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Heretic: Jesus Christ and the Other Sons of God
""A brilliant book...illuminates a forgotten world."" —The Times, Best of the Year
""Heretic tells a moreish intellectual story and shakes up your understanding of Western history. At the same time, somewhat improbably, it supplies at least one good joke per paragraph; you have to keep turning back to enjoy them again."" ―The Economist, Best of the Year
From a celebrated classicist and author of The Darkening Age (“[a] ballista-bolt of a book”—New York Times Book Review), a biography of the many, diverse variations of Jesus who thrived in early Christian traditions—and how they were lost until just one “true” Christ survived.
Contrary to the teachings of the church today, in the first several centuries of Christianity’s existence, there was no consensus as to who Jesus was or why he had mattered. Instead, there were many different Christs. One had a twin brother and traveled to India; another consorted with dragons. One particularly terrifying Christ scorned his parents and killed those who opposed him.
Moreover, in the early years of the first millennium there were many other saviors, many sons of gods who healed the sick and cured the lame. But as Christianity spread, they were pronounced unacceptable – even heretical – and they faded from view.
Heretic unearths the different versions of Christ who existed in the minds of early Christians, and the process of evolution—and elimination—by which Jesus became the singular figure we know today.
“Heretic has the mother lode of tales too hot for Christendom. Nixey has carefully wrung out a number of apocryphal texts for scandal.” —Harper's Magazine
""Heretic tells a moreish intellectual story and shakes up your understanding of Western history. At the same time, somewhat improbably, it supplies at least one good joke per paragraph; you have to keep turning back to enjoy them again."" ―The Economist, Best of the Year
From a celebrated classicist and author of The Darkening Age (“[a] ballista-bolt of a book”—New York Times Book Review), a biography of the many, diverse variations of Jesus who thrived in early Christian traditions—and how they were lost until just one “true” Christ survived.
Contrary to the teachings of the church today, in the first several centuries of Christianity’s existence, there was no consensus as to who Jesus was or why he had mattered. Instead, there were many different Christs. One had a twin brother and traveled to India; another consorted with dragons. One particularly terrifying Christ scorned his parents and killed those who opposed him.
Moreover, in the early years of the first millennium there were many other saviors, many sons of gods who healed the sick and cured the lame. But as Christianity spread, they were pronounced unacceptable – even heretical – and they faded from view.
Heretic unearths the different versions of Christ who existed in the minds of early Christians, and the process of evolution—and elimination—by which Jesus became the singular figure we know today.
“Heretic has the mother lode of tales too hot for Christendom. Nixey has carefully wrung out a number of apocryphal texts for scandal.” —Harper's Magazine
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First published March 7, 2024
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About the author
Catherine Nixey
7 books283 followersCatherine Nixey is a journalist and a classicist. Her mother was a nun, her father was a monk, and she was brought up Catholic. She studied classics at Cambridge and taught the subject for several years before becoming a journalist on the arts desk at the Times (UK), where she still works. The Darkening Age, winner of a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award, is her first book. She lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 234 reviews
May 3, 2024
Critics loved Nixey's first book, The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, (Macmillan, 2017), but it was panned by actual historians, who noted its arguments were slanted, tendentious and polemical and relied on selective evidence and distortions. Leading expert on the Late Roman world, Dame Averil Cameron, called it "a travesty".
But it sold well, so it's not surprising Nixey was keen to produce another piece of pop history. She seems to have learned some lessions from the critiques of her first book, since this one is more careful to present nuance and multiple views on complex topics. Unfortunately, Nixey's biases still come through, though the misrepresentations are more through what she chooses to emphasise rather than outright errors or selective evidence. She hedges some key points with caveats, but they are often quite weak compared to the heavy stress she places on the main thrust of her arguments.
Essentially this is a very light and usually light-hearted survey of a topic that other popular history writers have covered before. She details the large number of saviour and wonder-worker figures in Jesus' time, notes the variety of Jesus stories in the non-canonical texts that circulated in the centuries after his death, emphasises the range of different Christianities that arose from them and then argues this variety was trimmed - often violently - by orthodoxy to the tame Christianity of today.
Bart Ehrman, Elaine Pagels and many others have told this story in more detail and with more care and understanding long before Nixey. That is not to say another popular retelling of it is totally unecessary. Though her claims in her Introduction that what she is doing in this book is "unusual" are pretty dubious given how well-trodden this topic is even in books for a popular audience.
The problems arise when Nixey can't resist getting back on her Darkening Age hobby horse and insists, again, that Christians not only suppressed what they considered to be "heretical" forms of their faith, but also Classical learning as well. That is mostly wrong. There is also a central incoherence in the book.
Nixey’s overarching argument is that Christianity had a great variety of forms in its early centuries, but most of this was suppressed or even wiped out by its more intolerant, orthodox strain. But much or even most of this variety died out well before that intolerant orthodoxy got the capacity to actively suppress anything. That did not happen until the fourth century, but most of these variant Christianities were minor things or even vague memories or literary ghosts by then. Nixey admits that at least some of these variants were so weird they were of limited appeal and it is actually likely that many of the rest were never large or influential. So was it intolerance that suppressed them or simply that they lost out in competetion with more appealling, more intellectual and less esoteric forms of the faith?
Nixey also never bothers to note that there was a good reason the canonical gospels found their way into the New Testament and the other variant Jesus stories didn't - those gospels were by far the earliest and so not only the most widely read but also the ones known to be closest to the earliest followers of Jesus (as modern critical scholars confirm) and so seen as most authoritative. A better writer would have examined this and explored it as the basis for the rejection of the later variants. She doesn't. In Nixey's telling, these gospels were arbitarily selected over the others and the oppressive orthodoxy she details had no genuine basis at all. But this is not what happened. You don't have to be a believer or think the canonical gospels are wholly historical in their depcition of Jesus (I'm definitely not and I definitely don't) to realise they had a particular status by merit of their earlier date and so the rejection of the later variants and their theologies were based on that foundation. Nixey never bothers to tell her readers any of this.
