Where did Chesterton's idea that a heresy was a fixation on a particular virtue within Christianity come from?

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The oldest and most persistent heresies are all an extreme focus on something true. Trinitarian heresies (examples: modalism, tritheism) are usually hyper-focused on the oneness of God, or otherwise on the distinctness between the three persons. Christological heresies (examples: arianism docetism) are either hyper-focused on the divinity or hyper-focused on the humanity of Christ. The idea that these are just virtues run wild, or otherwise true beliefs run wild, seems more like something that's just plainly true to those familiar with the history of heresies.

To the particular example in the question, we in the West, post-reformation, are hyper-focused on the poor and the victimized, to the point of echoing Judas' sentiments in John 12:5, as one example. For another, older protestants often took moral virtues (rather than intellectual virtues regarding the nature of God and Christ) to an extreme, making them indeed no longer virtues. For instance, the American Puritans emphasized detachment from worldly pleasure to an unhealthy degree. Some modern day Baptist sects still take this virtue to an extreme with their prohibition against alcohol consumption.

There were/are intellectual virtues taken to an extreme by Protestants, as well. For instance, the doctrine of Sola Fide is a recognition that we cannot be saved except by Christ's sacrifice run wild. It goes so far as to dismiss any works we might do as being not efficacious. It goes further than merely recognizing that we are only saved by Christ, but that true belief, that we cannot save ourselves, is the root of the heresy.

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