianism, a complex set of beliefs regarding the nature of the Son and His relationship with the Father, which was condemned as a heresy at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. Before the condemnation at Nicaea, Arianism represented the prevalent doctrine on the Trinity in the East, where Christian theologians, steeped in Greek philosophy, sought to rationalize the relationship between Father and Son by claiming that they were not “consubstantial” (of the same nature) but that the Son was either a figure of speech—in the most radical version of Arianism—or of a “lesser dignity” of the Father—in the more Western-oriented forms of this doctrine. What was at stake was the relationship between Christianity and Greek philosophy; a school of Christian thinkers in the East believed that Christian doctrine should validate and perfect, not contradict, philosophical truths and propositions. In contrast, for the Western Christian theologians, eager to stress the diversity of Christianity with respect to both Greek philosophy and Judaism, it was pivotal to insist on the mystery of the Trinity even at the expense of a more logical rationalization of the relation between Father and Son. Moreover, the Western Christian church saw the need for and the possible advantages of a closer alliance with the Western Roman Empire after decades of persecution—one should remember that the Emperor Constantine, who was present at the Council of Nicaea and approved of its deliberations, had granted freedom of worship to the Christian in 313, with the famous Edict of Milan, or Edict of Toleration. The result of such a complex situation was precisely the condemnation of Arius as a heretic and of Arianism—in certain extreme forms—as a heresy. To be sure, the theological definition of orthodoxy and, by consequence, of heresy, cannot be reduced to a series of political or intellectual needs, since theology is not simply a product of political or social pressures. [Page 513]Nevertheless, theological definitions do not simply imply the adoption of a certain language or doctrines, but they represent a key element of the process of identity formation of a religion, and as such, many different factors contribute to their elaboration and adoption.

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