. Term derived from the Greek word for “choice” (hairesis). In the early church, the term came to indicate leaders or groups who “chose” rather than “received” their teachings about Christ: heresy was associated with...

Aston, M. Lollards and Reformers: Images and Literacy in Late Medieval England. London: Hambledon Press, 1984. Bebbington, D.W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s. London and New York: Routledge, 1989. Chadwick,...

Belief in unorthodox religious ideas. While a heretic is still regarded as a *Jew, he was described as an *apikoros or *min. The traditional punishment was *herem which was justified on the grounds of maintaining unanimity within the community....

Heresy is a challenge to a prescribed system of belief, especially a religious one. The study of heresy is heresiology. The founder of a heresy is called a...

Milton and Heresy. Edited by Stephen B. Dobranski and John P. Rumrich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. x + 272 pp. $59.95 cloth. The editors of this splendid collection of twelve essays assert that modern scholars seeking to establish Milton's orthodoxy "have...

"Contradiction" has long served as an indispensable word in the Marxist vocabulary. The capitalist system is doomed to collapse because of its inherent contradictions, says the believing Marxist. Since this word has such power in Marxist jargon, it should come as no surprise...