Heresy as a common disease among the medieval Christians

Heresy Among Christians in the Medieval Period

Heresy is described as departing from Christian Orthodox beliefs, doctrines, and practices. (Slick, n.d: 1). Christians who are familiar with the Bible are seen straying from the religion they once upheld, believing that it would lead them to the saints. The theme of heresy among Christians during the medieval period is present in both Jennifer Deane’s “A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition” and Richard Kieckhefer’s “The Holy and the Unholy: Sainthood, Witchcraft, and Magic in Late Medieval Europe.” The Orthodox Church’s fundamental doctrines, which are based on the Bible, are reportedly denied by Christians at this time. This assignment aims at discussing this common theme of heresy among Christians during the medieval era based on the two selected books.

“A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition”

In her book, Jennifer Deane was exploring the heresy and inquisition in the Middle Ages. She described heresy using many bitter encounters with Christians during that time because of dissent, piety and the need for reforms in the Orthodox Church. Even though the Orthodox doctrine was clear and the Christians knew what is right and wrong, it seems that they ignored these facts and wanted to exercise Christianity in their way or the way they deemed appealing to them. The Medieval Christians contested the truth and led a Christian life defined by what worked for them.

Deane explains the confrontations between Christians because some of them did not follow the Orthodox Doctrine or teachings and allowed heretics to continue growing in the Church. Christians are seen confronting each other because of problems in accessing the scripture and the growth of apostolic models of poverty as well as preaching. For example, Deane (2011:27), the Christians during the medieval era were prone to religious dissent. She regarded them as Christians who were terribly deviant. In responding to the heretics, the Church came up with the Sermons against the Cathars. Cathars was a name given to those who regarded themselves as good Christians, holy, perfect and acting as apostolic purity models (Deane, 2011:p30). The sermons were refuting the points held by the heresy and supported by an Excerpt from St. Augustine. The Cathars were deviating from the Orthodox teachings and allowing heretics to grow in Europe (Deane, 2011:28). She regarded heretics as hypocritical and serving the devil. They clothe themselves with sanctity while deep inside, they are deceptive agents to the teachings of the Orthodox Church. It became difficult for the church to differentiate among holiness, piety, hypocrisy and pretense.

“The Holy and the Unholy: Sainthood, Witchcraft, and Magic in Late Medieval Europe”

In his essay, Kieckefer was describing heresy during the medieval era as demonstrated by women who were known to be saints. Instead of promoting sainthood as stipulated in the biblical teachings, women included witchcraft to convince Christians of the truth behind their actions.

At the beginning of the essay, Kieckefer (1994:355) uses Dorothea von Montau as a woman with whom the Christians could not differentiate as a saint or witch. It was during the medieval age when witches were equal to saints. Christians such as Gilles de Rais used both evil practices and mystical spirits that are genuine to convince Christians or his beliefs. For example, Gilles could combine prayer and blasphemy which is against the biblical doctrine.

Sainthood and evil are viewed as mirror imaging one another regarding behavior and reversing one another regarding values. Kieckefer (1994:356) quotes the works of other researchers such as Klaniczay to explain his contention. Heresy is evident among the Medieval Christians who believed in inverted miracles that depicted witches. They identified the Sabbath with divine visions and related possession with mystical ecstasy. Witchcraft was performed deliberately to invert and mock the orthodox religion. Relating witches with good (sainthood) is defiance from the teachings of the Orthodox doctrine.

Being a religious fanatic, Dorothea had a commitment to ascetic as well as devotional extremes. Christians called her a saint, but her actions or practices could not be regarded as holy. In the medieval era, Christians could not differentiate sainthood and evil because they did the same actions as those they regarded as saints even if they were in the wrong. It seems that in the medieval era, sainthood and witchcraft seemed to be interchangeable as demonstrated in the story of Dorothea (Kieckefer, 1994:357).

References

Deane, J. (2011). A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition. Critical Issues in World and International History. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Retrieved from https://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=Bcm-AAAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PA25

Kieckhefer, R. (1994).The Holy and the Unholy: Sainthood, Witchcraft, and Magic in Late Medieval Europe. Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 24(3), 355-385.

Slick, M. (n.d). Heresy. Retrieved from https://carm.org/what-is-heresy