Brethren of the Free Spirit

The Brethren of the Free Spirit (Brüder und Schwestern des Freien Geistes) was a medieval heretical pantheistic movement. The movement was condemned by Pope Clement V at the Council of Vienne (1311). The beginnings of medieval pantheistic Christian theology lie in the early 13th century, with theologians at Paris such as David of Dinant and Amalric of Bena (died 1207), as well as Ortlieb of Strassburg and was ...

Including:

• Brethren of the Free Spirit - Literature

Read more here: » Brethren of the Free Spirit: Encyclopedia - Brethren of the Free Spirit

See also:

Amalric of Bena, Amalric of Bena - Propositions

Read more here: » Amalric of Bena: Encyclopedia II - Amalric of Bena - Propositions

(should be part of Freethinking?) Freethinkers strive to form their opinions on the basis of facts and reason. An idealized statement of this attitude is "Clifford's Credo," an aphorism of the 19th Century British mathematician and philosopher William Kingdon Clifford who wrote in his "Ethics of Belief" that "It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence." Because so many popular beliefs are based on tradition or authority, freethinkers' opinions are often at odds with established dogmatic, politic ...

See also:

Freethought, Freethought - Freethinkers, Freethought - Freethought and Religion, Freethought - Related Concepts, Freethought - Necessity of Faith, Freethought - History, Freethought - Bibliography

Read more here: » Freethought: Encyclopedia II - Freethought - Freethinkers

Heresy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a "theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the catholic or orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, creed, or religious system, considered as orthodox. By extension, [heresy is an] opinion or doctrine in philosophy, politics, science, art, etc., at variance with those generally accepted as authoritative." Heresy - Etymology. The word "heresy" comes from ...

Including:

• Heresy - Etymology
• Heresy - Religious heresy
• Heresy - Christianity
• Heresy - Heresy in Judaism
• Heresy - Heresy in Islam
• Heresy - Contemporary heresy

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In Western society, where Christianity is the dominant religious tradition, Freethought by definition involves a rejection of these established principles. Where other dogmas or doctrines are prevalent, those who dissent from them on the basis of facts and rational analysis also exhibit the principles of freethought. This will apply regardless of what the prevailing or approved doctrine might be, whether religious or not. Freethinkers neither accept nor reject ideas proposed as truth without recourse to facts and reason. A rejection of any i ...

See also:

Freethought, Freethought - Freethinkers, Freethought - Freethought and Religion, Freethought - Related Concepts, Freethought - Necessity of Faith, Freethought - History, Freethought - Bibliography

Read more here: » Freethought: Encyclopedia II - Freethought - Freethought and Religion

Freethought can be viewed as varying in its quality and strength. Believers in any supernaturalistic religious tradition, for example, may suppose that they hold their faith on the basis of facts and reason. They may even fail to realize that faith would then not be necessary. Nevertheless, they may be willing to question or even to reject the religious teachings which they had previously accepted and this stance is certainly in line with that of Freethought. Similarly, Deists claim that they can know that a deity exists through ratio ...

See also:

Freethought, Freethought - Freethinkers, Freethought - Freethought and Religion, Freethought - Related Concepts, Freethought - Necessity of Faith, Freethought - History, Freethought - Bibliography

Read more here: » Freethought: Encyclopedia II - Freethought - Necessity of Faith

The word "heresy" comes from the Greek αιρεσις, hairesis (from αιρεομαι, haireomai, "choose"), which means either a choice of beliefs or a faction of dissident believers. It was given wide currency by Irenaeus in his tract Contra Haereses (Against Heresies) to describe and discredit his opponents in the early Christian Church. He described his own position as orthodox (from ortho- "straight" + doxa "thinking") and his position eventually evolved into the pos ...

See also:

Heresy, Heresy - Etymology, Heresy - Religious heresy, Heresy - Christianity, Heresy - Heresy in Judaism, Heresy - Heresy in Islam, Heresy - Contemporary heresy

Read more here: » Heresy: Encyclopedia II - Heresy - Etymology

Heresy - Christianity. The use of the term heresy in the context of Christianity is less common today, with some notable exceptions: see for example Rudolf Bultmann and the character of debates over ordaining women and gay priests. Popular imagination relegates "heresy" to the Middle Ages, when the Church's power in Europe was at its height, but the case of the scholar and humanist Giordano Bruno was not the last execution for heresy. Heresy remained an officially punishable offense in Roman Catholi ...

