On the other hand the will may freely incline the intellect to adhere to tenets declared false by the Divine teaching authority of the Church. The heretical tenets may be ignorance of the true creed, erroneous judgment, imperfect apprehension and comprehension of dogmas: in none of these does the will play an appreciable part, wherefore one of the necessary conditions of sinfulness-free choice-is wanting and such heresy is merely objective, or material. The believer accepts the whole deposit as proposed by the Church the heretic accepts only such parts of it as commend themselves to his own approval. The subject-matter of both faith and heresy is, therefore, the deposit of the faith, that is, the sum total of truths revealed in Scripture and Tradition as proposed to our belief by the Church. There are, therefore, two ways of deviating from Christianity: the one by refusing to believe in Christ Himself, which is the way of infidelity, common to Pagans and Jews the other by restricting belief to certain points of Christ's doctrine selected and fashioned at pleasure, which is the way of heretics. "The right Christian faith consists in giving one's voluntary assent to Christ in all that truly belongs to His teaching. Thomas (II-II:11:1) defines heresy: "a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas". In later Greek, philosophers' schools, as well as religious sects, are "heresies". Peter (II, ii, 1) applies the term to Christian sects: "There shall be among you lying teachers who shall bring in sects of perdition ". Justin ( Dialogue with Trypho 18) uses airesis in the same sense. Paul is described to the Roman governor Felix as the leader of the heresy ( aireseos) of the Nazarenes ( Acts 24:5) the Jews in Rome say to the same Apostle: "Concerning this sect, we know that it is everywhere contradicted" ( Acts 28:22). Josephus applies the name ( airesis) to the three religious sects prevalent in Judea since the Machabean period: the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Essenes (Bel. The term heresy connotes, etymologically, both a choice and the thing chosen, the meaning being, however, narrowed to the selection of religious or political doctrines, adhesion to parties in Church or State. Intolerance and cruelty Connotation and definition Ecclesiastical jurisdiction over heretics Church legislation on heresy: ancient, medieval, present-day legislation Christ, the Apostles, and the Fathers on heresy Origin, spread, and persistence of heresy Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more all for only $19.99. Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download.
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