The Christian Theological Tradition Chapter 16
3. To what situation does the Avignon Papacy refer? Why is it sometimes called the "Babylonian Captivity"? How does the Avignon Papacy relate to the Great Schism, and what was the effect of these two situations on the church of the time?
a. Avignon Papacy—referring to a period in the Late Middle ages when the pope moved his court to Avignon, France. Before the papacy returned to Rome, the church leadership would be involved in an even greater struggle for power called the Great Schism. b. The 'Babylonian Captivity' - the period from 1309 to 1378 when the Popes were based in Avignon, France rather than Rome which was associated with the apostolic succession of St. Peter. A total of seven popes reigned at Avignon; all were French, and the papacy increasingly fell under the influence of the French Crown. Furthermore, this was called the "Babylonian Captivity" because the French king effectively controlled the Avignon Papacy, weakening the authority and power of the papacy. Allies and enemies of France feared that, with the "captivity" of the pope, the French could control all of European affairs from Avignon. c. Great Schism-the split within the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Gregory XI moved the papal court back to Rome, only to die the following year. When the new pope Urban VI announced that he planned a reform of the curia (college of cardinals), a large faction of French cardinals protested by calling for a return of the papcy to Avignon. The cardinals decided to elect their own pope named Clement VII, resulting in two different popes, an Italian pope named Urban VI and a French pope named Clement VII (and a third pope at the Council of Pisa named John XXIII), each saying that he was the real pope and the other one was the antipope. The schism within the papacy was resolved by the Council of Constance with the election of Martin V (1414-1418).
5. Who were John Wycliffe and Jan Hus? What were their concerns? What were the religious teachings that brought them into conflict with the authorities?
a. John Wycliffe: a reformer of the late medieval period. He preached against abuses in the church such as the wealth and power of the clergy and the Avignon Papacy and challenged some of the church's doctrines such as the "visible" church claims to be the source of salvation for Christians were wrong because those predestined for salvation were chosen by God alone, he also taught that personal holiness ought to be the basis of religious authority in the church not one's ecclesiastical rank or ordination, and Wycliffe attacked the doctrine of transubstantiation and the notion of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist because he thought the bread remained bread (called his doctrine of "remaining"). He also advocated the translation of the Bible into English, the language of the people. Lollards, a group who implemented his ideas, advocated clerical poverty and confiscation of church property. The distributed vernacular translations (in the language of the people) of the Bible and preched a return to simple, scripture-based Christianity of the early church. b. Jan Hus: a reformer of the late medieval period. Like his contemporary, John Wycliffe, he preached against abuses in the church and challenged some of the church's doctrines. For example, Hus accepted Wycliffe's teaching about the authority of scripture as the source of doctrine. However, he did not accept Wycliffe's doctrine of "remaining" in the Eucharist. He criticized the intention of one of the antipopes o send a crusading force against Christians in Naples and he criticized against the corrupt practice of selling indulgences. He was eventually executed as a heretic because they claimed that Hus taught the doctrine of "remaining."
6. What exactly is mysticism, and why was it considered an essential part of the spirituality of the Late Middle Ages? What are the stages of mystical experience?
a. Mysticism—a spiritual phenomenon that expresses itself in direct, intense experiences of union and oneness with God. Generally, the mystical journey consists of three phases: purgation (cleansing from sin), illumination (an attraction to all the things of God, especially scripture and the divine office, the official prayer of the church), and finally union (the state of oneness with God). b. Mysticism was considered an essential part of the spirituality of the Late Middle Ages was that the passionate and prophetic character of the mystic was solely needed in a time when the church and the Christian people were wondering if they had indeed been abandoned by God, or if they were victims of God's wrath. IN these troubled times, when the world seemed to be falling to pieces, people needed the guidance of the mystics. c. The three stages of the mystical experience are: i. Visionaries, whose union with God produced visions which taught them about faith and eoften called them to prophecy or to service ii. Others were so overcome by the presence of God that they would experience ecstasies (from ek-stasis, "standing outside"). While in ecstasy, they experienced supernatural phenomenona of various sorts: raptures, trances, various types of transformation (levitation, changes in appearance, miraculous events). iii. Still others felt drawn closer to God in an experience of "divine darkness" where they realized the full extent of how little God can be understood or perceived
