sect and religion

To the Jews, early Christians were just another fanatical group focused around a charismatic leader. Similarly, the sect of the Shakers would not have emerged from small group called the Wardley Society -- or stood out among the other small groups that arose in its day -- without the direct personal inspiration and motivation of Ann Lee.

The same conclusion is true for the many medieval heretical preachers who inspired hearers throughout Europe. For them, the sources of spiritual authority were at issue. From the medieval perspective, it was universally accepted that the ultimate source for all authority and authoritative knowledge is God. Conflict arose from the insistence by the Church that it alone provided relationship with and definition for that authority. Individuals whose experience told them that they could perceive God directly -- through the disciplines of mystical practices, through immediate divine inspiration, or through purity of life in imitation of Christ -- had to choose between an heretical identity, or submission to the authority of the Church.

For lack of a way out, the medieval solution to persecution was extermination, asphyxiation, reconversion, or survival in the mountains.

• Medieval heresy

• Although

• basis

• Introduction

• Most modern

• conclusions

• persecution

• communism

• notion

• cohesive factor