I have been recently writing my MA-Thesis on the topic of Catharism in southern France, and I wanted to know the opinion of people as to what they know about Catharism, or about heresy in medieval Europe in general. I am looking forward to reading the responses.

The Cathars were a sect that was a part of stream of extreme spirit-matter dualism that probably descended from the suppression of ancient Gnostics, revived in the area of Bulgaria as the Bogomilians, spread westward to the Albegensians and finally in western Europe as Catharism. They were non-trinitarians and saw the members of the trinity as mere modes of manifestation by the one God (incidentally similar to modern "Jesus-name Pentecostals"). They also denied the resurrection of Jesus, at least in the flesh as matter. They had their own ritual practices that were highly divergent from Catholic ritualogy They were violently suppressed by the Roman Catholic church. They are part of a long trend of gnostic-like dualism that has frequently arisen in Christianity and IMO, is currently manifest in such churches as the Unity School of Christianity and the Christian "New Age."

So, for your MA, are you just gauging what those with an interest in history know about Catharism? If I may ask, why pose the question here?

BTW, I just finished an MA in WWII Studies.. I did one in intellectual history about 25 years ago. Best of luck to you as you finish up your thesis. Publish it on Academia.edu if nowhere else so we can see what you have done.

Thanks for your response! It’s funny how you managed to relate it to modern-day Protestant denominations. Shows that continuity is possible, even though some scholars are on the fence about that. I’m sort of in the middle.

Relating to your second question, no. Was simply curious if people knew about it! Fascinating part of religious and theological history, especially in the Middle Ages.

For my MA, I’m studying the religious and military justification of the crusade that was called against the cathars of southern France.