So this is an entertaining and often amusing book, but as history it's pretty flimsy stuff at best and not exactly an accurate telling at worst. Which means this is not really a very good book. See my full critical reivew of the UK edition Heresy – Jesus Christ and Other Sons of God (Picador, 2024) HERE
But it sold well, so it's not surprising Nixey was keen to produce another piece of pop history. She seems to have learned some lessions from the critiques of her first book, since this one is more careful to present nuance and multiple views on complex topics. Unfortunately, Nixey's biases still come through, though the misrepresentations are more through what she chooses to emphasise rather than outright errors or selective evidence. She hedges some key points with caveats, but they are often quite weak compared to the heavy stress she places on the main thrust of her arguments.
Essentially this is a very light and usually light-hearted survey of a topic that other popular history writers have covered before. She details the large number of saviour and wonder-worker figures in Jesus' time, notes the variety of Jesus stories in the non-canonical texts that circulated in the centuries after his death, emphasises the range of different Christianities that arose from them and then argues this variety was trimmed - often violently - by orthodoxy to the tame Christianity of today.
Bart Ehrman, Elaine Pagels and many others have told this story in more detail and with more care and understanding long before Nixey. That is not to say another popular retelling of it is totally unecessary. Though her claims in her Introduction that what she is doing in this book is "unusual" are pretty dubious given how well-trodden this topic is even in books for a popular audience.
The problems arise when Nixey can't resist getting back on her Darkening Age hobby horse and insists, again, that Christians not only suppressed what they considered to be "heretical" forms of their faith, but also Classical learning as well. That is mostly wrong. There is also a central incoherence in the book.
Nixey’s overarching argument is that Christianity had a great variety of forms in its early centuries, but most of this was suppressed or even wiped out by its more intolerant, orthodox strain. But much or even most of this variety died out well before that intolerant orthodoxy got the capacity to actively suppress anything. That did not happen until the fourth century, but most of these variant Christianities were minor things or even vague memories or literary ghosts by then. Nixey admits that at least some of these variants were so weird they were of limited appeal and it is actually likely that many of the rest were never large or influential. So was it intolerance that suppressed them or simply that they lost out in competetion with more appealling, more intellectual and less esoteric forms of the faith?
Nixey also never bothers to note that there was a good reason the canonical gospels found their way into the New Testament and the other variant Jesus stories didn't - those gospels were by far the earliest and so not only the most widely read but also the ones known to be closest to the earliest followers of Jesus (as modern critical scholars confirm) and so seen as most authoritative. A better writer would have examined this and explored it as the basis for the rejection of the later variants. She doesn't. In Nixey's telling, these gospels were arbitarily selected over the others and the oppressive orthodoxy she details had no genuine basis at all. But this is not what happened. You don't have to be a believer or think the canonical gospels are wholly historical in their depcition of Jesus (I'm definitely not and I definitely don't) to realise they had a particular status by merit of their earlier date and so the rejection of the later variants and their theologies were based on that foundation. Nixey never bothers to tell her readers any of this.
So this is an entertaining and often amusing book, but as history it's pretty flimsy stuff at best and not exactly an accurate telling at worst. Which means this is not really a very good book. See my full critical reivew of the UK edition Heresy – Jesus Christ and Other Sons of God (Picador, 2024) HERE
March 20, 2024
A lot of the information in here has been available for a while, but it hasn’t been assimilated and discussed quite so thoroughly and well as here. It’s a non-judgmental discussion, but one can’t help but draw conclusions about how religion and myth develop and how the two are intertwined.
July 20, 2024
I can see why this book could anger some Christians. I myself, found it very interesting. I appreciated how the author wrote about the different views and practices of Christianity in early times and did it with some polite humor tossed in. A lot of the information is not new to me but learning about Mary's powerful lady parts sure was! I believe it's a book that should be read so Christians realize what the church feeds us is not the whole story. For me, Jesus was a Jewish rabbi, not a Christian and when he returns, he will be a Jewish rabbi. Good reading for anyone open to different views of the Christian religion.
Thank you to the publisher and net galley for allowing me to honestly review this book.
Thank you to the publisher and net galley for allowing me to honestly review this book.
December 22, 2024
El libro que habría querido leer cuando, como buena muchacha educada en la fe católica, me sorprendí al descubrir, en clase de Religión, que existían otros evangelios, los mal llamados apócrifos. Desde entonces, parte de mi vida lectora se dedicó a buscar y leerlos. De hecho, si uno va a casa de mis padres, aún encontrará en las estanterías de mi postadolescencia volúmenes de varios de estos textos. De hecho (parte dos), uno de los momentos que con más felicidad recuerdo de mi vida fue, allá por 2019, cuando estuve en el desierto de Qumrán y pude ver el lugar donde se encontraron los Manuscritos del Mar Muerto. De hecho (parte tres), uno de los momentos más interesantes que he vivido fue cuando, estando en el Santo Sepulcro, observé el proceder de cristianos coptos y cristianos armenios y su ritualidad tan alejada de la nuestra católica occidental. De hecho (parte cuatro), quizá en otra de mis muchas vidas, cuando aún estaba inmersa en la carrera arqueológica, podría haber llegado a ser especialista en este periodo.
El caso es que este es el libro querría que hubiese llegado a mis manos en esos primeros años de descubrimiento y búsqueda. Un compendio interesantísimo y bastante divertido sobre todos los sabios, profetas, salvadores y otros roles divinos que abundaron en la Antigüedad tardía. Una historia perfectamente documentada de la fe y el dogma, de la construcción de estos. Por sus páginas pululan Apolonios, Augustos, Reyes Magos y Dios Padre; pero también antiguas creencias sobre una Espíritu Santo madre, un burro en vez de una mula, un Jesús con muchos hermanos, y relatos sobre discusiones y enfrentamientos entre los distintos tipos de vivencias de la teología en el cristianismo primitivo.
Increíble, Nixey, quiero tu cerebro.
