Academic
Medieval Reformation, The : Foundations of Medieval History
Overview: The author shows that there was a deep religious crisis in western Christendom in the twelfth century, just as there was in the sixteenth, although divided Churches were not its outcome. There was a desire to return to the simplicity of the apostolic life of the New Testament and a dissatisfaction with traditional religious practice. Out of this ferment emerged not warring sects, as in the sixteenth-century Reformation, but a variety of religious orders all owing obedience to the pope: Augustinians, Cistercians, Dominicans, Franciscans, and many others. Only the Cathars and some of the Waldensians were excluded. This policy of authoritarian inclusiveness was largely the achievement of Pope Innocent III, who had the confidence to welcome the originality of St Francis while at the same time promoting crusades to destroy heretics and pagans. In such a policy there were of course contradictions and tensions, but the author suggests that harnessing the energies of lay men - and women - to the purposes of the universal Church was a new and considerable achievement which reformed the civilization of medieval Europe.
Tidak tersedia versi lain