(This book supersedes On the Shoulders of Heretics (2016), originally published by Austin Macauley Ltd., London) In 1950 one of the most controversial books ever written was published in America. Worlds in Collision by Immanuel Velikovsky caused a perfect storm of fury within the scientific establishment. It sent shockwaves throughout the academic world, precipitating a campaign of suppression, public ridicule and character assassination that continued without let-up for decades. Scientists, astronomers and professors of ancient history were so incensed by Velikovsky's heresies that they blackmailed his publisher, Macmillan, by boycotting their textbook division and forcing them to relinquish the rights to what had become a best seller. They then forced a public recantation from the company whose senior editor - responsible for having signed the original contract with Velikovsky - was subsequently sacked under hostile pressure from the astronomers. Velikovsky was then hounded and attacked in the media and in science journals until his death in 1979. He was the quintessential heretic with a very challenging idea that nobody wanted to hear. The campaign to bury Velikovsky and his Worlds in Collision was begun by Harvard astronomer Harlow Shapley in 1950 and it continued until Carl Sagan finally succeeded in 1974 at the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Symposium in San Francisco, an event that was arranged specifically with that purpose in mind. This book tells that story.

On the Shoulders of Heretics by Joe Fone is a whistle stop tour through the collision between orthodox science and the challengers of recent times, most notably Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky, the controversial scientist who went head-to-head with the scientific establishment headed up by the vicious attacks of Carl Sagan. Velikovsky's story is not unique. The foundations of modern science are thought to be supported by unshakable truths established by the greatest intellects throughout the centuries and, at least for a while, carved in the hard stone of certainty. They are articles of faith from which is derived the basic framework of what we think of as modern 'science'. However, many of these accepted tenets are in reality hypotheses; conjecture developed over time to solve the myriad problems of inscrutability that bedevil our understanding of Nature. They may then become entrenched in mainstream science (or in ancient times, 'natural philosophy') as sacred cows until a heretic overthrows them with an ugly fact and proves them wrong, triggering the wrath of the orthodox establishment. 'Joe Fone puts the Velikovsky Affair in a wider historical context, discussing famous examples of new scientific ideas being ferociously rejected by the orthodox establishments, Galileo being one of the most famous. This book is a very erudite survey which reads like a novel.' Dr Gerrit J. van der Lingen, author of The Fable of a Stable Climate 'The scientific community chose, on one end of the spectrum, to ignore Velikovsky. These were the kinder folks. On the other end were the vicious. It is one thing to disagree, and quite another to lie and attack based on those fabrications. As Velikovsky's grandson, I saw this first-hand. This book, written by Mr. Fone with great compassion and attention to detail, has sparked a tinge of hope that in my lifetime there will be a resurgence of interest in Velikovsky.' Rafael H Sharón, Psychoanalyst Princeton, New Jersey, USA

A vivid coming-of-age story that explores the struggles of chronic anxiety and self-doubt within a richly-detailed fantasy setting. Ronoah Genoveffa despairs of fulfilling his spiritual identity, until he begins a cross-continental pilgrimage with an otherworldly mentor. Immersive worldbuilding and mythology meet visceral emotional case study.

Traces the decline of Christianity in America since the 1950s, posing controversial arguments about the role of heresy in the nation's downfall while calling for a revival of traditional Christian practices.

In the middle of the nineteenth century a group of political activists in New York City joined together to challenge a religious group they believed were hostile to the American values of liberty and freedom. Called the Know Nothings, they started riots during elections, tarred and feathered their political enemies, and barred men from employment based on their religion. The group that caused this uproar?: Irish and German Catholics—then known as the most villainous religious group in America, and widely believed to be loyal only to the Pope. It would take another hundred years before Catholics threw off these xenophobic accusations and joined the American mainstream. The idea that the United States is a stronghold of religious freedom is central to our identity as a nation—and utterly at odds with the historical record. In American Heretics, historian Peter Gottschalk traces the arc of American religious discrimination and shows that, far from the dominant protestant religions being kept in check by the separation between church and state, religious groups from Quakers to Judaism have been subjected to similar patterns of persecution. Today, many of these same religious groups that were once regarded as anti-thetical to American values are embraced as evidence of our strong religious heritage—giving hope to today's Muslims, Sikhs, and other religious groups now under fire.

