The Great Heresies
by Hilaire Belloc

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Book Reviews of The Great Heresies

Book Review: "Heresies survive by the truth they contain"
Summary: 5 Stars

This book is not a theological refutation of heresy, but an historical and sociological account of the effect that heresies have on civilization, even long after they have been abandonned.

"Heresies survive by the truths they contain"??? Can there be any truth in heresy? "What, can the devil speak true?" (That's for you fans of Shakespeare's "Macbeth").

Yes, there is truth in heresy. But the truth is oversimplified, exaggerated, and mixed with falsehoods. That is what makes the heresy dangerous - heresies appeal to those who want a simpler truth (even if the truth is not so simple), and heresies hide their lies behind those truths.

This sets the tone for the whole book, and it also serves to make the heresies and their appeal much easier to understand.

After discussing heresy in general, the author goes on to describe five of the great ones (Arianism, Mohammedanism, The Albigensians, Protestantism, and The Modern Attack). He discusses how they came to be, how they affected the contemporary world, how they still affect us today, and what the world would have been like if the heresy had prevailed. And, his section on the Modern Attack is nothing less than prophetic, when you realize that the deteriorations he discusses, deteriorations we face in society today, he wrote about back in 1938 - a time when protestantism was just beginning to embrace artificial contraception.

Well, Hilaire Belloc is now my favorite author. Read this book, and he will become one of your favorites too!

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