from the intro to the diss:

"This work is about the dangerous power of secrecy and suspicion. The idea of hidden truths appeals to those dissatisfied with appearances and superficial resemblances. Critical minds, trained to examine topics according to rigorous standards can not only find failures, but can hypothesize about the reasons for those failures. The truly secret can only survive behind a flawless facade of normalcy. In the area of religious information, the power of secrecy is even greater, if only because the religious sphere, in the historical context we will examine in this work, expresses some of the more important and sensitive concerns of people's lives, and provides a meaningful story about their community, its relation to other communities, and its larger significance in the cosmos. In the lands of Languedoc in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, religious experts serve the sociological role of providing a grand narrative into which each person can situate themselves."