The Double Edged Sword of Heresy

It takes two to create a heresy: the heretic to practice his dissident beliefs, and the Church to condemn his views and define orthodox doctrine. This inevitable tension between dissent and order was the motor which drove the development of Christian thought. Heresy forced the Church to progressively define its doctrines and to anathematize opposing theological opinions. It is my intent in this paper to explore the role of the Church in stimulating the same heresies which they later fought bitterly against. I will argue that the motives of the heretic adjusted to the changes in the ec…