The Great Heresies

_The Great Heresies_ by the notable Catholic historian Hillaire Belloc is an outstanding introduction on what constitutes a "heresy" and the threats they have posed to the unity of Christendom. Belloc introduces his subject by defining what a heresy is. A heresy is a worldview that affirms certain aspects of Catholicism (and "Catholicism" can be understood as "traditional Christianity" in its Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox forms) but denies certain absolutely crucial doctrines of the Catholic Christian faith. The cover features a portrait of John Calvin, one of Christendom's chief heresiarchs in a characteristically Mephistophelian light. Belloc examines five of the largest, broadest and most influential heresies that have confronted the Church: Arianism, Mohammedanism (Islam), Albigensianism, Protestantism and what Belloc terms the "Modern Attack" which may in fact be, or is the precursor to, the Spirit of Antichrist. Arianism arose during the power politics of the Roman Empire and was generally supported by the upper-class elements in the Roman Army and the Imperial governing bureaucracy. It was easier more appealing on a philosophic level because the preacher Arius exalted Jesus as the greatest creature of God yet denied the actual Divinity of Christ. Belloc speculates that varying strains of Arianism provided a catalyst for the Nestorian and Monophysite schisms in the Church during the 5th century in the context of anti-Imperial political causes among the Christians of the East. The Arian heresy eventually died out at the same time Islam threatened both Eastern and Western boundaries of Christian Europe. Islam began, according to Belloc, as a heretical doctrine preached to its originally pagan Arab audience rather than as a new religion in itself. Mohammed affirmed the Catholic attributes of a creator God, the Virgin Birth, the prophetic legacy of Jesus and the Last Judgement where Jesus would return to judge good and evil. However, Mohammed totally disavowed the Incarnation of Christ, the tradition of the Apostles and the Church's sacraments that Christ instituted. Islam found a ready audience in the Middle East disenchanted with Byzantine rule and nearly gobbled up both Western and Eastern Christendom by sheer fanaticism and military prowess had it not been for the Spanish re-conquest and the Crusades. Belloc notes the many strengths of Islamic society and (writing in 1938) predicts a resurgence of radical Islam again assaulting the West. Albigensianism was a movement popular in southern France among nobles who were disenchanted with the structure of the Catholic Church. The "Albigensies" were named after a region in France, and the heresy consisted of a radical anti-institutional attitude toward the Church. Basing their philosophy on ancient cosmologies imported from the East, these heretics abandoned marriage, the Church's sacraments and believed in the equality authority of women and men officially preaching the Gospel message. They

Belloc has an amazing ability to discern general principles from a complex set of facts. He puts it to good use in analyzing the five major heresies that have thwarted the Catholic Church-all of which are socially, politically, and theologically complicated matters spanning centuries. Conciseness is another of his writing attributes. In a scant 160 pages, Belloc manages to fully probe Arianism, Islam, Albigensianism, the Reformation, and what he calls the "modern" heresy, which at that time had no name but contains elements of what today we might call scientific determinism, humanism, secular humanism, skepticism, or moral relativism. I found the discussion of Islam particularly valuable. Prior to reading this, I had no idea how Islam spread so quickly, why so enduringly, and how it differed theologically from Christianity. I was struck by how similar the phenomenon of Islam was to the Reformation: both movements liberated converts from oppressive taxation and other financial obligations; both involved a simplification of doctrine that appealed to the masses; both were a reaction against clericalism. Obviously, the movements differed in that Islam attacked Catholicism from the outside, while the Reformation struck from the inside. In Belloc's view, this existence on the fringe of Western culture explains why Islam has endured culturally and spiritually. Ominously, Belloc closes this chapter by asking whether Islam will rise up once more to challenge the West. Prophetically, he answers, "yes". Islam, he maintains, has the virtue of spiritual solidarity, whereas in the West, religion, the very glue of civilization, is dissolving, leaving us irresolute, aimless and vulnerable. A strong political leader in the Islamic world could harness the strength of this spiritually united people and overwhelm us. Pretty relevant ideas, even though written in the 1930's. No less impressive is Belloc's overview of the Reformation from before Luther to his present day. He traces the movement as seen through the eyes of those who lived through it-an illuminating technique of which Belloc is a master. He makes any number of important points, but the most crucial, in his view, is this: that the Reformation, by splitting Christendom, diminished the importance of religion to all men. If one religion is as good as another, if no single value system guides the behavior of men, then men will be driven by other things-acquisition of wealth, pleasure, power, what have you. This splitting of Christendom thus paves the way for a new attack-what he calls the Modern Attack-that is wholly anti-religious and seeks nothing less than the utter destruction of faith. We are in the midst of this attack now, and Belloc helps us understand how we got here. Sobering reading indeed

That line, from page 4, is embedded into my brain, because it is so darn true!This book is not a theological refutation of heresy, but an historical and sociological account of the effect that heresies have on civilization, even long after they have been abandonned."Heresies survive by the truths they contain"??? Can there be any truth in heresy? "What, can the devil speak true?" (That's for you fans of Shakespeare's "Macbeth").Yes, there is truth in heresy. But the truth is oversimplified, exaggerated, and mixed with falsehoods. That is what makes the heresy dangerous - heresies appeal to those who want a simpler truth (even if the truth is not so simple), and heresies hide their lies behind those truths.This sets the tone for the whole book, and it also serves to make the heresies and their appeal much easier to understand.After discussing heresy in general, the author goes on to describe five of the great ones (Arianism, Mohammedanism, The Albigensians, Protestantism, and The Modern Attack). He discusses how they came to be, how they affected the contemporary world, how they still affect us today, and what the world would have been like if the heresy had prevailed. And, his section on the Modern Attack is nothing less than prophetic, when you realize that the deteriorations he discusses, deteriorations we face in society today, he wrote about back in 1938 - a time when protestantism was just beginning to embrace artificial contraception.Well, Hilaire Belloc is now my favorite author. Read this book, and he will become one of your favorites too!

Here the great Catholic historian Hilaire Belloc analyzes 5 of the greatest heresies of all time: Arianism, Mohammedanism (Islam), Albigensianism, Protestantism, and "the Modern Attack," showing that the world would be vastly different today if Arianism or Albigensianism had survived--and how it is different because Protestantism survived. He predicts the re-emergence of Islam; explains how the Modern Attack is the worst threat to the Catholic Church ever. Gives a keen understanding of the direction of history--as we are living it today!