1. Heresy:
heresy is an opinion or belief that contradicts an established religious
teaching. It is a theological doctrine or system that is officially rejected
and condemned as false by ecclesiastical authority. It is any religious
doctrine opposed to the dogma of a particular church, and a false teaching
against the church. It is an unorthodox religious opinion or belief, a doubt
that denies the truth which ought to be accepted by the virtue of divine or
catholic faith. Heresy is an obstinate post baptismal denial or doubt of a
truth that must be believed as a matter of divine revelation and taught by the
catholic faith (can, 751).
2. Apologist: This
is a title of honor bestowed on one well versed in Christian doctrine and
capable of defending it against attacks. It refers to Christian writers of the
second century who defended the doctrines of Christianity. They defended the
accusations and charges leveled against the church. They are the early
Christian writers of the 2nd century who refuted the pagan
accusations against the church.
3. Arianism: this
is the heresy of Arius, a priest from Alexandria. It is a fourth century heresy
that says that the son of God is not truly divine but created, implying that
Jesus is unbegotten and not eternal. It is a heresy that asserts that the son
is inferior to the father and of a different substance. This is a heresy that
denies the divinity of Jesus Christ and was condemned by the council of Nicaea.
Arianism entails that Christ could not be considered son of God except in a
subordinate and inferior sense.
4. Monophysitism: this
is a Christian schismatic sect of the 5th and 6th centuries that
maintained that Christ had only one (divine) nature. It is a belief that denies
the humanity of Jesus Christ after incarnation. This is a doctrine that denies
the double nature of Jesus as asserted by the council of Chalcedon in 451.
Monophysitism is a doctrine that affirms only a single nature for Jesus Christ.
This is a schismatic belief that restricts Christ to be only a divine being.
5. Nestorianism:
this is a heretic doctrine that denies the reality of the incarnation and
represents Christ as a God-inspired man rather than as God-made-man. This is
doctrine acclaims that two distinct persons, on divine and the other human,
existed in Jesus Christ. Nestorianism impugned the divinity of Christ and in
particular the Marian title of Theotokos, and it is one of the principal
heresies in Christology. It asserts the full humanity of Christ’s human nature,
it is condemned by the councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon. This is the heretical
belief that there were two separate persons in Christ, in contrast to the
orthodox teaching that in Christ there is only one divine person.
6. Dualism: this
is a doctrine that the world (or reality) consists of two basic, opposed, and
irreducible principles of good and evil that account for all that exists.
Dualism means the belief in two supreme opposed powers or gods, or sets of
divine or demonic beings, that caused the world to exist. Dualism is a view
that reduces reality to two equally primordial and mutually opposed principles.
This is a doctrine that asserts that the forces of good and evil are coequal
and coeternal. This is a conception of the link and coexistence of spiritual
and material realities.
7. Agnosticism: this
is a view that God’s existence is not provable: the belief that it is
impossible to know whether or not God exist. A doctrine that the existence of God and other spiritual
beings is neither certain nor impossible. This is a view that ultimate reality
is unknown and unknowable since they are not empirical. It is a form of
skepticism about religious claims and metaphysical knowledge. This refers to
the doctrine that humans cannot know of the existence of anything
beyond the phenomena of their experience; it denies the knowability of God and
the immortality of the soul, it equally holds that religious faith should not
attempt to engage in apologetics.
8. Gnosticism: this
is an early religious teaching that salvation comes by learning esoteric
spiritual truths that free humanity from the material world. This is a heresy
that claimed salvation was based on a secret knowledge of the divine realm by a
heavenly revealer. It is a conviction that matter is evil. This is equally a
religious belief according to which salvation depends upon a singular knowledge
or inner enlightenment about God, which liberates a person from the ignorance
and evil that characterize the created order.
9. Marcionism: The
doctrinal system of a sect of the second and third centuries a.d. accepting some parts of the New
Testament but denying Christ's corporality and humanity and condemning the
Creator God of the Old Testament. This is a belief that rejected the Old Testament
and the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ as a human being. This teaching
rejected creation and regarded matter and body as evil. This is a teaching that
held that the God of the old testament is not the same as the God of the new
testament.
10. Donatism: this
is schismatic heretic doctrine that held that sacraments administered by an
unworthy minister are invalid and that sinners could not be members of the
church. It is a heretical
Christian movement of the 4th and 5th centuries, which claimed that the validity
of the sacraments depends on the moral and spiritual character of the minister.