El caso es que este es el libro querría que hubiese llegado a mis manos en esos primeros años de descubrimiento y búsqueda. Un compendio interesantísimo y bastante divertido sobre todos los sabios, profetas, salvadores y otros roles divinos que abundaron en la Antigüedad tardía. Una historia perfectamente documentada de la fe y el dogma, de la construcción de estos. Por sus páginas pululan Apolonios, Augustos, Reyes Magos y Dios Padre; pero también antiguas creencias sobre una Espíritu Santo madre, un burro en vez de una mula, un Jesús con muchos hermanos, y relatos sobre discusiones y enfrentamientos entre los distintos tipos de vivencias de la teología en el cristianismo primitivo.
Increíble, Nixey, quiero tu cerebro.
April 11, 2025
Not Audible, despite the edition cited, but libro.fm.
This being an audiobook, I don't have highlights and notes to refer to; thus a few points only:
1. History is written by the victors, for which reason we know little about most "heretical" takes on Jesus and Christianity.
2. Oof, those Christians sure had some serious persecuting chops. Let them once get into power, and dissenters beware. Book burnings and people burnings, all in the service of saving souls. Super alarming: how much the behavior of in-power Christians two millennia ago resembles the behavior and the fever dreams of Christian nationalists today.
3. There were quite a few wonder-workers operating in various places in the Roman Empire right around the time when you-know-who was active.
4. Non-Christian Roman takes on Christian narratives and theology could be hilariously contemptuous.
5. "Heresy" originally meant something like inquiry. I'll leave that there.
Nixey grew up RC and her gleeful hostility toward the Church is a balm to the nonexistent soul of yours truly, who grew up likewise. Lalla Ward is a wonderful narrator; she speaks with what I think is RP, but whatever it is her delivery of dry, eviscerating insults made me bark-laugh a few dozen times. I looked her up and find she was married to Richard Dawkins for a couple of decades, but we all make mistakes.
The subtitle here is misleading, in that Nixey's focus is a lot broader. A more accurate title might have been "Heresies: How They Arose and How the Christian Church Mostly Extirpated Them," but I guess that would be less zippy, and anyway the book was so good I'm not complaining.
This being an audiobook, I don't have highlights and notes to refer to; thus a few points only:
1. History is written by the victors, for which reason we know little about most "heretical" takes on Jesus and Christianity.
2. Oof, those Christians sure had some serious persecuting chops. Let them once get into power, and dissenters beware. Book burnings and people burnings, all in the service of saving souls. Super alarming: how much the behavior of in-power Christians two millennia ago resembles the behavior and the fever dreams of Christian nationalists today.
3. There were quite a few wonder-workers operating in various places in the Roman Empire right around the time when you-know-who was active.
4. Non-Christian Roman takes on Christian narratives and theology could be hilariously contemptuous.
5. "Heresy" originally meant something like inquiry. I'll leave that there.
Nixey grew up RC and her gleeful hostility toward the Church is a balm to the nonexistent soul of yours truly, who grew up likewise. Lalla Ward is a wonderful narrator; she speaks with what I think is RP, but whatever it is her delivery of dry, eviscerating insults made me bark-laugh a few dozen times. I looked her up and find she was married to Richard Dawkins for a couple of decades, but we all make mistakes.
The subtitle here is misleading, in that Nixey's focus is a lot broader. A more accurate title might have been "Heresies: How They Arose and How the Christian Church Mostly Extirpated Them," but I guess that would be less zippy, and anyway the book was so good I'm not complaining.
January 29, 2025
Few years back on a city walk in Bangalore, I was going around Johnson Market. It was first week of January and I was generally roaming and shooting photos of places of Interest. While I covered the lanes and by lanes around, I noticed a compound marked as Orthodox Church. And there was a hoarding calling for Christmas celebration on January 7th. Looking at the Hoarding I was surprised. Only later I realized the Orthodox Church is from a different branch of the Christianity. The Popular Catholic Church which owes its allegiance to the Pope in Rome is a Western branch and there is a little known ( In India ) one that is called the Coptic Orthodox Christianity that is also called the Eastern Christianity. This is popular in Egypt, Russia and the thereabouts. They had a different order of things from that of the Catholic Church.
In the Middle Ages, the Eastern Christian church – not the Western – was the most widespread in the world
While I had lived in Europe I had seen the differences of Protestant and Catholic church and the effects of the Great divide between Protestant and Catholic Sects. I had even read about the infamous, intolerant Inquisitions by both sects and the violent insurrections that led to loss of life and livelihood for many across Europe in the past.
I had also read multiple books on the Crusades and understood how that caused death, destruction and instability in the Middle east that plagues us till date. I was pained to note that these were all sanctioned by the Church.
All this was puzzling to me as to why and how a Religion that espouses a God that is full of compassion and love could be cause of these sorrowful events.
This led to my curiosity on the history of the Church.
At this point I have to make a disclosure. I am not the usual majority of this Country that wants to level a motivated campaign against minority Christians in this country. I am not the one to uphold the Majority religion as always one that is better than the 'Abrahamic religions from the west'. Far from it.
I know the dark pages in the our own history with respect to Religion and I sincerely believe that Belief or non Belief is strictly personal. I sincerely want it to be Personal and never to be imposed on any. I personally cannot claim to be Atheist, but do not subscribe to any Organized Religion and its scriptures. I strongly believe spirituality is different from Organized religion and abhor any form of Religious authority, mine or anyone else.
So with that I started reading this book.
This is a very interesting book that starts off by giving a picture of the Social make up and constructs during the time of Jesus and various competing ideas and Messiahs that Christianity had to co-exist with.
A great deal of all ancient religion was little more than healthcare with a halo.
Laws, customs and diseases – all were transforming the world in this era. But they were only able to do so because Roman roads and Roman transport and Roman peace were opening the world up in a way never seen before. Globalization was underway. And one of the things that globalized fastest of all in this period was religion. Lighter than spice, more profitable than gold, gods were spreading along the arteries of empire.
