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> dear george > the Cathars denied Christ's humanity. They preached that he was nothing > but spirit [since all flesh was evil] and that although he came through > Mary, he did not "take anything" from her but was simply "adumbrated" by > her [a belief shared by others in the south of France who were not, > themselves, Cathars]. The rhetoric of all this was worked out in > various ways, using various different examples, and the Church [and > particularly the Dominicans] reacted by placing Christ's humanity as one > of the central concepts of their preaching - or so the inquisitorial > texts would suggest. .. er, i'm doing this off the top of my head, and > can''t remember anything else particularly illuminating at the moment, > but i'll add to this if my brain warms up! > cheers > john arnold > Dear John (or anyone else), I should know more about this, given my interest in things Occitan, but what is the current state of knowledge about Catharism? I know that most of our info comes from Inquistition documents, and what the Cathars' opponents said about them. Is this all that is extant? I find it difficult to believe that all Cathar writings (if they existed) could have been destroyed, even by the persistance of the Inquisition. "Heretical" movements are not that easy to silence, especially one as widespread as Catharism. I know that the Cathars were devoted to the New Testament, or their particular interpretation of it. Did they regard Yahweh of the Old testament as a different being, like the Gnostics and their concept of the archons? Thanks for any info. Tim Rayborn %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%