Defining Heresy: The Shifting Boundaries of Religion

 

DIRECTOR:

Haym Soloveitchik, Yeshiva University

 

CO-DIRECTORS:

Isaiah M. Gafni, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Guy G. Stroumsa, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

 

Religious traditions often undergo historical processes of differentiation, whereby the emerging dominant party identifies itself as "orthodox", while the defeated groups assume the role of "schismatics". The School will examine a variety of such breakaway phenomena as they appear, from antiquity through the Middle Ages and up to the modern and contemporary periods in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The comparative approach to religious structures and societies that reflects the different, but in many ways related religions, will afford a better understanding of the unique distinction of each one. During the sessions we will analyze the causes that led to the emergence of these "heresies", the steps taken by the established religious authorities to counteract their influence among the faithful, and the impact these controversies had on the self-image and subsequent history of the "orthodox" groups.