2. What is nominalism? How does it differ from the scholasticism of the Middle Ages?
a. Nominalism (nominal:existing as something in name only: not actual or real): questions about the appropriateness of use of language (A nominalist is someone who thinks that the thing dogs have in common is just the use of the word—that is, that they're all called dogs.) Ockham's contribution was to come up with a distinction between words about words and words that point to words. Ockham's conclusion is that many philosophical errors arise due to the misunderstanding of language. Grand philosophical terms or words are the worst culprits, in his view. For example, attempting to think about human beings in general leads people to use the word humanity, and then philosophers suppose humanity is a real quality that all human beings possess. Stop right there! says Ockham, instead the word humanity is merely a kind of mental marker standing for all the people you know or have heard about, MINUS all their other (specific, individual collective) characteristics. In this way, Ockham's supporting theory is supposed to explain how words you use in sentences, which Ockham calls terms, refer to things. Alas, that's not why the theory is also sometimes called supposition theory. Instead, the label is attached , so to speak, because originally, in Latin , the word supposition means standing for and approximates to the idea of bearing reference in English. (Think supporting theory). Position taken in the dispute over universals—words that can be applied to individual things having something in common. Nominalism denied the real being of universals on the ground that the use of a general word (e.g., "humanity") does not imply the existence of a general thing named by it. The nominalist says that the existence of a thing is to be found in the particular, and not the universal. Rather the speaking of "Man" (a universal), the nominalist refers to "a man" (a particular). The nominalist position denied that there is a similarity between the particular things to which the general word is applied. b. Nominalism: argues that knowledge can be derived only from experience of individual things. Universals of humanity or truth do not really exist in reality, but as concepts in the mind. According to Ockham, we can only know God through revelation, accepted in faith, not through reason (analogizing human goodness and wisdom to divine goodness and wisdom). Faith, not reason, is the basis for our relationship with God. c. Scholasticism: medieval theology that took the truths uncovered by philosphers like Aristotle, who believed that one could work one's way up to understanding the ultimate truth using one's senses and reason and he emphasized responsibility on the sinful human being, and this approach showed how these truths were compatible with Christianity, by showing how reason could deepen one's understanding of what one believed because of divine revelation . In general, scholastic theology, so-called because of its setting in medieval universities, tried to harmonize faith with seeking understanding in reason which could deepen one's understanding of what one believed regarding God's authority by seeking Greek philosophy.
4. What was the Black Death, and how did this plague get its name? What was the impact of the Black Death on religious art and literature? On the social structure of Europe at the time?
a. Traveling from the Middle East, ships returning to Europe carried rats and fleas, which spread two virulent forms of bubonic plague: one spread by contact with the blood of its victims, the other by respiration as a form of pneumonia. It was familiarly known as the Black Death because black growths and pustules appeared on the victim's body. These would burst, and gradually the entire body would swell, discolor, and decay. b. First, death as a grinning skeleton holding a scythe. Second, Christ on the cross with discolored flesh and weeping wounds warned people that this world was passing away. Also, this image gave hope to Christians that by Christ's redemptive death on the cross better things awaited those who experienced great suffering as Christ had suffered. Third, pieta in which Mary mourns over her crucified so. It encouraged Christians to identify their suffering and death with that of Christ and to wonder at the amazing love of God present even in life's most difficult moments. c. Medieval people assumed God must be punishing them for something, though they weren't sure what. One response was the cult of "flagellants", who travelled round in groups praying for forgiveness and whipping themselves as a sign of their repentance. Other Christians blamed the plague on the Jews, resulting in pogroms or organized massacres against them across Europe during the Black Death. Likewise, the dying could not receive the anointing of the sick because a priest was not available or he would not come out for fear of contamination so lay persons were aloud to hear the last confessions of the dying to reassure them that God would not forget them but forgive them at the end. d. Following the Plague, the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 came about because of the mistreatment and overworking and overtaxing of peasantry. In large part, the revolt was caused by the farm labor shortage resulting from the plague. The shortage was made even worse by the fact that peasants who had been farmers were leaving the farms for more interesting jobs as artisans. The large landowners were not pleased about their loss of income and the higher wages they had to pay the workers who remained in farming. In order to recoup their losses and stop the flow of peasants off the land, the landowners shifted to wool production and other more profitable, less labor-intensive crops. They also managed to get extremely repressive legislation passed to keep peasants on their farms. They froze farm wages at very low levels and exacted very high taxes from peasants.
1. Why do we speak of the fourteenth century as one of change and crisis?
a. Weather conditions in Europe caused drought and starvation b. The bubonic plague killed 1/3 of the population in places c. The European economy and social institutions were in shambles d. The Church hierarchy had become a source of scandal e. England and France were engaged in the Hundred Years' War f. First, shifts in the intellectual climate of the late medieval period gave rise to nominalism, a development within scholasticism that would have a radical impact on theological inquiry g. Second, there was the scandal of the Avignon papacy, the Great Schism, and the responses of reformers who sought to bring the church back to holiness h. Third the Black Death had a profound impact on the Christian art and literature i. Finally, the late medieval period saw the rise of mysticism, a spiritual phenomenon that provided people with direct experiences of humanity's deeply personal and intimate relationship with God.