It also gives a detailed Idea about various forms of Christianity that competed against each other, known and Unknown. Slowly it walks us through the history of how the Modern western Christianity started to crystalize and how it built its power structures that has resulted in the order that is today.
In the course of this Journey it also tells us how the Catholic Church, in the name of reforms suddenly and vigorously started using the word Heresy to dominate the History, art, science and everything that has to do with human life, "cleansed" it of the past and wrote a revisionist narrative.
Suddenly the word Heresy that started soon after Christianity came to be Roman Official religion, became a monstrous terror that started engulfing Christians and non-Christians alike. The Catholic Church was the torch Bearer of this. The Progressive Scientific Theories that were established since the time of Ancient Greece suddenly were outlawed and the Ancient Philosopher like Socrates, Aristotle, Pluto etc, were turned into Satans who professed Heresy for their Scientific outlook. A long line of Scientists including Galileo (who was persecuted for his belief and advocacy of Copernican theory ) had to face the Plague of Heresy Charges and Inquisition that followed it.
The Heresy claim and inquisition by the Church not only led to loss of life and livelihood. It led to systematic obliteration of Religions, Christian Sects and their Texts. By this way it systematically denied the place in the history for the Sects that existed. This is also a reason why the modern Religiously leaning comfortable deny such accusation against the church.
For this Reason the book has to depend on Secondary Sources. But then the Author takes a brilliant approach by actually decoding from the Codex Theodosianus and Bible to establish the facts.
if you really want to know an empire, don’t read the whispers of its poets or the confessions of its great men.9 If you really want to understand what is happening, pass over the fancy odes and epodes and epics and epistles – and look instead at its laws.
Finally for me it is not a isolated tirade against Christianity but confirms to my reading of pattern that emerges out of the evolution of any organized religion.
Not only that, with the current state of affairs in my land, I am astonished to find that we have successfully turned the wheel of time backwards to by least 1500 Years.
In the Middle Ages, the Eastern Christian church – not the Western – was the most widespread in the world
While I had lived in Europe I had seen the differences of Protestant and Catholic church and the effects of the Great divide between Protestant and Catholic Sects. I had even read about the infamous, intolerant Inquisitions by both sects and the violent insurrections that led to loss of life and livelihood for many across Europe in the past.
I had also read multiple books on the Crusades and understood how that caused death, destruction and instability in the Middle east that plagues us till date. I was pained to note that these were all sanctioned by the Church.
All this was puzzling to me as to why and how a Religion that espouses a God that is full of compassion and love could be cause of these sorrowful events.
This led to my curiosity on the history of the Church.
At this point I have to make a disclosure. I am not the usual majority of this Country that wants to level a motivated campaign against minority Christians in this country. I am not the one to uphold the Majority religion as always one that is better than the 'Abrahamic religions from the west'. Far from it.
I know the dark pages in the our own history with respect to Religion and I sincerely believe that Belief or non Belief is strictly personal. I sincerely want it to be Personal and never to be imposed on any. I personally cannot claim to be Atheist, but do not subscribe to any Organized Religion and its scriptures. I strongly believe spirituality is different from Organized religion and abhor any form of Religious authority, mine or anyone else.
So with that I started reading this book.
This is a very interesting book that starts off by giving a picture of the Social make up and constructs during the time of Jesus and various competing ideas and Messiahs that Christianity had to co-exist with.
A great deal of all ancient religion was little more than healthcare with a halo.
Laws, customs and diseases – all were transforming the world in this era. But they were only able to do so because Roman roads and Roman transport and Roman peace were opening the world up in a way never seen before. Globalization was underway. And one of the things that globalized fastest of all in this period was religion. Lighter than spice, more profitable than gold, gods were spreading along the arteries of empire.
It also gives a detailed Idea about various forms of Christianity that competed against each other, known and Unknown. Slowly it walks us through the history of how the Modern western Christianity started to crystalize and how it built its power structures that has resulted in the order that is today.
In the course of this Journey it also tells us how the Catholic Church, in the name of reforms suddenly and vigorously started using the word Heresy to dominate the History, art, science and everything that has to do with human life, "cleansed" it of the past and wrote a revisionist narrative.
Suddenly the word Heresy that started soon after Christianity came to be Roman Official religion, became a monstrous terror that started engulfing Christians and non-Christians alike. The Catholic Church was the torch Bearer of this. The Progressive Scientific Theories that were established since the time of Ancient Greece suddenly were outlawed and the Ancient Philosopher like Socrates, Aristotle, Pluto etc, were turned into Satans who professed Heresy for their Scientific outlook. A long line of Scientists including Galileo (who was persecuted for his belief and advocacy of Copernican theory ) had to face the Plague of Heresy Charges and Inquisition that followed it.
The Heresy claim and inquisition by the Church not only led to loss of life and livelihood. It led to systematic obliteration of Religions, Christian Sects and their Texts. By this way it systematically denied the place in the history for the Sects that existed. This is also a reason why the modern Religiously leaning comfortable deny such accusation against the church.
For this Reason the book has to depend on Secondary Sources. But then the Author takes a brilliant approach by actually decoding from the Codex Theodosianus and Bible to establish the facts.
if you really want to know an empire, don’t read the whispers of its poets or the confessions of its great men.9 If you really want to understand what is happening, pass over the fancy odes and epodes and epics and epistles – and look instead at its laws.
Finally for me it is not a isolated tirade against Christianity but confirms to my reading of pattern that emerges out of the evolution of any organized religion.
Not only that, with the current state of affairs in my land, I am astonished to find that we have successfully turned the wheel of time backwards to by least 1500 Years.
November 20, 2024
This book jarred my assumptions of the uniqueness of Christian doctrine in its day of origin and placed it within its context of a complex Jewish, Hellenistic, pagan vibrant world. A fun starting point for delving into the origins of Christianity
December 16, 2024
This one will set those unquestioning Christian minds spinning. Most of Nixey’s book was not new to me having read many of Bart Ehrman’s books but for anyone that has not yet read anything about the early Christianities it should be a very interesting book.
