A Primer on Cathar Theology, Episode 387
Join Us in France Travel Podcast
Annie Sargent
4.8 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2022
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Have you heard the Cathars? It is a religion that thrived in the Southwest of France for 100 years during the Middle Ages, then disappeared in a violent crusade. On today's episode of Join Us in France, we discuss the wild beliefs Cathars held so dear that they were willing to die for them.
We'll talk about dualism, spiritual prison, reincarnation, "bons hommes", perfects, Jesus as a "hologram", and of the importance of consolation.
As seen from today's standards, the Cathars had shocking beliefs that put them at odds with the Catholic church. And yet this religion spread all over the Languedoc area in France. This is the area between Toulouse, Foix, Perpignan, Béziers, and Albi.
How did this happen? Why did people convert to this religion although they risked being killed for heresy? After listening to this episode, you'll understand how the people loved Cathar preachers (they called them "Perfects") and feared Catholic clergy.
Table of Contents for our discussion on Cathar Theology
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The This is, join us in France, episode 387, 3.4, 4,7. |
| 0:17.0 | 3.4, 4,000. |
| 0:22.0 | Bonsieur, I'm Annie Sergeant, and join us in France is the podcast where we talk about France. |
| 0:28.0 | Everyday life in France, great places to visit in France, French culture, history, gastronomy and news related to travel to France. |
| 0:37.3 | Today I have a conversation with Elise Riven of Toulouse guided walks about the Cathars and their very strange beliefs. |
| 0:46.4 | This now defunct religion was all the rage in the Middle Ages, especially in the southwest of France. |
| 0:53.0 | If you draw kind of a rough rectangular shape |
| 0:56.4 | between Toulouse, Al-Bézier perpignon, |
| 1:00.7 | foi, Carcasson, and back to Toulouse, you have Cathar Country. |
| 1:06.6 | And you simply cannot understand the history of this part of France if you don't know anything |
| 1:10.9 | about the Cathars. |
| 1:12.6 | The beliefs this group held so dearly were so offensive to the Catholic Church |
| 1:18.2 | that there was a very bloody and horrible crusade |
| 1:21.6 | against these people starting in 12.08. |
| 1:25.0 | Today we'll mostly talk about the beliefs of the Cathars because it's fascinating |
| 1:30.0 | and really really strange by today's standards anyway, and it's the whole reason why the Catholic Church killed so many of them. |
| 1:38.7 | Next week we'll discuss the Crusade and all the places you can visit in the southwest linked to Cathar History. |
| 1:47.0 | This podcast is supported by donors and listeners who buy my tours and services, including my very popular itinerary consult and my GPS |
| 1:57.7 | self-guided tours of Paris on the voice map app and you can browse all of that at Annie's Boutique join us in France |
| 2:06.1 | dot com for a slash boutique and I want to make it clear that you can buy my GPS tours either |
| 2:12.4 | directly from the Voicmap app or from my website. |
| 2:16.0 | The advantage of getting them from my website is that I get to keep more of the money and also you get a very nice discount. Bonjour Elise. |
... |
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