Heresy

Heresy is a belief or teaching judged contrary to the doctrines of a religious tradition. Its boundaries depend on the tradition and the authorities empowered to define orthodoxy.

Orthodoxy: Orthodoxy is conformity to the accepted beliefs and practices of a religious tradition. Heresy is identified against the doctrines a community treats as orthodox.
Early Christianity: Early Christianity is the movement and community of Christians in the first centuries CE. Christian debates about doctrine shaped influential early uses of the category heresy.
Apostasy: Apostasy is the abandonment or renunciation of a religious faith. Heresy challenges doctrine from within a tradition; apostasy leaves or renounces the faith.
Cathars: Cathars were medieval Christian dualists, especially associated with southern France and northern Italy. Cathar beliefs drew condemnation and helped prompt campaigns against alleged heresy.
Excommunication: Excommunication is exclusion from participation in a religious community or its rites. Some traditions use exclusion as a consequence of heresy.
Irenaeus of Lyons: Irenaeus of Lyons was a second-century Christian bishop and theologian who opposed teachings he considered heretical. His work Against Heresies catalogued and rebutted rival Christian teachings.
Blasphemy: Blasphemy is speech or action regarded as showing irreverence toward the sacred or divine. Blasphemy concerns perceived irreverence, not necessarily a doctrinal claim.
Albigensian Crusade: The Albigensian Crusade was a thirteenth-century military campaign against Catharism in southern France. It shows how a heresy campaign could become a prolonged political and military conflict.
Inquisition: An inquisition is a formal investigation into religious beliefs or alleged offenses, especially by church authorities. Inquisitions investigated and judged suspected heretical beliefs in particular historical settings.
Council of Nicaea: The Council of Nicaea was a Christian council convened in 325 to address disputes including the status of Christ. Its creed and condemnation of Arian teaching became a landmark in defining Christian orthodoxy.

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