January 25, 2025
Citando diversi vangeli apocrifi e correnti ritenute eretiche, l'autrice mostra quanto fosse variegato il Cristianesimo dei primi secoli. In alcuni testi antichi, respinti dalla Chiesa, Gesù veniva addirittura rappresentato come un prepotente, un ciarlatano e un venditore di schiavi.
Il libro vanta uno stile scorrevole e contiene numerose curiosità storiche, sempre accompagnate da valide fonti. In alcuni tratti, tuttavia, l'autrice ripete concetti già espressi nel suo libro precedente ("Nel nome della croce") ed esce un po' dai binari, proponendo capitoli fuori tema che denigrano la Chiesa da varie prospettive.
Il libro probabilmente non piacerà ai cristiani credenti, perché l'autrice non nasconde le sue antipatie per la Chiesa. Personalmente l'ho apprezzato (forse perché sono ateo), anche se non lo ritengo un capolavoro.
Il libro vanta uno stile scorrevole e contiene numerose curiosità storiche, sempre accompagnate da valide fonti. In alcuni tratti, tuttavia, l'autrice ripete concetti già espressi nel suo libro precedente ("Nel nome della croce") ed esce un po' dai binari, proponendo capitoli fuori tema che denigrano la Chiesa da varie prospettive.
Il libro probabilmente non piacerà ai cristiani credenti, perché l'autrice non nasconde le sue antipatie per la Chiesa. Personalmente l'ho apprezzato (forse perché sono ateo), anche se non lo ritengo un capolavoro.
February 28, 2025
This is the most fun I've had with a book so far this year. I've learned so much about early forms of Christianity, but more importantly, I got to read some crazy stories about Jesus and the Church(es) that I'd never heard before. Absolutely would recommend!
July 2, 2024
Fascinating read which shines a light on non-canonical scriptures, differing or alternative beliefs within the early Christian faith.
I particularly found the discussion regarding the Mandaeans, who I had only recently been made aware through James Mcgrath's Christmaker enlightening. Both books left me wondering why had I not heard of this group.
Many do not know or care to know the vast array of differing beliefs and practices of the early Christians. We have been indoctrinated to believe that all Christians held one universal belief system and were one in spirit(as they say).
I also see this book as a cautionary tale for our times. When Christianity weds itself with power more often than not persecution of those who have differing beliefs follows. I once stated in a study group i was leading, that it was terrifying to learn how once the early Christians came to power, they went from the persecuted to the persecutors. The looks I got after stating this was one of shock, and maybe a little anger. And as Nixey states in her book, she does not even discuss the persecution of the Jews by the Christian church.
If you like your long held beliefs challenged, this is the book for.
I highly recommend it and will be searching out other books by Nixey.
I particularly found the discussion regarding the Mandaeans, who I had only recently been made aware through James Mcgrath's Christmaker enlightening. Both books left me wondering why had I not heard of this group.
Many do not know or care to know the vast array of differing beliefs and practices of the early Christians. We have been indoctrinated to believe that all Christians held one universal belief system and were one in spirit(as they say).
I also see this book as a cautionary tale for our times. When Christianity weds itself with power more often than not persecution of those who have differing beliefs follows. I once stated in a study group i was leading, that it was terrifying to learn how once the early Christians came to power, they went from the persecuted to the persecutors. The looks I got after stating this was one of shock, and maybe a little anger. And as Nixey states in her book, she does not even discuss the persecution of the Jews by the Christian church.
If you like your long held beliefs challenged, this is the book for.
I highly recommend it and will be searching out other books by Nixey.
December 8, 2024
As a christian, I found this really interesting. This is all about the different versions of Jesus that have existed throughout history. It's well researched and well written. If you enjoy learning about religions, then I would recommend this. Special Thank You to Catherine Nixey, Mariner Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
December 27, 2024
"Los libros se queman para controlar la memoria del futuro". Esta frase, que escribe la historiadora Catherine Nixey en "Herejía", también podría estar en su otro gran libro, "La edad de la penumbra". Con estos dos trabajos, Nixey se convierte en una firme representante del ateísmo practicante, como Richard Dawkins o el Nobel de Física, Harold Kroto. Aunque en el caso de Nixey se centra demasiado en el cristianismo y se olvida del resto de religiones, que son igual de infames y que coinciden en muchas de las sandeces que caracterizan al cristianismo, como el hecho de considerar que todo lo anterior a su profeta no son más que demonios.
En "Herejía", Nixey se centra en figuras de santones que coincidieron en tiempo y/o forma con Jesucristo y en cómo el simple hecho de que un emperador eligiera esa religión en concreto es lo que ha hecho pervivir a esa figura frente a otros. Todos esos predicadores decían tener origen divino, anunciaban el fin del mundo y la salvación para sus seguidores, afirmaban sanar a los enfermos o hacer milagros como andar sobre las aguas.
Los libros de Nixey, como es lógico, tienen muchos detractores entre creyentes, historiadores y defensores de su religión, pero en realidad la historiadora lo tiene fácil para contar todas las barbaridades que ha hecho el cristianismo a lo largo de su historia, como la destrucción sistemática de libros, el aumento de la represión y las penas de muerte, las matanzas de los otros, la lucha contra la filosofía y el conocimiento, la defensa incluso de conceptos absurdos como el terraplanismo, o el fomento de la falta total de ética a favor del pensamiento único.
En "Herejía", Nixey se centra en figuras de santones que coincidieron en tiempo y/o forma con Jesucristo y en cómo el simple hecho de que un emperador eligiera esa religión en concreto es lo que ha hecho pervivir a esa figura frente a otros. Todos esos predicadores decían tener origen divino, anunciaban el fin del mundo y la salvación para sus seguidores, afirmaban sanar a los enfermos o hacer milagros como andar sobre las aguas.