See also:

Heresy, Heresy - Etymology, Heresy - Religious heresy, Heresy - Christianity, Heresy - Heresy in Judaism, Heresy - Heresy in Islam, Heresy - Contemporary heresy

Read more here: » Heresy: Encyclopedia II - Heresy - Religious heresy

Today, heresy can be without a religious context as the holding of ideas that are in fundamental disagreement with the status quo in any practice and branch of knowledge. Religion is not a necessary component of the term's definition. [1] For example, Charles Darwin of natural selection fame was considered a heretic of his day. Other people considered heretics were Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus, and many others. The revisionist paleontologist Robert T. Bakker, who published his findings as The Dinosaur Heresies, jokingly treated the mainstream ...

See also:

Heresy, Heresy - Etymology, Heresy - Religious heresy, Heresy - Christianity, Heresy - Heresy in Judaism, Heresy - Heresy in Islam, Heresy - Contemporary heresy

Read more here: » Heresy: Encyclopedia II - Heresy - Contemporary heresy

Since Illuminati literally means 'enlightened ones' in Latin, it is natural that several unrelated historical groups have identified themselves as Illuminati. Often, this was due to claims of possessing gnostic texts or other arcane information not generally available. The designation illuminati was also in use from the 14th century by the Brethren of the Free Spirit, and in the 15th century was assumed by other enthusiasts who claimed that the illuminating light came, not by being communicated from an authoritative but secret source, but from within, the result of exal ...

See also:

Illuminati, Illuminati - Origins, Illuminati - Alumbrados of Spain, Illuminati - Illuminés of France, Illuminati - Rosicrucians, Illuminati - Martinists, Illuminati - The Bavarian Illuminati, Illuminati - History, Illuminati - Cultural effect, Illuminati - The Illuminati in popular culture

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The Beghards were a religious associations of men in Europe, organized similarly to the Beguines. They resembled Franciscan monks. Their origin is not known, however they appeared at Louvain in 1220 and soon spread into Germany, France, and Italy. They survived into the 15th century. The Beghards were condemned by the Council of Vienne (1311), allegedly for teaching that those who gain perfection in this life cannot commit sin and therefore cannot be blamed for any act. This idea was foreshadowed in the Albigensian teachings. The Begh

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Catharism was a religious movement with Gnostic elements that originated around the middle of the 10th century, branded by the contemporary Roman Catholic Church as heretical. It existed throughout much of Western Europe, but its home was in Languedoc and surrounding areas in southern France. The name Cathar most likely originated from Greek καθαροί, "pure ones". One of the first recorded uses is Eckbert von Schönau, who wrote on heretics from Colog ...

Including:

• Cathar - Origins
• Cathar - Beliefs
• Cathar - The human condition
• Cathar - Eschatology
• Cathar - Consolamentum
• Cathar - Theology
• Cathar - Social relationships
• Cathar - Suppression
• Cathar - Influences
• Cathar - The Holy Grail
• Cathar - Visigoths

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Pantheism (Greek: pan = all and Theos = God) literally means "God is All" and "All is God". It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. More detailed definitions tend to emphasize the idea that natural law, existence, and/or the universe (the sum total of all that is, was, and shall be) is represented or personified in the theological principle of 'God'. Pantheism - History. The term "pantheist" — of which th ...

Including:

• Pantheism - History
• Pantheism - Varieties of pantheism
• Pantheism - Methods of explanation
• Pantheism - Debate
• Pantheism - Related concepts
• Pantheism - Panentheism
• Pantheism - Cosmotheism
• Pantheism - Pantheistic concepts in religion
• Pantheism - Hinduism
• Pantheism - Ayyavazhi
• Pantheism - Judaism
• Pantheism - Christian
• Pantheism - Islam
• Pantheism - Other religions
• Pantheism - Quotations

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The Illuminati is the name of many groups, modern and historical, real and fictitious, verified and alleged. Most commonly, however, The Illuminati refers specifically to the Bavarian Illuminati, the least secret of all secret societies in the world, described below. Most use refers to an alleged shadowy conspiratorial organization which controls world affairs behind the scenes, usually a modern incarnation or continuation of the Bavarian Illuminati. Illuminati is sometimes used synonymously with New World Order.< ...

Including:

• Illuminati - Origins
• Illuminati - Alumbrados of Spain
• Illuminati - Illuminés of France
• Illuminati - Rosicrucians
• Illuminati - Martinists
• Illuminati - The Bavarian Illuminati
• Illuminati - History
• Illuminati - Cultural effect
• Illuminati - The Illuminati in popular culture

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Cathar - The human condition. The Cathars proclaimed there existed within humankind a spark of divine light. This light, or spirit, had fallen into captivity within a realm of corruption - identified with the material world. This was a distinct feature of classical Gnosticism, of Manichaeism and of the theology of the Bogomils. This concept of the human condition within Catharism most probably was due to direct and indirect historical influences from these older (and sometimes also violently suppressed) Gnostic m ...

