Wretched of the Earth

I finished Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, so I am moving on to reading The Cloud of Unknowing. In fact, I started reading the introductory notes earlier, which helped to explain a lot of historical doctrine and context, but I cringed at the bias of the Catholic scholar. I am of two minds when it comes to this sort of thing. Part of me thinks that while historical context is important, good ideas cannot be solely attributed to history. Another side thinks that historical context needs to be taken into consideration, as the 'word-hoard' of language, figures of speech, idiom changes with time--e.g. argot, discourse--and events in time shape our focus (i.e. Black Plague or 9-11). However, I still think that some things never change, that "there is nothing new under the sun"--the 'word-hoard' has not altered enough to be alien to a modern reader.

Once again, I have digressed into blather. Sometimes I must learn to keep it to myself, or get to the point. As a matter of fact, today's post derives from reading the intro to The Cloud of Unknowing. The authour makes mention of certain Christian heresies, so I decided to list those heresies that I am aware of. It is at times like this I am reminded that I should refrain from dawdling. Then again, I find it rewarding to go off on tangents. Which brings me to my original point. My offtrack tangent, and confession for today is this: I am attracted to 'heretical' texts--supposedly forbidden things--so I allow myself to sidetrack to see what all the fuss is about. If you need a useless fact of the day, look into one of these 'heresies'--but please refrain from using these topics as ice-breakers; you might drown or be drowned.

(1) Encratism (2) Arianism (3) Donatism (4) Nestorianism (5) Monophysitism (Eutychianism) (6) Catharism (7) Waldensianism (8) Wycliffite (9) Sabellianism (10) Apollinarianism (11) Docetism (12) Ebionitism (13) Manichaeism (14) Gnosticism (15) Marcionism (16) Monarchianism (17) Monothelitism (18) Montanism (19) Pelagianism (20) Adoptionism (21) Modernism.

Perhaps I should vow to read a text BEFORE reading the introduction, as intros tend to be purse-handle spoilers.