Los libros de Nixey, como es lógico, tienen muchos detractores entre creyentes, historiadores y defensores de su religión, pero en realidad la historiadora lo tiene fácil para contar todas las barbaridades que ha hecho el cristianismo a lo largo de su historia, como la destrucción sistemática de libros, el aumento de la represión y las penas de muerte, las matanzas de los otros, la lucha contra la filosofía y el conocimiento, la defensa incluso de conceptos absurdos como el terraplanismo, o el fomento de la falta total de ética a favor del pensamiento único.
November 26, 2024
Reader, if you like your history (ancient or Christian, or any) told as a series of guffaws, with gags and a laugh track—this one is for you. The author is seemingly a serious person and an academic, but she has, you see, a bone to pick with Christianity. That can be a valid point of view and not at all disqualifying in and of itself. Except the way she does it is unserious and unacademic. The idea here is nothing new—that there were multiple early Christianities, that what became a “catholic” faith emerged out of a great deal of diversity and contention. That Jesus was… ah, who knows? Our sources differ. Yet anyone with any semblance of an interest in the subject would do well to look elsewhere—Ehrman, for one, does an excellent job of bringing these topics to a lay reader. So does Elaine Pagels, and the wonderful Peter Brown. Here, instead, what one may otherwise be able learn is marred by the juvenile sarcasm and the constant “edgy professor” bit. It is exhausting and cringe-worthy in the early pages; by the end, it becomes well-nigh intolerable. As much as anyone may feel inclined, early on in the book, to rail against the stifling oppression of what became Christian dogma, the self-satisfied knocking down of straw men with volley after volley of cliche feels no less oppressive.
— with thanks and sincere apologies to Mariner Books for an ARC via NetGalley
— with thanks and sincere apologies to Mariner Books for an ARC via NetGalley
June 28, 2025
I was very excited to read this book, as I’m always interested in the story behind Christianity and how it came to be what it is today. Early Christianity is so fascinating, especially as someone raised in the church, because the ideas that you are taught of classical religion set against Christianity make it seem like the most rational, plausible, and true religion. But that’s hardly the case, and it was so fun to read about all the fantastical and sometimes almost mythological aspects of early Christianity that set it firmly within the classical world and belief. Today, Christianity has lost so much of the glimmer and mystery that’s eponymous of ancient religion, and this book does such a wonderful job showcasing those elements and reminding us of our roots. It also does a great job of showing just exactly how we arrived at our set of beliefs today, and all that it took to suppress these other narratives of Christ and the “heretical” views of others. This book might be a hard pill to swallow for those that are still ardent believers and subscribe to church dogma in earnest, but I think it’s an important book for anyone who still calls themselves a Christian, or those who are fascinated by church history, or simply those who were raised to believe a certain story about the church and Jesus. I will definitely be recommending this to everyone!!
November 21, 2024
Qué locura de libro, qué manera de subirte la tensión y querer leer más y más acerca de oscuros y cuasi ficticios sanadores y santones de hace dos mil años que le hacían la competencia a un Jesús presentado como un auténtico killer. Ya sé que 'La edad de la ignorancia', su no menos impresionante libro anterior gustó tanto a los medios y a los lectores como disgustó a los especialistas más sesudos y supongo que aquí Nixey se tomará también alguna licencia. Pero qué maravillosa irreverencia la suya. Y cómo escribe.
July 15, 2024
Very fun read
April 29, 2025
It starts really well but kind of peters out. The writing becomes too repetitive, and her style can be annoying. It tells too much. Just show. Having said that, it does convey fascinating info about Jesus' time and the attempts by the Roman Catholic Church to suppress all but their own view. It's short, so it's worth reading.
November 10, 2025
Fascinating book. Highly recommended if you’re interested in the gnostic gospels, alternate messiahs and how Roman organisation helped spread Christianity
December 30, 2024
3.5 stars rounded to 4. Entertaining, wryly funny. More a piecemeal charcuterie of scrumptious facts than a massive steak of historical records.
July 27, 2025
„În lumea de azi, Isus este amintit doar ca fiul lui Dumnezeu, dar nu asta era percepția generală în Antichitate. Doar adepții lui Isus l-au văzut altfel; pentru majoritatea celorlalți observatori antici, era un magician - sau, mai exact, pentru mulți era un șarlatan.”
Dacă studiezi istoria religiei predată în școlile românești, totul pare simplu, iar ortodoxia este singura religie dreaptă și care merită învățată în școli. Dar dacă studiezi istoria religiei în ansamblu, cu precădere a creștinismului, aplicat și susținut, nimic nu e simplu. Iar ereziile nu sunt neapărat pericolele pe care le-a considerat de-a lungul timpului și le consideră și acum creștinii, ci doar variante valabile ale unei religii proprii. De altfel, cuvântul „erezie” vine de la cuvântul grecesc haireo, care înseamnă „eu aleg”. Hairesis însemna doar „o alegere”, iar în lumea antică, erezia înseamna ceva pozitiv - a-ți folosi intelectul pentru a face alegeri proprii, cu mintea ta. Apoi, totul s-a stricat - orice e altfel decât doctrina oficială (care, atenție, nu provenea din Biblie sau de la Isus, ci din interpretarea unor scriitori, preoți, episcopi etc.) este erezie. Deci orice altă alegere devine erezie. Cartea semnată de Catherine Nixey ne dezvăluie cum a devenit o altfel de „alegere” erezie, istoria și evoluția ereziilor de toate felurile din perioada creștinismului timpuriu, mare parte din interpretări venind din evangheliile apocrife, care ne dezvăluie și multiplele fațele ale lui Isus sau ale Isușilor din acea perioadă (făcători de minuni, șarlatani, magi sau profeți), dar și persecuțiile care au venit din partea creștinilor spre alte religii (cum ar fi în zeii din mitologia greacă) sau chiar spre creștinii care mergeau spre alte „alegeri”, perfect acceptabile.
Chiar dacă nu este la același nivel cu „Epoca întunecării”, Erezie este un volum care ne dezvăluie lumi și realități despre religie și creștinism pe care nu le știam și pe care ar trebui să le cunoaștem.
