Andrew Roach's interesting book can help us understand our modern world better, and should have a wide appeal to non-specialist readers. 'Paul Ormerod, author of the best-selling Death of Economics and Butterfly Economics Recent academic scholarship has emphasised the idea that 'heresy is in the eye of the beholder'. Greater definition of the Church's role and Catholic belief in the 12th and 13th centuries 'created' heretics, people who represented or championed local variation in religious practices or adherence to old-fashioned doctrines. In his fascinating new study, Andrew Roach argues...

Exploring the relationship of heresy, dissent and society in the 12th and 13th Centuries, The Devil s World shows how people made conscious choices between heresy and orthodoxy in the middle ages and were not afraid to exert their power as consumers of religion. The book gives an account of all popular religious movements, looks at the threat that heresy presented to the Church and lay powers and considers the measures they took to deal with it.

Ideal for students of medieval and religious history.

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