It's disclaimer time here at the book club: I'm fully aware that Belloc's book is provocative. And his point of view is that Christianity is seen in it's fullness in Catholicism. Period. This will likely irritate many modern readers, but so be it. As Belloc discussed in the introduction, heresy has become an unused word.
For example, he is unapologetic about the following statement:
There is, as everybody knows, an institution proclaiming itself today the sole authoritative and divinely appointed teacher of essential morals and essential doctrine. This institution calls itself the Catholic Church.
Going further, Belloc states that,
Many through antagonism or lack of knowledge deny the identity of the Catholic Church today with the original Christian society.
Are you still with us? Because for Belloc, and for many others who have converted to Catholic Christianity, the matter of authority is a key issue. One which many don't concern themselves with. Not Belloc, though, because for him the matter of authority is crucial. May I suggest you switch off your "know-it-all-ness" for a bit and just listen to what he says? You'll be glad you did because in doing so you will gain the knowledge to identify "old hat" heresies dressed up in new clothing.
Santayana opined, and I paraphrase, that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Do you believe that? I admit that I do. Qoheleth, in Ecclesiastes, flatly states that what has been before will be again. So if we don't know what was "before," how will we know if we are being led astray? Well, I've come to believe the Church because,
From the day of Pentecost (some time between A.D. 29 and A.D. 33) onwards there has been a body of doctrine affirmed for instance, at the very outset, the Resurrection. And the organism by which that body of doctrine has been affirmed has been from the outset a body of men bound by a certain tradition through which they claimed to have the authority in question.
It is further historically true (though not universally admitted) that the claim of this body to be a divinely appointed voice for the statement of true doctrine on the matters essential to man (his nature, his ordeal in this world, his doom or salvation, his immortality, etc.) is to be found affirmed through preceding centuries, up to a little before the middle of the first century.
Belloc then provides brief sketches of the following heresies and how they attack the Catholic Church. Belloc claims that each of the following present a type of attack. They are as follows,
1) Arianism: Attacked the authority of the Church by denying the divinity of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity. But even more, it was a "large-scale reaction against the supernatural." Ever meet a Christian who scoffs at the miracles the Catholic Church has approved of? Sure you have.
2) Islam: So you thought this was an indigenous religion of the Middle East like Shinto Buddism is to Japan or Confucianism is to China? Belloc notes that Islam is essentially, a heresy alien rather than intimate. It threatened to kill the Christian Church by invasion rather than to undermine it from within. This should be interesting.
3)Albigensianism: Much like the Manichean heresy (that St. Augustine dabbled with prior to his conversion) with the concept of good fighting evil, and the equal power of the two. Combined with this is the idea that matter is evil and that "all pleasure, especially of the body, is evil." Ever heard Christians lamenting that our bodies are just corrupt and that we would be better off without them? Show of hands?
4)Protestants: Here is the elephant in the room, eh? Protestants denied the unity of the Church and the central authority Christ gave to Peter as his vicar. Denial of "not the doctrines it(new denominations) might happen to advance, but its very claim to advance them with unique authority" while rejecting unity. This one is going to be hairy!
5)The Modern: Belloc claimed this heresy was on the rise when he wrote this back in 1936 and it is probably blowing full force by now, wouldn't you say? If I can't touch, taste, see, or smell it, then it obviously doesn't exist. If it can't be measured and tested by the scientific method, then it is make-believe. This heresy, Belloc notes, came before all the other ones, so it looks like we are back to where they started.
Such are the five great movements antagonistic to the Faith. To concentrate our attention upon each in turn teaches us in separate examples the character of our religion and the strange truth that men cannot escape sympathy with it or hatred of it. To concentrate on these five main attacks has this further value, that between them they seem to sum up all the directions from which the assault can be delivered against the Catholic Faith.
Next week we jump into Arianism with the help of reader Mary R. Until then, happy reading!