Dacă studiezi istoria religiei predată în școlile românești, totul pare simplu, iar ortodoxia este singura religie dreaptă și care merită învățată în școli. Dar dacă studiezi istoria religiei în ansamblu, cu precădere a creștinismului, aplicat și susținut, nimic nu e simplu. Iar ereziile nu sunt neapărat pericolele pe care le-a considerat de-a lungul timpului și le consideră și acum creștinii, ci doar variante valabile ale unei religii proprii. De altfel, cuvântul „erezie” vine de la cuvântul grecesc haireo, care înseamnă „eu aleg”. Hairesis însemna doar „o alegere”, iar în lumea antică, erezia înseamna ceva pozitiv - a-ți folosi intelectul pentru a face alegeri proprii, cu mintea ta. Apoi, totul s-a stricat - orice e altfel decât doctrina oficială (care, atenție, nu provenea din Biblie sau de la Isus, ci din interpretarea unor scriitori, preoți, episcopi etc.) este erezie. Deci orice altă alegere devine erezie. Cartea semnată de Catherine Nixey ne dezvăluie cum a devenit o altfel de „alegere” erezie, istoria și evoluția ereziilor de toate felurile din perioada creștinismului timpuriu, mare parte din interpretări venind din evangheliile apocrife, care ne dezvăluie și multiplele fațele ale lui Isus sau ale Isușilor din acea perioadă (făcători de minuni, șarlatani, magi sau profeți), dar și persecuțiile care au venit din partea creștinilor spre alte religii (cum ar fi în zeii din mitologia greacă) sau chiar spre creștinii care mergeau spre alte „alegeri”, perfect acceptabile.
Chiar dacă nu este la același nivel cu „Epoca întunecării”, Erezie este un volum care ne dezvăluie lumi și realități despre religie și creștinism pe care nu le știam și pe care ar trebui să le cunoaștem.
January 13, 2025
Heretic offers a bold critique of early Christianity’s impact on classical culture, with sharp writing and vivid descriptions. While its perspective is compelling, the tone often feels one-sided and overly dramatic, sacrificing nuance for polemics. An engaging read, but its lack of balance may leave some readers wanting a more measured account.
June 20, 2024
This review is based on the audiobook read by Lala Ward.
This book can be challenging to listen to (or read) based on your religious beliefs and your upbringing. Your worldview also plays a strong part on how you view this book.
The book is challenging our view of Christianity and who Jesus Christ really was based on what is written in the New Testament and historical facts regarding human natural and norms of that time. Some of these norms are still practiced today (book banning, rejecting people based on their religious beliefs, the powerful shutting down voices of opposition)
Major points:
1. The current view of Jesus is based on what is written in the New Testament is an extremely edited version by the church over many centuries by different scholars or writers who were approved by the church.
2. When the Romans, under Constantine, made Christianity the main religion if the Roman Empire, it allowed the removal of ancient texts about Jesus (or any other claiming to be the Messiah) to be banned, removed or destroyed.
3. Over time, areas with towns that did not belief or convert to Catholicism were isolated and eventually died out.
4. The introduction of Heresy to hunt out Heretics (any person who have a different view or opinion of Christ established by the church at the time) and have these individuals executed.
The book was supported by historical texts, forbidden texts that somehow survived through the ages, as well as medical texts and cultural norms of different periods of Western history. I really enjoyed the majority of this book, but I wished the narrator was a bit more lively in her reading. At times I drifted and had to rewind to a previous chapter. I may have to borrow this book from the library and read it to get a better understanding of some of the main concepts.
This book can be challenging to listen to (or read) based on your religious beliefs and your upbringing. Your worldview also plays a strong part on how you view this book.
The book is challenging our view of Christianity and who Jesus Christ really was based on what is written in the New Testament and historical facts regarding human natural and norms of that time. Some of these norms are still practiced today (book banning, rejecting people based on their religious beliefs, the powerful shutting down voices of opposition)
Major points:
1. The current view of Jesus is based on what is written in the New Testament is an extremely edited version by the church over many centuries by different scholars or writers who were approved by the church.
2. When the Romans, under Constantine, made Christianity the main religion if the Roman Empire, it allowed the removal of ancient texts about Jesus (or any other claiming to be the Messiah) to be banned, removed or destroyed.
3. Over time, areas with towns that did not belief or convert to Catholicism were isolated and eventually died out.
4. The introduction of Heresy to hunt out Heretics (any person who have a different view or opinion of Christ established by the church at the time) and have these individuals executed.
The book was supported by historical texts, forbidden texts that somehow survived through the ages, as well as medical texts and cultural norms of different periods of Western history. I really enjoyed the majority of this book, but I wished the narrator was a bit more lively in her reading. At times I drifted and had to rewind to a previous chapter. I may have to borrow this book from the library and read it to get a better understanding of some of the main concepts.
November 23, 2024
De haberme dejado mi jefe, este libro no hubiera llegado con un dosier de prensa, sino con una cartulina repleta de Jesuses que preguntase a qué Jesús me encomiendo hoy.
No obstante, la historia más increíble de las aquí relatadas no es de Jesús, sino sobre la Virgen María, concretamente su vagina. Cuentan que cuando María dio a luz, la señora que le asistió en el parto salió de la cueva gritando que una Virgen había parido, pues el himen seguía intacto. Otra señora que pasaba por allí, incrédula de la pureza y a modo de lo que sería la prueba del pañuelo de antaño, metió sin permiso ni perdón la mano dentro la vagina de la Virgen y automáticamente quedó carbonizada. Esto sí que es una vagina hot.
Dice Nixey al final del libro: "Esta es una historia acerca de cómo nacen y cómo mueren las ideas. Es también una historia acerca de cómo sobreviven. Trata de cómo perduran antiguos relatos y cómo persisten susurros divinos. Trata de cómo las religiones cambian y vuelven a cambiar, a medida que cambian de lugar, envejecen y se propagan por otras tierras y en otras épocas. Trata de lo dilatada que es la memoria y, a la vez, de lo corta que es. Trata de lo que fue y de lo que habría podido ser; también de lo que es. Y trata de por qué, al llegar el invierno, cuando se montan los nacimientos, siguen colocándose un buey y una mula que velan al Niño Jesús en el pesebre."
