History of Heresy

[Davidium]

I find that my subconscious often gives me some neat ideas while I am asleep... and this morning I woke with a neat idea....

I had the idea to write a "History of Heresy".... History told from the perspective of the religious rebels throughout time....
Part of my being a Unitarian Universalist and a Deist is that I veiw myself as a religoius heretic...

Each chapter could be about a different heretic, told in chronological order... Short biographies if you will. Maybe I can actually produce a book if I think of it as 25 short essays instead of one book!

So then, I was quickly considering who would be my heretics... Of course there would be Tom Paine, Michael Servetius, Arias, Marsilius of Padua, Martin Luther, William Ellery Channing and Ralph Waldo Emerson....

And then I had the thought of including heretics from other faith traditions... the person who wrote the buddhist Lotus Sutra, and an Islamic heretic or two.... and then the idea came to me to write about a few Jewish heretics....

Who would they be? One name popped into my mind.... Jesus of Nazareth.

From the Jewish perspective, Jesus can only be looked at as a Heretic. He was even killed for his heresy. In fact, he might even be the ultimate example of a heretic.

Paul codified the Heresy, made it into a separate faith... but Jesus himself was a religious radical, considered dangerous by the power structure.... Heresy.

Now, the next time a Christian calls me a Heretic, I will remind them what good company I am in.....

David

 

[michel]

Davidium;


You sound as if you had your evening meal too late last night; perhaps you had some cheese ? _I recommend you eat a banana before going to bed, after a quick stroll round the block. If the problem persists, let me know, and we can try something different.................

 

[Dreamwolf]

Hey I would buy that book or should I say series of 25 or so short stories as the case may be. And I agree with you for what it is worth, Jesus when thought of in that context would be catagorized as a heretic.

Blessings!

 

[lilithu]

Now, the next time a Christian calls me a Heretic, I will remind them what good company I am in.....

I love it! :jiggy:

 

[Druidus]

I would definately buy that book. Write it! If you have trouble, I'd be glad to collaborate with you on it, each writing seperate chapters. I bet we could bang together a rough manuscript by the end of the summer! That is, if you want to cooperate...

Otherwise... I'll sneak into your house and kill you! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! j/k

 

[ayani]

what a cool idea! i'd definately buy a book like that.

 

[Davidium]

I was thinking about doing it during the summers of Seminary.... but you all may have me starting sooner...

The thing is, to do it, I would want to do it right. I am a historian by training, and a future Chaplain by calling...

Thank you all for the motivation!

Do you all have some suggestions for Heretics you might like to see included?

David

 

[lilithu]

Do you all have some suggestions for Heretics you might like to see included?

Galileo.

 

[Scuba Pete]

Jesus is still seen as a heretic to this day!

Love God?

Love EVERYONE ELSE???

Whodathunk!

Awesome thread and Frubals on your head!

 

[niceguy]

Giordano Bruno

 

[niceguy]

My above post was written in a hurry just before I left for work. Now to why I belive Bruno should be mentioned. Bruno who ended up been burned at the stake for his belives so he did pay the ultimate price for a heretic and that in itself should yeild some interest. What is really fascinating with him thou is his view of an infinite universe filled with may worlds, not just one. That he dared to suggest that the stars are suns like our own and that there be other worlds orbiting them.

This means that he did what some reliques conservatives fear the most, that we should be robbed of our uniqueness in our relation to God and thus making the creation so much larger that we become insignificant in comparison to the classical view. To suggest that God may have not one but an infinity of worlds to work with and thus we would become so small indeed. We can no longer be Gods pet people if we have to share God's attention with some other people in he next galaxy, and the next and the next and the next....

 

[lilithu]

Bruno who ended up been burned at the stake for his belives so he did pay the ultimate price for a heretic and that in itself should yeild some interest. What is really fascinating with him thou is his view of an infinite universe filled with may worlds, not just one.

Actually, he postulated an infinite number of universes - each universe actualizing a slightly different potential from the next out of an infinite number of potentials. (basically, he thought that every potentiality should be an actuality - that if God is infinite, God would not be limited just to our actuality.)

With the new brane theory, I'm thinking that Bruno could be right!

That he dared to suggest that the stars are suns like our own and that there be other worlds orbiting them.

This means that he did what some reliques conservatives fear the most, that we should be robbed of our uniqueness in our relation to God and thus making the creation so much larger that we become insignificant in comparison to the classical view. To suggest that God may have not one but an infinity of worlds to work with and thus we would become so small indeed. We can no longer be Gods pet people if we have to share God's attention with some other people in he next galaxy, and the next and the next and the next....

The thing that got him burned that the stake was even more radical than that. (Afterall, scientists were already suggesting that we were not the center of the universe and thus possibly not God's primary concern.) Bruno postulated that in an infinity of universes, in some of the universes Jesus never lived, and in some of the universes where Jesus lived, Jesus was never crucified.

 

[niceguy]

It is good to find someone with a little more deep information on Bruno. Well it seems that we agree that he definitly needs to be mentioned, especially that thing of the alternate universes, Bruno was definilty a great thinker it seems.

 

[lilithu]

Well it seems that we agree that he definitly needs to be mentioned, especially that thing of the alternate universes, Bruno was definilty a great thinker it seems.

Yes, it was a great suggestion!

 

[Dreamwolf]

I am a Philosophy major anything you think I could help with just ask! I really want to see that book on shelves! So I can be one of the first ones in line to buy it.