the Reformation when the Inquisition
was at its peak.
The Medieval papacy, characterized
by a lust for power and wealth, allowed
the church to become increasingly
commercialized. This meant that the
Church had to teach things that could
both generate cash and keep people in
subjection to its power. The veneration
of saints is one example of this: people
were encouraged to make pilgrimages
to places where saints had lived or
worked. Once there, and for a price,
pilgrims could visit relics of the saints
– bits of bone, or clothing, or in some cases, the entire preserved body.
The sale of relics and religious artifacts was a tremendous source of
income for the church. Increasingly religion focused on the imagined power
of these things and became a matter of superstition with very little foundation
of truth in it.
Most egregious of all the things characterizing the Medieval Church
was the subordination of the Word. As “Vicar of Christ,” only the pope had
the authority to interpret the Word and draw doctrine from it. True, popes
delegated this to scholars and theologians, but the doctrine they drew tended
to support the status quo.
Over time people, ordinary and scholarly, were denied access to the Word.
Literacy was at a low level, making it difficult for people to read the Word, but
this was compounded by the insistence that the Word only be available in an
official Latin version, the Vulgate. This limited even further the number of
people who could read it even if they could get a copy.
In place of the Word the Church instituted tradition: the writings and
opinions of the Church Fathers from the early church, or the doctrinal systems
of Augustine, Aquinas and others. In many ways, genuine Biblical study
disappeared from the Church except what was filtered through the approved
channels.
Not everyone forgot the Word, however. The Waldensians in the Piedmont
district, between France and Italy, kept the Word alive and in regular use,
but they were severely persecuted for it. In England, John Wycliffe taught
that the Word should be available to people in their own language, so that
they could read and interpret it for themselves. Bits of the Word existed in
vernacular languages, but mostly those were hidden in monasteries or wealthy
households, well out of the way of ordinary people.
Over time people,
ordinary and scholarly,
were denied access to
the Word. Literacy was
at a low level, making
it difficult for people
to read the Word.
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