Creo que este año deberíamos cambiar al Niño Jesús por una vagina de fuego.
No obstante, la historia más increíble de las aquí relatadas no es de Jesús, sino sobre la Virgen María, concretamente su vagina. Cuentan que cuando María dio a luz, la señora que le asistió en el parto salió de la cueva gritando que una Virgen había parido, pues el himen seguía intacto. Otra señora que pasaba por allí, incrédula de la pureza y a modo de lo que sería la prueba del pañuelo de antaño, metió sin permiso ni perdón la mano dentro la vagina de la Virgen y automáticamente quedó carbonizada. Esto sí que es una vagina hot.
Dice Nixey al final del libro: "Esta es una historia acerca de cómo nacen y cómo mueren las ideas. Es también una historia acerca de cómo sobreviven. Trata de cómo perduran antiguos relatos y cómo persisten susurros divinos. Trata de cómo las religiones cambian y vuelven a cambiar, a medida que cambian de lugar, envejecen y se propagan por otras tierras y en otras épocas. Trata de lo dilatada que es la memoria y, a la vez, de lo corta que es. Trata de lo que fue y de lo que habría podido ser; también de lo que es. Y trata de por qué, al llegar el invierno, cuando se montan los nacimientos, siguen colocándose un buey y una mula que velan al Niño Jesús en el pesebre."
Creo que este año deberíamos cambiar al Niño Jesús por una vagina de fuego.
January 27, 2025
DNF
I applaud this author for bringing so many fringe texts and beliefs together. It could not have been easy to dredge up heresies and forgeries that should have been lost to time. History tends to forget losers, but this author doesn’t.
Naturally when you hang around losers, one feels sympathetic. They may have been dealt a bad hand, or been oppressed. However for most of the false doctrines regurgitated in this text, they were lost because they were wrong.
The distinction between Orthodox and heretic is not as subjective as the author wants you to believe. She does not give any charity to the fact finding, evidence based, careful analysis and hermeneutics that created modern day Christianity. She consigns it all to some power struggle where the mighty are only right because they are mighty.
Ex Catholics like this author would greatly benefit from attending catechism again. That way they’d avoid lumping together sacred scripture with obvious forgeries. The snide, irreverent language in this book pretends to hide behind the power of “choice.” She acts like agency and power should be the highest ideal, even higher than truth.
I find her arguments lacking and done in bad faith, no pun intended. I doubt any believer would be converted by this text, and anyone else in her agnostic echo chamber would do better to read from her books sources instead. This book is offensive at worst, and pathetic at best. No stars.
I applaud this author for bringing so many fringe texts and beliefs together. It could not have been easy to dredge up heresies and forgeries that should have been lost to time. History tends to forget losers, but this author doesn’t.
Naturally when you hang around losers, one feels sympathetic. They may have been dealt a bad hand, or been oppressed. However for most of the false doctrines regurgitated in this text, they were lost because they were wrong.
The distinction between Orthodox and heretic is not as subjective as the author wants you to believe. She does not give any charity to the fact finding, evidence based, careful analysis and hermeneutics that created modern day Christianity. She consigns it all to some power struggle where the mighty are only right because they are mighty.
Ex Catholics like this author would greatly benefit from attending catechism again. That way they’d avoid lumping together sacred scripture with obvious forgeries. The snide, irreverent language in this book pretends to hide behind the power of “choice.” She acts like agency and power should be the highest ideal, even higher than truth.
I find her arguments lacking and done in bad faith, no pun intended. I doubt any believer would be converted by this text, and anyone else in her agnostic echo chamber would do better to read from her books sources instead. This book is offensive at worst, and pathetic at best. No stars.
July 9, 2024
Ketterij van Catherine Nixey is een beetje het vervolg op haar eerste boek Eeuwen van Duisternis. In Ketterij toont ze aan dat er in de eerste eeuwen na Christus heel veel versies van het evangelie waren en nog meer varianten van het christendom.
Een heel boeiend en goed gedocumenteerd boek. Heel graag gelezen! Soms valt ze wat in herhaling of wordt het wat langdradig, maar dat belet niet dat er heel veel nieuwe inzichten in staan!
Een heel boeiend en goed gedocumenteerd boek. Heel graag gelezen! Soms valt ze wat in herhaling of wordt het wat langdradig, maar dat belet niet dat er heel veel nieuwe inzichten in staan!
May 24, 2025
Brilliantly written and impossible to put down, Catherine Nixey's Heretic takes you to all the places and brings you all the ideas that the Catholic and Christian churches of today hoped would be left behind in the early centuries of the faith. Skeptical, provocative, and sometimes pretty funny, Nixey challenges the whitewashed and sanitized version of Jesus and Christianity that is presented today. It's a very thought-provoking book that will almost certainly piss off the congregation.
March 30, 2025
Catherine Nixey is one of my favourite authors. Heretic and The Darkening Age are easily among the best books I’ve read. I especially enjoy her witty style, clever jokes, and thought-provoking writing. If you’re interested in early Christianity and question the historicity of a certain figure, this book offers a compelling and unapologetic read.
May 2, 2025
Heresy comes from the Greek word for choice. There were a lot of historical choices that could have been made. For example, one ancient story has the Christ child striking another kid dead. When the parents complain to Joseph, the parents are struck dead. There were Christians in India long before the barbarians of Europe were converted. They had a Jesus with a twin who was sold into slavery by Jesus. Many of our Christmas traditions come from heretical stories. Of course, once power was gained, choice was frowned upon, not unlike today in America.
January 24, 2025
This book contains a vast amount of anecdotes and accounts of ‘heresy’. For someone who has hitherto not heard any contradiction to mainstream Christian belief it will blow your mind. But for others an insightful editor may have formulated this book into the powerful argument it could have become.
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