Abstract
This paper continues the fourth cluster’s comparative examination of how the Teflon pattern operates within religious institutions across multiple traditions, focusing on the period of medieval Christianity in which the patterns the Lord originally identified within first-century Judaism reappeared, with substantial intensification in certain respects, within the institutional structure of the Western church. The argument proceeds through four interlocking analyses: the development and operation of the indulgence system as the most visible institutional manifestation of elite exemption in the period, in which the credentialed class converted the substantive matters of repentance and forgiveness into financial transactions whose operation systematically favored those with the resources to navigate the system; the broader system of clerical privilege that operated across the period through formal and informal mechanisms that placed the clergy under conditions substantially different from those that applied to the laity; the sacramental asymmetry that developed through the operation of these mechanisms, in which the substantive operation of the sacramental life of the church came to be substantially mediated by the credentialed class in ways that produced systematic advantages for that class; and the institutional and theological developments that culminated in the protests of the sixteenth century, in which the substantive issues the Teflon pattern had produced finally received the institutional confrontation that the operation of the pattern across the preceding centuries had made unavoidable. The paper applies the biblical critique developed in the first cluster to the patterns it documents, demonstrating that the medieval Christian case provides a second foundational instance of the Teflon pattern operating within a religious tradition, against which the further comparative examinations of subsequent papers can be measured.
I. The Domain and Its Particular Significance for the Cluster
The contemporary domain examined in this paper is, like the domain of the preceding paper, a religious tradition rather than a secular institutional context. The examination of medieval Christianity has particular significance for the broader argument of the volume because the period demonstrates the operation of the Teflon pattern within a religious tradition that explicitly understood itself as continuing the witness of the original apostolic community, that explicitly affirmed the canonical authority of the gospel narratives examined in the preceding paper, and that explicitly recognized the Lord’s critique of the first-century religious establishment as part of the foundational witness it maintained. The medieval church did not, in its formal theological articulations, reject the biblical critique developed in the preceding paper. The medieval church, in many of its substantive operations, nevertheless produced patterns that the biblical critique identifies and condemns, and the operation of the patterns within an institution that formally affirmed the critique is itself a substantial confirmation of the broader argument the volume has been developing.
The significance of the medieval Christian case operates at several levels. The first level is historical. The medieval church was the institutional expression of the dominant religious tradition of Western civilization across approximately a thousand years, and the patterns documented within the period therefore had substantial implications for the religious life of populations across substantial portions of the world during that period. The historical scale of the period and the institutional dominance of the church within Western civilization during that period make the patterns documented within the period particularly consequential for the broader argument of the volume.
The second level is theological. The medieval church developed substantial theological frameworks within which its institutional operations were articulated and defended, and the frameworks have continued to influence Christian theological discussion across the centuries since the medieval period. The relationship between the theological frameworks developed during the medieval period and the substantive patterns documented within the period is therefore a matter of substantial theological significance, and the examination of the relationship provides important resources for any subsequent theological evaluation of the institutional patterns that have appeared within Christian institutions across the broader history of the tradition.
The third level is ecclesiological. The medieval church’s response to the substantive challenges that emerged from within the broader Christian community across the period, culminating in the protests of the sixteenth century, provides substantial historical material for the examination of how religious institutions respond to substantive prophetic challenge that threatens their established operations. The institutional dynamics documented within the medieval church’s responses to these challenges exhibit the patterns of institutional self-protection examined in the preceding paper, and the documentation of those dynamics within the medieval Christian context provides important confirmation of the broader analytical framework the volume has been developing.
The fourth level is practical. The medieval Christian case provides the foundational Christian instance of the Teflon pattern operating within an institution that explicitly understood itself as Christian, and the case therefore provides the standing warning to subsequent Christian institutions of the dynamics that can develop within institutions that share the same foundational commitments. The application of the warning to subsequent Christian cases is the natural and necessary extension of the analytical work the present paper undertakes, and the application has substantial implications for the contemporary Christian institutions that are the inheritors of the broader Christian tradition.
The biblical perspective the volume maintains throughout requires particular care in the analytical work of this paper. The Lord’s critique of the first-century religious establishment was directed at the specific patterns of conduct the establishment exhibited and at the specific institutional dynamics that produced those patterns. The critique applies, with appropriate adjustments for context, to any subsequent religious establishment that has operated under analogous patterns, including the medieval Christian establishment that the present paper examines. The application of the critique to the medieval case is not an inappropriate extension of the critique beyond its original context; it is the natural and necessary application of the same critique to a subsequent case in which the same dynamics have operated. The recognition of this fact is essential for understanding what the analytical work of this paper undertakes and what it does not undertake. The biblical perspective also requires the recognition that the medieval church, despite the patterns the paper documents, preserved across the period the substantial portion of the canonical witness and the broader theological tradition that subsequent Christian generations have continued to receive. The preservation is itself a matter of substantial theological significance, and the recognition of the preservation is consistent with the substantive engagement with the patterns the paper documents.
II. The Development and Operation of the Indulgence System
The first analytical task of the paper is to examine the development and operation of the indulgence system as the most visible institutional manifestation of elite exemption in the medieval period. The system developed across several centuries through the convergence of several theological and institutional developments, and the convergence produced an institutional arrangement that, in its developed form, exhibited the Teflon pattern with particular clarity. The recognition of the developmental history is essential for understanding how the system came to operate as it did in its later forms.