The struggle over fundamental issues erupted with great fury in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In this book preeminent medievalist Heinrich Fichtenau turns his attention to a new attitude that emerged in Western Europe around the year 1000. This new attitude was exhibited both in the rise of heresy in the general population and in the self-confident rationality of the nascent schools. With his characteristic learning and insight, Fichtenau shows how these two separate intellectual phenomena contributed to a medieval world that was never quite as uniform as might appear from our modern perspective.

In Heretics and Colonizers, Nicholas B. Breyfogle explores the dynamic intersection of Russian borderland colonization and popular religious culture. He reconstructs the story of the religious sectarians (Dukhobors, Molokans, and Subbotniks) who settled, either voluntarily or by force, in the newly conquered lands of Transcaucasia in the nineteenth century. By ordering this migration in 1830, Nicholas I attempted at once to cleanse Russian Orthodoxy of heresies and to populate the newly annexed lands with ethnic Slavs who would shoulder the burden of imperial construction. Breyfogle focuses throughout on the lives of the peasant settlers, their interactions with the peoples and environment of the South Caucasus, and their evolving relations with Russian state power. He draws on a wide variety of archival sources, including a large collection of previously unexamined letters, memoirs, and other documents produced by the sectarians that allow him unprecedented insight into the experiences of colonization and religious life. Although the settlers suffered greatly in their early years in hostile surroundings, they in time proved to be not only model Russian colonists but also among the most prosperous of the Empire's peasants. Banished to the empire's periphery, the sectarians ironically came to play indispensable roles in the tsarist imperial agenda. The book culminates with the dramatic events of the Dukhobor pacifist rebellion, a movement that shocked the tsarist government and received international attention. In the early twentieth century, as the Russian state sought to replace the sectarians with Orthodox settlers, thousands of Molokans and Dukhobors immigrated to North America, where their descendants remain to this day.

In this volume, noted church historians Justo and Catherine Gonzalez introduce readers to important early church figures whose teachings were denounced by the church as heresies. Instructional for what they taught and for revealing what the church wished to safeguard and uphold, these "heretics" are engagingly presented in their contexts through clear and accessible text that is highlighted by the humorous illustrations of Ron Hill.

James B. Given analyzes the inquisition in one French region in order to develop a sociology of medieval politics. Established in the early thirteenth century to combat widespread popular heresy, inquisitorial tribunals identified, prosecuted, and punished heretics and their supporters. The inquisition in Languedoc was the best documented of these tribunals because the inquisitors aggressively used the developing techniques of writing and record keeping to build cases and extract confessions.Using a Marxist and Foucauldian approach, Given focuses on three inquiries: what techniques of investigation, interrogation, and punishment the inquisitors worked out in the course of their struggle against heresy; how the people of Languedoc responded to the activities of the inquisitors; and what aspects of social organization in Languedoc either facilitated or constrained the work of the inquisitors. Punishments not only inflicted suffering and humiliation on those condemned, he argues, but also served as theatrical instruction for the rest of society about the terrible price of transgression. Through a careful pursuit of these inquires, Given elucidates medieval society's contribution to the modern apparatus of power.

Silenced for 1,600 years, the "heretics" speak for themselves in this account of the Priscillianist controversy that began in fourth-century Spain. In a close examination of rediscovered texts, Virginia Burrus provides an unusual opportunity to explore heresy from the point of view of the followers of Priscillian and to reevaluate the reliability of the historical record. Her analysis takes into account the concepts of gender, authority, and public and private space that informed established religion's response to this early Christian movement. Priscillian, who began his career as a lay teacher with particular influence among women, faced charges of heresy along with accusations of sorcery and sexual immorality following his ordination to the episcopacy. He was executed along with several of his followers circa 386. His purportedly "gnostic" doctrines produced controversy and division within the churches of Spain, dissension that continued into the early decades of the fifth century. Burrus's thorough and wide-ranging study enlarges upon previous scholarship, particularly in bringing a feminist perspective to bear on the gendered constructions of religious orthodoxies, making a valuable contribution to the recent commentary that explores new ways of looking at early Christian controversies. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1996.