This doctrine holds that sanctity is an essential priority for the
administration of sacrament and church membership. This doctrine holds that an
unworthy minister cannot administer a valid sacrament.
11.
Pelagianism:
this
is the belief of the heretical Christian monk Pelagius that people can earn
salvation through their own efforts, without relying on the grace of God. This
is a doctrine that rejects the concept of original sin and the need for infant
baptism. It is a rationalistic
and naturalistic heretical doctrine concerning grace and morals, which
emphasizes human free will as the decisive element in human perfectibility and
minimizes or denies the need for divine grace and redemption. Pelagianism
refers to the teachings of the heretic fifth century British monk, Pelagius.
This doctrine teaches that every good can be gotten through prayer except
virtue, and that a person is a free created but autonomous individual who can
observe the law of God by mere human powers.
12.
Eutychianism:
this
is an extreme form of monophysism, it asserts that Jesus Christ has two natures
before the hypostatic union which was fused into one at his incarnation. This
is the teachings of the fifth century Byzantine monk, Eutyches. This heretic
teaching affirms only the divine nature of Jesus and denies his human nature,
thereby denying the title of Our Lady as Theotokos. This doctrine holds that
the human nature of Jesus was fully absorbed into his divine nature at
incarnation. This is an extreme form of monophysism.
13.
Apollinarianism:
heretical doctrine taught by
Apollinaris the Younger, bishop of Laodicea in Syria during the 4th century.
This is a heretical teaching that in Jesus Christ a divine nature took the
place of the rational human soul and mind. This is a heresy that maintained
that the Logos, or divine nature in Christ, took the place of the rational
human soul or mind of Christ and that the body of Christ was a spiritualized
and glorified form of humanity. This teaching denies the existence of a human
soul in the person of Jesus Christ. This doctrine held that the divine logos
became embodied in human flesh but that Jesus had only one nature, a fourth
century heresy that asserts that Jesus had a human body and human soul but no
human mind.
14.
Montanism:
this
is a heretical movement founded by
the prophet Montanus that arose in the Christian church in Phrygia, Asia Minor,
in the 2nd century. This is a heretic teaching that Christ's second coming was imminent and that one fallen
from grace could not be redeemed. This is a doctrine that preaches moral and
ascetical rigorism. This doctrine denies the power of the church to forgive
sins. This doctrine claims to be the oracle of the Holy Spirit and a possessor
of true charismatic qualities and they believe that post-baptismal sins could
not be forgiven.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Joseph A. Komonchak, Mary Collins,
and Dermot A. Lane (Ed). The New
Dictionary of Theology. Theological Publications in India, Bangalore. 2006.
2. Donald Attwater (Ed). A Catholic Dictionary, third edition.
Tan Books and Publishers, INC. Rockford, Illinois. 1997.
3. Richard P. McBrien [et al] (Ed). The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of
Catholicism. HarperCollins Publishers, New York. 1995.
4. Rev Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D.,
S.T.L (Ed). CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA.
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Inc. Huntington, Indiana. 1991.
5. Karl Rahner (Ed). Encyclopedia of THEOLOGY: A Concise
Sacramentum Mundi. Staples Printers Rochester Limited, Rochester, Kent.
1993.
6. Rev. Jovian P. Lang, OFM. Dictionary of the Liturgy. Catholic Book
Publishing Co,. New York. U.S.A. 1989.
A SHORT NOTE ON SPECIFIC HERESY
BY
MUOGBO MICHAEL IZUCHUKWU
SS/PP/2368
A Term Paper submitted to the
Department of Philosophy, Seminary of Saints Peter and Paul, Bodija, Ibadan, in
Affiliation with the University of Ibadan, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Award of the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy (B.A.
HONS.).
TERM
PAPER: write short notes not more than five sentences on
the following terms: Heresy, Arianism, Monophysitism, Nestorianism, Dualism,
Agnosticism, Gnosticism, Marcionism, Donatism, Pelagianism, Turaficati and
Certificati, Eutychianism, Apolinarianism, and Montanism.
COURSE:
PATROLOGY
1
COURSE
CODE:
SS/RCS/319
LECTURER:
FR.
JOSEPH AKANBI
DATE:
NOVEMBER, 2014.
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