Crimes of Perception - Hardcover

George, Leonard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1557785198 ISBN 13: 9781557785190

Publisher: Paragon House, 1998

Synopsis

"Combines scholarship with humor, history with speculation, and philosophy with anecdote...Fascinating". -- Stanley Krippner

About this title

About the Author

Leonard George, Ph.D., is a psychologist and lecturer. He has published articles in both popular and scholarly journals and is author of Alternative Realities: The Paranormal, the Mystic, and Transcendent.

From Booklist

George defines heresy as "a crime of perception--an act of seeing something that, according to some custodian of reality, is not really there. Heresy, therefore, is always relative to an orthodoxy." He points out that "Martin Luther and the Pope viewed each other as heretics."

Although the more than 600 entries here focus mainly on heresy in the West, entries on heresies in the lands of Eastern Christianity are included because of their importance to Western thought. Excluded are heresies the author considers primarily political, social, technological, or scientific.

The 10-page introduction discusses how heresy has changed during the course of Western history. The encyclopedia entries are arranged from Abelard, Peter to Zwichau Prophets. Black Mass covers nearly three pages, Rasputin is one page, and Mormon Church gets less than a page. Jesus is among the heretics included. The author assesses Jesus as "an heretic in his own time, and a topic of controversy between conventional and alternative believers ever since." Cross-references are liberally provided; there is no index. Entries are well-written and provide a wealth of fascinating detail, but bibliographies at the ends of entries would have been useful.

Following the encyclopedia is a list of entries organized by topic, divided into such sections as Christian Heresies and Heretics by Historic Period, Biographies of the Heretics, and Suppression of Heresy. The book concludes with two bibliographies. "Suggestions for Further Reading" is extensive and divided into eight subject areas, such as "Witch Hunts and Persecution of Heretics," "Heretical and Esoteric Judaism," and "Occult Traditions: Alchemy, Astrology, Magic." The second bibliography lists four periodicals on alternative-reality traditions.

This book contains readable information about some important people, ideas, and practices in Western history. It should appeal to the informed layperson as well as the scholar.

About this edition

• Publisher: Paragon House
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1557785198
• ISBN 13: 9781557785190
• Binding: Hardcover