Flashcards: Heresy in Christianity

In church history, the term acephali has been applied to several sects that supposedly had no leader.

Aquarii is a name given to the Christians who substituted water for wine in the Eucharist.

In Christianity, an antinomian is one who takes the principle of salvation by faith and divine grace to the point of asserting that the saved are not bound to follow the Law of Moses.

In Christian terminology, docetism (from the Greek δοκεῖν/δόκησις dokeĩn (to seem) dókēsis (apparition, phantom), according to Norbert Brox, is defined narrowly as "the doctrine according to which the phenomenon of Christ, his historical and bodily existence, and thus above all the human form of Jesus, was altogether mere semblance without any true reality." Broadly it is taken as the belief that Jesus only seemed to be human, and that his human form was an illusion. The word Δοκηταί Dokētaí (illusionists) referring to early groups who denied Jesus' humanity, first occurred in a letter by Bishop Serapion of Antioch (197–203), who discovered the doctrine in the Gospel of Peter, during a pastoral visit to a Christian community using it in Rhosus, and later condemned it as a forgery. It appea

Donatism (Latin: Donatismus, Greek: Δονατισμός Donatismós) was a Christian sect within the Roman province of Africa that flourished in the fourth and fifth centuries among Berber Christians.

Monothelitism or monotheletism (from Greek μονοθελητισμός "doctrine of one will") is a particular teaching about how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus, known as a Christological doctrine, that formally emerged in Armenia and Syria in 629.

Pelagianism is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without special divine aid.

Sola scriptura (Latin: by Scripture alone) is a Christian theological doctrine which holds that the Christian Scriptures are the supreme authority in all matters of doctrine and practice.

Marcionism was an Early Christian dualist belief system that originated in the teachings of Marcion of Sinope at Rome around the year 144.

Adoptionism, sometimes called dynamic monarchianism, is a nontrinitarian theological doctrine which holds that Jesus was adopted as the Son of God at his baptism, his resurrection, or his ascension.

Theopaschism is the belief that a god can suffer.

Lollardy (Lollardry, Lollardism) was a political and religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century to the English Reformation.

Monophysitism (/məˈnɒfᵻsaɪtᵻzəm/ or /məˈnɒfᵻsɪtᵻzəm/; Greek: μονοφυσιτισμός; Late Koine Greek [monofysitzˈmos] from μόνος monos, "only, single" and φύσις physis, "nature") is the Christological position that, after the union of the divine and the human in the historical Incarnation, Jesus Christ, as the incarnation of the eternal Son or Word (Logos) of God, had only a single "nature" which was either divine or a synthesis of divine and human.

Monoenergism (Greek: μονοενεργητισμός) is a Christian heresy related to and often paired with monophysitism.

Americanism was a group of related views among American Catholics, denounced as heresies by the Vatican, because they tended to endorse of the separation of church and state and encourage individualistic thinking.

Heresy has been a concern in Christian communities at least since the writing of the Second Epistle of Peter: "even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them" (2P. 2:1-AV).

When heresy is used today with reference to Christianity, it denotes the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Christian faith as defined by one or more of the Christian churches.

In the Catholic Church, modernism refers to theological opinions expressed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but with influence reaching into the 21st century, which are characterized by a break with the past.