Heresy in Christianity

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Heresy in Christianity denotes the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Christian faith as defined by one or more of the Christian churches.

As Christianity became established as a church, it defined orthodoxy and combated deviation from it by developing ecclesiastical, universal, and ecumenical councils. Excommunication, inquisition, and execution (by civil authorities) were used against heretics who refused to recant, and major heresies were sometimes dealt with by military crusades. With the growth of toleration and ecumenicalism, inquisitions have been abandoned.

The first Christian executed for heresy was Priscillian in 385 CE, and the last was Cayetano Ripoll, (accused of Deism) in 1826 CE. Some notable heresies in Christian history have been Arianism, Marcionism, Donatism, Catharism, Docetism, Gnosticism, Pelagianism, Conciliarism, and Lollardy.