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Heresies Often Are Catalysts For Theological Reflection

Heresies Often Are Catalysts For Theological Reflection

Last updated on: February 12, 2026 at 2:53 am by Henry Karlson

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Heresies Often Are Catalysts For Theological Reflection 2026-02-12T02:53:39-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Heresies Seek To Undermine Our Communion. Photo From Ted: Communion Of The Apostles, St. Paul the Apostle Orthodox Church, Dayton, Ohio / Wikimedia Commons

Paul said that within the church, factions, and with them, heresies, that is private opinions which seek to divide up the church, would develop. “For, in the first place, when you assemble as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized” (1 Cor. 11:18-19 RSV). There will be those who, leaning on their own understanding and pride, will establish and promote heresies that will challenge Christianity; they will promote adherence to themselves over the greater community, leading to division instead of Christian unity. These factions, these heresies, will challenge Christians to understand the truth of the faith, to discern not only the truths found in those heresies, but the errors in the ways those truths are presented. Christians must respond to such heresies in the right fashion, that is, both in charity, but also with wisdom, lest in responding to a heresy, they likewise create a new one themselves and go astray as well.

The main problem with heresies, therefore, is that they divide up what should not be divided, undermining the work of Christ because Christ seeks to bring unity into a divided world. They use some element of the truth and turn it against the fullness of the truth itself, which is why they can entice many to follow them. They make their followers think denying their heretical teaching, the truths would automatically be denied, but that, of course, is not the case, as there are other ways to engage those truths. Nonetheless, when trying to deal with the claims of various heresies, we must acknowledge the truths which they are using. We must recognize not everything they teach is wrong, as Pope St Leo the Great indicated:

With other heresies, dearly beloved – though all of them deserve to be condemned in their contradiction among themselves – each heresy, taken in isolation, has something that might be true with respect to some part of it. [1]

If we dismissed any heresy as being completely and utterly false, we would have to end up denying the truth being presented by it. This is why it is imperative that we discern the truth which it is using and show how that truth is better represented in orthodox teaching, where that particular truth is allowed to find its proper place in the greater, holistic truth. Heresies are dangerous, therefore, not only by having Christian unity undermined, but also by the way it divides up the holistic truth. Many heresies are simple mistakes and those who make them end up being easily corrected, but when pride is in play, then those who create a heresy want to impose their private and imperfect view on the whole of the church. Such heretics are unwilling to listen to correction. This is why they end up bringing division into the church, because they will try to convince many Christians to follow them in their error instead of following the church. At the earliest stages of such conflicts, there might be a few rounds of dialogue which take place, but in the end, if the root causes of the heresy are not properly dealt with, and the number of its adherents continue to grow, hostility will arise until, at last, the church becomes divided. This is why it is better to deal with emerging heresies early on; to do that, church leaders and theologians need to understand why such heresies have arisen, the problems which they seek to answer, and provide a better solution to those problems than the heresy itself. If this does not happen the church becomes divided, it will happen after, but it will be much more difficult to do so, and not everyone will be able to be brought back to the orthodox faith. Thus, though they are dangerous, especially as they lead us away from the way of charity and communion, we must recognize when heresies arise, we are being shown a theological need, a concern which should be given a proper theological response, one which acknowledges the elements of truth upheld by the heresy while showing those elements of the truth the heresy have ignored. This is why Leonardo Boff says, despite the danger contained in them, when heresies arise, the church is forced to deal with issues it has ignored, and this is what will lead to significant, indeed, necessary theological development in the Christian tradition:

Heresies are doctrines which do not allow faith to find itself in them or devotion to recognize itself in them, or formulas which contradict the normative data of scriptures. They constitute a grave danger to the faith; nevertheless, they also enable theology to move forward, since their refutation requires careful study and a more precise deepening of faith itself.[2]

Thus, heresies arise because the church, especially its clergy and theologians, have not properly dealt with the questions and concerns the faithful have concerning their faith. Some, starting with good intentions, take the lead, trying to help the faithful find answers, but sadly, they make mistakes when they do so. This becomes a serious problem when they become so attached to the mistakes they made they end up stopping authentic theological development themselves.

Sadly, history shows, the church often did not engage heresies in the best fashion; rather, it became the means for the institution and various authorities within it to reify their position and authority in the church instead of seeking to help those in need and engage others with the love needed to preserve unity:

Even though it has beneficial consequences, the concentration of churches around the bishop for self-defense in the battle against schisms and heresies also leads to a certain hypertrophy of sacramental hierarchism, which disrupts the ecclesial equilibrium. This historical development results in the general conviction that the Church is precisely a hierarchal organization that is adequate to and perfectly realizes the body of Christ. [3]

That is, even when the church offers a good theological answer to the question at hand, it often does so in a bad fashion, one which promotes clericalism; our focus becomes less on the doctrine or dogma being explained and more on the authority of the church and those who proclaim its teachings. Sergius Bulgakov, in his criticism of the institutionalization and clericalism of the church, did not deny the value of the sacrament of orders, nor the importance of theology (after all, he was a priest and a theologian), but he understood how the institutional church has harmed people by the way it let clericalism takeover. The answers given might be formally correct, but the actions of the church, and its leaders, often was just as bad as the heretics. The church and its officials were not as humble as they should have been. Bulgakov reminds us that we should look for ways we can come together in the eucharistic feast, to realize our communion comes through it and not our theological debates. Even Paul hinted at this: his discussion concerning heresies and divisions came in the midst of his discussion of the eucharist, pointing out that we should come together in the spirit of communion and engage each other in and with the spirit of love instead of looking for reasons to undermine that love and become divided:

When you meet together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. (1 Cor. 11:20-22 RSV).

When we come together for communion, we should let the spirit of communion, the spirit of love, make sure we do not deny or break apart our unity with each other. We must share in the eucharistic gifts with a spirit of love, for such love is necessary for us to properly commune with the Lord, and through the Lord, with each other. We should not come to the table seeking to promote ourselves, our own private desires. We have our own lives, our own homes, where we can deal with them; when we come together, we are to transcend ourselves and engage the charity that not only will help us commune with each other, but to properly dialogue with each other and deal with the theological questions we have. That way, those questions will not need to lead to division but will actually help us learn together and discern the truth together, with the help of the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, who we receive with Christ in communion, because the Spirit came upon him and is with him since his baptism.

[1] St Leo the Great, Sermons. Trans. Jane Patricia Freeland CSJB and Agnes Josephine Conway SSJ (Washington, DC: CUA Press, 1996), 95-6 [Sermon 24].

[2] Leonardo Boff, Trinity and Society. Trans Paul Burns (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988; second printing, 1997), 46.

[3] Sergius Bulgakov, Bride of the Lamb. Trans. Boris Jakim (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002), 276.

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