Från antika kättarmunkar till religionsdebatter på Facebook

Några nedslag i heresins form och historia

Abstract

This article argues that there are observable similarities between the way ancient heresiologists depicted their theological opponents and how religious people and religion as a phenomenon are described by con­­­tempo­rary anti-religion orators. The short study takes its departure from previ­ous studies on the Nag Hammadi texts and ancient heresiological discourse and ends with reflections on the parallels to how religion is debated in social media today. It is argued, by way of Zygmunt Bauman and
Umberto Eco, that if we wish to understand the underlying mechanisms behind both ancient heresiological and contemporary anti-religious rhetorics, we can gain much by applying theories on the formation of individ­ual and group ide