Professional Documents
Culture Documents
George V. Zito, Toward A Sociology of Heresy
George V. Zito, Toward A Sociology of Heresy
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Oxford University Press and Association for the Sociology of Religion, Inc. are collaborating with JSTOR to
digitize, preserve and extend access to Sociological Analysis.
http://www.jstor.org
Thispaper that
argues discussion
ofheresy hassufferedfromneglect Itattempts
bysociologists. to
remedythissituation
byexaminingheresy intermsofthe'discursive associated
analysis" withDer-
ridaandFoucault.
Itissuggested
thatheresiesstilloccur,
albeitinsecular
orprofane discourses
in
whichthey as such.Itisfurther
gounrecognized argued thattheheretical
statusofanarticulated
opinionisdetermined
bytheinstitutionalized ofthediscourse
legitimation within which a heresy
is
thatheresy
voiced; threatens
established
power andthatheresy
relations; isa semioticphenomenon
employingwordsthatresult
incognitivedisorientation
oftruebelievers.
123
Cognitive
Consistency
Both the Arian and the Antinomiancases involvedan impliedthreatto an institu-
tionalizedorder.The elitesin Boston and Rome wereatunedto the possibleconse-
quencesthatcoulddevolvefromtheheretical statements.It is importantto notethatin
both casesthecontending sidesemployedeach other'slanguageand valuesin whaton
the surfaceappearto be whollymetaphysical concerns.In theAriancontroversy both
sidesinsiston the monotheistic natureof the ChristianGod, and in the antinomian
controversy bothsidesinsiston theCalvinistdoctrineofelection.Neitherprescribe nor
proscribespecificnormative behaviorsin theirdiscussions.Nevertheless,theredo seem
to be hithertoproscribed behaviorsat stake,and not the theologicalspeculationen-
coded in the hereticalstatements. A truebeliever,reflecting on the implications in
eithercase, mustsurelyperceivewhatto himare unwholesome consequences.
Itcan be suggestedthatitis preciselyherethatthesenseofoutrageis stimulated in the
truebeliever.Previously he had failedto graspthepossibleimplications for'deviantbe-
havior'in hisgroup'sideology.Ifa beliefcan lead in antitheticaldirections
withrespect
to moralbehavior,thenwhatarebeliefs for?Thereis a threathereto thepresumed con-
nectionbetweenbeliefand action:peopleare 'supposed'to act in accordancewiththeir
beliefs.Activityis presumedto be predicatedupon meanings,to be 'meaningfully ori-
ented.'And yetthetruebelieverfinds,in thecase ofheresy,thatthebeliefshe has de-
voutlyheldmayleadto quiteotherconsequences thanhisfaithhas ledhimto expect.A
heresyaccordingly placesthetruebelieverin a stateofcognitive dissonance,imbalance
or incongruity (Festinger, 1956; Taylor,1970). Heresyplayswiththe cognitivebase
upon whichbeliefsand meaningsare erectedand fromwhichactionis presumedto
flow.
Profane
Heresies
To makethispointclear,I wouldliketo playdevil'sadvocateand suggest somepossi-
ble contemporary and profaneheresies.It willbe shownthateach ofthesecontainan
interestingproperty thathas beenignoredin pastdiscussions ofreligious
heresies.Here,
is a
then, Devil'sDecalogueofprofaneheresies, selectedfroma largerlistI employedin
testingreactionsof visitorsto myofficeduringthe 1980academicyear:
1. Educationis theopiateofthe masses.
2. University graduatesare not educable.
3. ReturnPalestineto GreatBritain.
4. Zionismis racism.
5. Feminismis sexism.
6. Androgenyis penisenvy.
7. Can sociologybe made an intellectual discipline?
8. In late industrialsocieties,it is themiddleclassthatconstitutes the lumpen pro-
letariat.
9. Americansare not readyforrepresentative government.
10. The firstmistakeof U.S. foreign policywas the Americanrevolution.
Each ofthesestatements constitutes (or could constitute)a heresyon thegroundsdis-
cussedabove. Each can be defendedbysomerationaldiscourseor intellectual rhetoric.
Each threatens to disruptsomeideologically vestedpowerpositionand has possiblecon-
REFERENCES
Barthes,Roland. 1953. WritingDegreeZeroand Elements ofSerniology.Boston:BeaconPress.
Clarke,Simon. 1978.'The Originsof Levi-Strauss's Structuralism."Sociology12(3).
Derrida,Jacques.1976.Of Grammatology. Baltimore: JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press.
Durkheim,Emile. 1915.The Elementary FormsoftheReligious Life.New York:FreePress.
Erikson,Kai T. 1966. Wayward Puritans.New York:Wiley.
Festinger,
Leon. 1956. WhenProphecy Fails.Minneapolis:University ofMinnesotaPress.
Foucault,Michel. 1970.The OrderofThings.New York:RandomHouse.
1972.The Archaeology ofKnowledge and The Discourseon Language.New York:Harper& Row.
1973.Madnessand Civilization. New York:Harper& Row.
1976.MentalIllness& Psychology. New York:Harper& Row.
1980. Power/Knowledge: SelectedInterviews
& OtherWritings. Colin Gordon(ed.). New York: Pan-
theon.
Goldmann,Lucien. 1980.Essayson Methodin theSociology ofLiterature.
St. Louis:Telos Press.
Gramsci,Antonio.1975.Letters FromPrison.New York:Harper& Row.
Lemert,CharlesC. 1979.Sociology and theTwilight ofMan. Carbondale:SouthernIllinoisUniversity Press.
Claude. 1963.Structural
Levi-Strauss, Anthropology. New York: Basic Books.
Mannheim,Karl. 1936.Ideology and Utopia.New York:Harcourt,Brace& World.
Martin,David. 1979.A GeneralTheory ofSecularization.New York:Harper& Row.
Nietzsche,Friedrich.1949.BeyondGoodand Evil.Chicago:Regnery.
Saussure,Ferdinandde. 1959.Coursein GeneralLinguistics. New York:McGraw-Hill.
Schwartz,Barry.1981.Vertical Classification:
A StudyinStructuralismandtheSociology ofKnowledge.
Chicago:
Universityof Chicago Press.
Taylor,HowardF. 1970.Balancein SmallGroups.New York:Van Nostrand.
Weber,Max. 1951.The Religion ofChina.New York:FreePress.
1958.The ProtestantEthicand theSpiritofCapitalism. New York:Scribners.
1963.The SociologyofReligion. Boston:Beacon.
Winter,ErnestF. (ed.) 1961.Erasmus-Luther: Discourseon FreeWill.New York:Ungar.