Comparison of Catharism and Protestantism

The Cathars or Albigenses have been identified as Proto-Protestants by people such as Jean Duvernoy and John Foxe[1][2] among others.

[3] The debate over the relationship between the Albigenses and Protestants has been a matter of theological interest and controversy in history.

[5] What has appealed to some Protestants about the Albigenses was their rejection of transubstantiation, purgatory, crucifix, prayers for the dead, the invocation of saints and also that the Cathars held to the unique authority of scripture.

[3] Some have also attempted to link the Petrobrusians, who some see as Protestant forerunners and Cathars, due to both groups sharing iconoclasm, credobaptism and the denial of transubstantiation, however such views have been criticized by many historians.

Protestant historians such as Jacques Basnage, Mosheim and Shroeck have insisted that the charges of dualism and docetism were not authentic, only hostile claims,[11][12] with such arguments being criticized by Charles Schmidt.