If you begin with Robert Lerner's Heresy of the Free Spirit (ch 1 on topos of heresy and fornication)
and the first two chapter's of Norman Cohn's Europe's Inner Demons you'll find lots of references to
follow up.
On Wed, 4 Dec 1996 12:43:17 +0000 (GMT) RA Stephens wrote:
> From: RA Stephens <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 12:43:17 +0000 (GMT)
> Subject: spiritual/physical threat
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Dear all,
> I was wondering if anyone can tell me if the sort of accusations that
> were levelled against Jews (infant sacrifice, perverting sacraments, etc)
> were ever used against heretics. I know some similar charges were used
> against the Templars, and Boniface, but I wanted to know if such things
> were ever used of the esoteric sects such as the Valentinian Gnostics,
> the Cathars or the antinomians. I'm interested in the conflation of
> spiritual and physical harm in these charges; that when people were in
> fear of a spiritual attack on the body of the Church, they often used for
> this fear the metaphor of physical harm, particularly against the young
> and helpless.
> I realise that this is a rather wide and unrefined request, but I am at
> the stage of kicking around ideas, and if they prove fruitful, then I
> can clarify my query further. If no-one can help on the above request then
> I'd begrateful for bibliographical material on the charges against the Jews; is
> Miri Rubin the best source?
> Thanks in advance for any help you can offer,
> Rebecca A. Stephens.
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