1. Cathedral Church of St Peter St Petersburg 16 March 2017 Part One
Heresy!
Cathedral Church of St Peter St Petersburg 16 March 2017
Part One

2. An overview 16 March: The theory and practice of heresy
23 March: Heresies about the Trinity
30 March: Heresies about Christ
6 April: Heresies about the Church, morality, and salvation

3. What do we mean by ‘heresy’?
First stab: A heresy is a teaching that is contrary to an authoritative statement of the Church.
Problem: Which statements are authoritative?
A test case: universalism (apocatastasis)
We’re going to look at some clear-cut cases that came to be authoritatively rejected—and at their modern versions.

4. Heresy is HOT! Examples: Orthodoxy is boring. Heresy is exciting.
The Da Vinci Code
The Gospel of Judas
Gnosticism (Elaine Pagels and others)
Orthodoxy is boring. Heresy is exciting.
Orthodoxy is confining. Heresy is freeing.
Haeresis in Greek means choice.
Orthodoxy is the bully. Heresy is the underdog.

5. The origin of heresy: three views
The old standard view: Heresies were deliberate attacks on orthodoxy.
A revisionist view: Heresies were principled alternatives to orthodoxy that were suppressed by the institutional church.
The emerging scholarly view: Heresies arose within the church and were rejected when they proved to be destructive.

6. The old standard view of heresy
Orthodoxy comes first: ancient = original = true.
Heresy is a deliberate attack on orthodoxy.
It arises because the heretics love novelty or because the heretics are envious, frustrated, and resentful.
Heresy results from watering down orthodoxy through the use of “pagan philosophy.”

7. A revisionist view of heresy
In early Christianity there were multiple orthodoxies.
Heresy came first.
Early Christianity did not understand its unity in doctrinal terms but in terms of worship.
Teachings that were accepted in the early church were later condemned as the church of Rome extended its dominance eastward.

8. The popular legacy of this view
The idea that orthodoxy is just a matter of “who wins” remains popular.
Example: The Da Vinci Code
The idea that heretical versions of Christianity have as much legitimacy as orthodox versions also remains popular.
Example: Elaine Pagels and the fascination with Gnosticism

9. The emerging scholarly view
Yes, there was diversity in early Christianity, but we can see a core orthodoxy emerging quite early.
In elaborating and consolidating the core ideas of the Christian faith, the church made use of the conceptual tools of its environment.
Heresy originates within the church.

10. The emerging scholarly view
Alister McGrath: “A heresy is a doctrine that ultimately destroys, destablizes, or distorts a mystery rather than preserving it. Sometimes a doctrine that was once thought to defend a mystery actually turns out to subvert it. A heresy is a failed attempt at orthodoxy, whose fault lies not in its willingness to explore possibilities or press conceptual boundaries, but in its unwillingness to accept that it has in fact failed.”

11. The boundaries of belief
What must we believe? If “everyone is a little heretical,” how big a deal is that?
William Porcher DuBose (1836–1918): “No person or tradition has all the truth. Truth is a corporate possession, and knowledge of it is a corporate process.”
“All the truth of the Church is not yet mine. To expect a person at any one point to believe every point of the Creed is for any man an impossibility.”

12. Is orthodoxy required of particular people?
In the case of clergy, clearly yes.
Even in the case of lay people, arguably yes, because of the baptismal covenant.
Yet “Truth can only be reached in the context of freedom. The best way to deal with error is through the freedom permitted to it of self-exposure.”
And what about the fact that belief are not under our direct voluntary control?

13. Concluding thoughts
The impulse to heresy is alive and well today. It is not to be celebrated, but it is also not to be feared.
If the new scholarly consensus is right (heresies arise within the church, are rejected when they prove destructive), then the right way to deal with heresy is not to call the heretics names.
The moral dimension of heresy must not be forgotten.

14. Next time
Heresies about the Trinity