Inspired by analogies betwen the construction of heresy and the representation of madness described by Michael Foucault in in Histoire de la folie ? l'?ge classique (Madness and Civilization), The Notion of Heresy in Greek Literature in the Second and Third Centuries demonstrates how the concept of heresy emerges in the work of Justin Matyr. It shows that this invention created a concept capable of dominating every current suspected of endangering ecclesial harmony, and transformed the tradition of Greek historiography of philosophical schools by combining it with the apocalyptic theme of diabolical conspiracy. Le Boulluec examines how this model is refined by Irenaeus, then modified by Clement of Alexandria and Origen.
First published in 1985 as d'h?r?sie dans la litt?rature grecque (IIe-IIIesi?cles), this newly translated work includes a substantial new introduction surveying literature in the previous decades. In line wth Walter Bauer's pioneering book, which overturned the confessional model making heresy a later falsification of orthodoxy, it shows that the notion of heresy was invented in the second century and then refined in order to remove all legitimacy from diversity and pluralism in the fields of doctrine and practice. Le Boulluec studies rhetorical practices and polemical assimilations to highlight key debates on the relationship between philosophy, Christianity, and Judaism, and to examine the conflict of interpretations that drive the exegesis of the Bible in constructing an orthodoxy.

Alain Le Boulluec studied at the École Normale Supérieure, Paris. He taught Greek literature at the Faculté des Lettres of Brest, 1969--70, then at the École Normale Supérieure (1970--83). In 1983 he was elected to the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Section des Sciences religieuses, and was Directeur d'études until 2006. He was also the head of the Centre d'études des religions du Livre (EPHE - CNRS) from 1990 to 1998.
David Lincicum is an Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He was previously a Departmental Lecturer and in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford (2009--11), a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow (2011--12), and a Caird Fellow in New Testament at Mansfield College, Oxford (2012--15).
Nicholas Moore is an Academic Dean and Lecturer in New Testament, Cranmer Hall, Durham. He completed his DPhil in New Testament at Oxford, and was formerly an Assistant Curate at All Saints' Church Stranton, Hartlepool (2014--17), and an MA Director and Tutor at Cranmer Hall, Durham (2017--20).