See also:

Cathar, Cathar - Origins, Cathar - Beliefs, Cathar - The human condition, Cathar - Eschatology, Cathar - Consolamentum, Cathar - Theology, Cathar - Social relationships, Cathar - Suppression, Cathar - Influences, Cathar - The Holy Grail, Cathar - Visigoths

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The mystical basis of his teaching is his doctrine of the "Eternal Gospel," founded on aninterpretation of the text in Revelation xiv, 6. His theories can be considered millenarist; he believed that history, on analogy with the Trinity, was divided into three fundamental epochs: The Age of the Father, corresponding to the Old Testament, characterized by obedience of mankind to the Rules of God; The Age of the Son, between the advent of Christ and 1260, represented by the New Testament, when the Man ...

See also:

Joachim of Fiore, Joachim of Fiore - Books, Joachim of Fiore - Theory of the three ages, Joachim of Fiore - Condemnation, Joachim of Fiore - Neojoachimism

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By the 1770s, atheism was ceasing to be a dangerous accusation that required denial, and was evolving into a position openly avowed by some. The first open denial of the existence of god and avowal of atheism since classical times may be that of Paul Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789) in his 1770 work, The System of Nature. D'Holbach was a Parisian social figure who conducted a famous salon widely attended by many intellectual notables of the day, including Diderot, Jean Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Benjamin Franklin. Nevertheless, his book was published under a pseudonym ...

See also:

History of atheism, History of atheism - Early Eastern Philosophy, History of atheism - Classical Greece and Rome, History of atheism - The Middle Ages, History of atheism - The Renaissance the Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment, History of atheism - The Modern Period, History of atheism - The 20th Century, History of atheism - Bibliography

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John of Ruysbroeck - Until his ordination. John had a devout mother, who brought him up in the Catholic faith; of his father we know nothing. John's surname Van Ruusbroec is not a surname in the modern sense but a toponym that refers to his native hamlet, modern-day Ruisbroek near Brussels (compare John of Salisbury or Democritus of Abdera). At the age of eleven he left his mother, departing without leave or warning, to place himself under the guidance and tuition of his uncle, Jan Hinckaert, a canon of St ...

See also:

John of Ruysbroeck, John of Ruysbroeck - Life, John of Ruysbroeck - Until his ordination, John of Ruysbroeck - Priest in Brussels, John of Ruysbroeck - Priest in Groenendaal, John of Ruysbroeck - After death, John of Ruysbroeck - Works and philosophy

Read more here: » John of Ruysbroeck: Encyclopedia II - John of Ruysbroeck - Life

Illuminati - History. A movement of freethinkers that were the most radical offshoot of The Enlightenment — whose adherents were given the name Illuminati (but who called themselves "Perfectibilists") — was founded on May 1, 1776 by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt (d. 1830), who was the first lay professor of canon law. The group has also been called the Illuminati Order, the Order of t ...

See also:

Illuminati, Illuminati - Origins, Illuminati - Alumbrados of Spain, Illuminati - Illuminés of France, Illuminati - Rosicrucians, Illuminati - Martinists, Illuminati - The Bavarian Illuminati, Illuminati - History, Illuminati - Cultural effect, Illuminati - The Illuminati in popular culture

Read more here: » Illuminati: Encyclopedia II - Illuminati - The Bavarian Illuminati

Pantheism - Hinduism. In Hindu theology Moksha and achieving godness is the ultimate, both transcendent and immanent, the absolute infinite existence, the sum total of all that ever is, was, or ever shall be. As the sun has rays of light which emanate from the same source, the same holds true for the multifaceted aspects of God emanating from Brahman, like many colors of the same prism. This concept of God is of one unity, with the individual personal Gods being aspects of the One; thus, different deities are seen by different adherents as particularly well suited to their worship. Pan ...

See also:

Pantheism, Pantheism - History, Pantheism - Varieties of pantheism, Pantheism - Methods of explanation, Pantheism - Debate, Pantheism - Related concepts, Pantheism - Panentheism, Pantheism - Cosmotheism, Pantheism - Pantheistic concepts in religion, Pantheism - Hinduism, Pantheism - Ayyavazhi, Pantheism - Judaism, Pantheism - Christian, Pantheism - Islam, Pantheism - Other religions, Pantheism - Quotations

Read more here: » Pantheism: Encyclopedia II - Pantheism - Pantheistic concepts in religion