Heresy of the Week: Anglo-Israelism

This week's heresy gets into some dispensationalism/Messianic Jewish ideas.

Anglo-Israelism (also known as British Israelism) is a 19th-21st century protestant heresy that forms the basis of the Christian Identity Movement and purports that the English (in specific) and white people (in general) are descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. They subscribe to something called the “Two House Theology”, meaning all Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews. They believe that the Jews descended only from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. There is documentation to show that even the British Monarchy believes itself descendants of King David. While the Catholic Church has no official stance on this heresy, many sects and denominations have rejected Anglo-Israelism.

Heresy of the Week: Eudoxianism

What do you mean, at some point all the posts I queued up end?  Yes, I forgot to add more this weekend.  So here is your day-late heresy of the week!  Since we are getting close to my favorite saint feast day (6 December), you'll start to notice a theme with the next few heresies...

Eudoxianism is a Semi-Arianism heresy. It teaches that Christ is very like, perhaps even exactly like, God the Father, but that Christ does not share in the exact same being as the Father. Originally, it was seen as a compromise offered to the Arianism sect, that, had they accepted the compromise, would have made it possible to avoid their condemnation as heretics and splitting from the church. However, since this, too, is a heretical doctrine, it was condemned at the first Council of Constantinople in 381 as a Semi-Arianism heresy.

Heresy of the Week: Anabaptism

This week's heresy is one of the three main categories of protestantism.

Anabaptism is a 16th-21st century protestant heresy which teaches that Jesus did not derive his humanity from his human mother, Mary. This is known as the “doctrine of heavenly flesh” and “Incarnational Christology”. They believed that if Jesus was human like us, because of the fall of Adam, that redemption was impossible through the “seed of the Devil”. Some sects of Anabaptism also deny the trinity in the vein of Socinianism. Additionally, many of the other teachings of the “Radical Reformed” church are suspect. They believe in “believer baptism” only, meaning a public confession of faith must occur first, and if that didn’t happen (as in the case of an infant or Roman Catholic baptism), one must be re-baptized. Anabaptists adamantly deny being “rebaptizers”, since they consider the initial baptism to be invalid. Holy Communion was viewed as merely symbolic or memorial (see Symbolism). They taught that Christians should be separated from the world, should not make oaths or hold political office of any kind and should not exercise self-defense or ever go to war (pacifism). These teachings are still prevalent in churches who trace their roots back to the Radical Reformed churches, such as the Amish.