Heresy

"Heretic", "heretical", and "heresies" redirect here. For the website, see Heretical (website). For other uses, see Heretic (disambiguation) and Heresy (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Hearsay.
The Gospel triumphs over Heresia and the Serpent. Gustaf Vasa Church, Stockholm, Sweden, sculpture by Burchard Precht.
A statue in Vienna portraying Saint Ignatius of Loyola trampling on a heretic
The burning of the pantheistic Amalrician heretics in 1210, in the presence of King Philip II Augustus. In the background is the Gibbet of Montfaucon and, anachronistically, the Grosse Tour of the Temple. Illumination from the Grandes Chroniques de France, c. AD 1455–1460.

Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization.[1][2] A heretic is a proponent of heresy.[1]

Heresy in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam has at times been met with censure ranging from excommunication to the death penalty.[3]

Heresy is distinct from apostasy, which is the explicit renunciation of one's religion, principles or cause;[4] and from blasphemy, which is an impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things.[5] Heresiology is the study of heresy.

  1. ^ a b "Heresy | Define Heresy at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  2. ^ "heresy – definition of heresy in English from the Oxford dictionary". oxforddictionaries.com. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012.
  3. ^ Sandle, Mark. 2007. "Soviet and Eastern bloc Marxism." pp. 59–77 in Twentieth-Century Marxism, edited by D. Glaser and D. M. Walker. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-13597974-4. p. 62.
  4. ^ "Apostasy | Learn everything there is to know about Apostasy at". Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  5. ^ "Definitions of "blasphemy" at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 2015-11-27.