Books condemned to be burned
There is a conundrum about condemning and burning books in the modern age (which, for these purposes, I date from with the Act of Toleration ( wiki ) in 1689): What is the point of burning books in an age of internet and mass literacy? And, the flip side: In an time of mass printing, widespread literacy, freedom of worship, increasing diversity, global communications, what is the point of orthodoxy? This was my starting point for the whole heresy project. I am not sure I am any nearer an answer than when I began, though perhaps the questions have become a little clearer. The purpose of condemning books Condemnation ( a global timeline ) has several functions. Practically, it allows and legitimates an authority to seize and destroy any copies of an offending text that they find. Condemnation declares a marker, a line in the sands of what an authority will tolerate. It is a warning: possession of a banned book - or even a book liable to be banned - is enough to identify the holder as