disappointment, looking toward a later fulfillment of eschatological hopes. In some cases,
such as the béguines of Provence, apocalyptic hopes may have produced the more
extreme forms of lay apostolic life.
Richard Landes
[See also: BÉGUINES; FRANCISCAN ORDER; HERESY; MILLENNIALISM;
PREACHING; WALDO/WALDENSES]
Chenu, Marie-Dominique. Nature, Man and Society in the Twelfth Century, trans. Jerome Taylor
and Lester K.Little. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968, pp. 200–70.
Classen, Peter. “Eschatologische Ideen und Armutsbewegungen im 11. und 12. Jahrhundert.” In
Povertà e ricchezza nella spiritualità dei secoli XI e XII. Todi: Accademia Tudertina, 1969, pp.
126–62.
Landes, Richard. “La vie apostolique en Aquitaine au tourant du millennium: Paix de Dieu, culte de
reliques et communautés ‘hérétiques.’” Annales 46(1991):573–93.
Little, Lester K. Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1978.
Leyser, Henrietta. Hermits and the New Monasticism. London: Macmillan, 1984.
McDonnell, Ernest W. “The Vita Apostolica: Diversity or Dissent.” Church History 24(1955):15–
31.
Violante, Cinzio. “La pauvreté dans les hérésies du XIe siècle.” In Études sur l’histoire de la
pauvreté, ed. Michel Mollat. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1974, pp. 347–69.
HERESY
. 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 pride rather than the humility and submission of
the true Christian. But what were the true teachings? In early Christianity, a charismatic
messianic movement with a moral rather than theological message, variations in teaching
abounded. The first Christian centuries are marked by constant, often vicious, mutual
accusations between groups, as the emerging institutional church attempted to enforce
discipline under the principles of “one shepherd one flock” (John 10:16) and “there is no
salvation outside the church.” For the church, orthodoxy emerged victorious because of
its direct links to the “apostolic tradition”; less partisan analyses suggest that orthodoxy
was merely the most successful heresy (Bauer). Ultimately, the labels “orthodox” and
“heretic” are political, applied by those with enough power to assert their will; rarely if
ever would “heretics” call themselves that. Support of Christianity by the emperor
Constantine (r. 307–37) transformed the situation: he demanded doctrinal and liturgical
unity (hence the councils and creeds of the 4th century); and he introduced the use of
state power to “discipline” dissidents. In the early 5th century, Augustine developed an
ideology whereby errant Christians could be “compelled to enter the church” out of love
for their souls, thus justifying official violence against heretics and schismatics.
Arianism alone of theological heresies survived the fall of Rome in the West, largely
because the Goths and Burgundians had converted to it in earlier centuries. Thus, the
Germanic kingdoms in southern Gaul, Spain, and Italy were ruled by an Arian and ethnic
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