Enter into the strange world of the Inquisition, when wife-swapping groups became known as religious movements; indeed, when everything seemed to center around religion. The Great Heresy focuses upon the Cathars, a Gnostic revival sect centered in France. In point of fact, it is difficult today to imagine a sect like the Cathars being singled out for extermination. Many of their beliefs resemble those of the Jehovah’s Witnesses of today mixed with a primitive Hinduism: denial of the Eucharist; vegetarianism; and the rejection of Hell as an abode of eternal punishment and damnation. It is the Cathars’ sex practices which have aroused, so to speak, the interests of inquisitive men and women. The author devotes the first 14 chapters of his book to the history and beliefs of the Cathars, while the remaining chapters follow the authors’ philosophical bent. In this reviewer’s opinion, the subject matter is rather dry and unexciting… not at all what one would expect from a sect alleged to have indulged in so many sexual perversions. Indeed, the author, far from repeating these salubrious tales, understates them, and subjects the reader to a big letdown.
JB
Publisher: C.W. Daniel
Paperback: 186 pages