The indulgence system, in its developed form, operated through the conversion of the substantive matters of repentance and forgiveness into financial transactions whose operation systematically favored those with the resources to navigate the system. The conversion did not occur all at once. The system had earlier origins in the practices of the ancient church for the management of penitential discipline, and the practices were initially calibrated to the substantive matters they were designed to address. The development of the practices across the medieval period, however, produced an institutional arrangement in which the connection between the financial transactions and the substantive matters of repentance and forgiveness became progressively attenuated, and the attenuation produced the conditions under which the system could operate as a mechanism of elite exemption rather than as an expression of the substantive religious commitments it had originally been designed to support.
The patterns of operation of the developed indulgence system exhibited several characteristic features that connect the system to the broader analytical framework this volume has been developing. The first characteristic feature was the substantial separation between the financial transactions through which indulgences were obtained and the substantive practices of repentance and amendment of life that the original theological framework had associated with forgiveness. The financial transactions could be conducted with relative ease by those with the resources required, and the transactions produced the formal documentation that the system associated with the obtaining of indulgence. The substantive practices that the original theological framework had required, however, were not effectively monitored by the system, and the operation of the system therefore produced a substantial population whose formal participation in the indulgence system was not matched by the substantive practices that the original theological framework had associated with the matters the system addressed.
The second characteristic feature was the differential access to the system that operated based upon the financial resources available to different participants. The system required, for its operation, the payment of financial contributions whose magnitude varied substantially across the various forms of indulgence available. Those with substantial financial resources could obtain indulgences whose scope was substantially greater than those available to participants with limited resources, and the differential access produced a system in which the substantive matters the system addressed were available to different populations on substantially different terms. The differential access has been documented across extensive historical scholarship on the medieval period, and the documentation is sufficient to establish that the system operated, in this respect, as a mechanism through which financial resources purchased religious benefits that were not equally available to those without comparable resources.
The third characteristic feature was the institutional dependence of the credentialed class upon the revenues that the system generated. The indulgence system became, across the period of its developed operation, a substantial source of institutional revenue for the credentialed class that administered it, and the revenue supported the operations of the institutions through which the credentialed class operated. The institutional dependence produced powerful institutional incentives for the continuation and expansion of the system, since the credentialed class had substantial interest in the continued operation of an institutional arrangement that provided substantial support for its activities. The institutional incentives operated against any substantive reform of the system that would have reduced its revenue-generating capacity, and the operation of these incentives across the period contributed substantially to the patterns of resistance to substantive reform that the system displayed when challenges to its operation eventually emerged.
The fourth characteristic feature was the systematic obscuring of the substantive issues the system raised through the elaboration of theological frameworks within which the system could be defended. The frameworks involved distinctions between various categories of penalty and forgiveness, between the temporal and eternal consequences of sin, between the obligations of the living and the conditions of the deceased, and between the various other theological considerations that the developed system addressed. The frameworks were sufficiently elaborate that substantive challenge to the system required engagement with the frameworks at levels of theological detail that were not generally accessible to the broader population whose religious life the system affected. The cumulative effect was the production of a system whose substantive operation could be conducted with relative protection from substantive challenge, since challenge would have required engagement with theological frameworks that the credentialed class controlled and that were not generally accessible to those whose substantive interests the system affected.
The institutional mechanisms identified in White Paper 6 operated within the indulgence system with substantial visibility. The gap between formal and informal power operated through the relationship between the system’s formal theological frameworks and the informal patterns through which the system actually operated. The discretionary enforcement mechanisms operated through the various forms of discretion that the credentialed class exercised in the administration of the system. The insider protections operated through the relationships among the credentialed class that administered the system. The procedural asymmetries operated through the conditions under which substantive challenge to the system would have to be conducted. The institutional analysis developed in the second cluster of this volume therefore applies with substantial precision to the operation of the indulgence system, and the application provides substantial analytical traction in understanding why the system operated as it did across the period of its developed operation.
III. The Broader System of Clerical Privilege
The second analytical task of the paper is to examine the broader system of clerical privilege that operated across the medieval period through formal and informal mechanisms that placed the clergy under conditions substantially different from those that applied to the laity. The indulgence system was, in this broader context, one specific manifestation of a more general pattern in which the credentialed class operated under conditions of substantial privilege relative to the broader population whose religious life the class administered.
The broader system of clerical privilege operated through several specific mechanisms. The first mechanism was the formal legal privilege that placed the clergy under the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts rather than the secular courts that applied to the broader population. The jurisdictional arrangement, known as the “benefit of clergy,” had developed across the medieval period through the institutional negotiations between the ecclesiastical and secular authorities, and the arrangement produced a system in which clergy who committed offenses that would have produced substantial penalties in the secular courts could be transferred to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, where the penalties imposed were typically substantially less severe. The arrangement was, in its formal articulation, defended through theological considerations about the proper jurisdiction over religious persons, but the substantive operation of the arrangement produced conditions in which clergy operated under substantially different penalties for substantially similar conduct than those that applied to the laity, and the differential operation has been documented across extensive historical scholarship on the medieval period.
The second mechanism was the formal exemption of the clergy from various forms of taxation and other civil obligations that applied to the broader population. The exemptions had developed across the period through the institutional negotiations between the ecclesiastical and secular authorities, and the exemptions produced a system in which the clergy operated under substantially reduced fiscal obligations relative to those that applied to other portions of the population. The fiscal arrangements were, in their formal articulation, defended through theological considerations about the proper relationship between the ecclesiastical and secular spheres, but the substantive operation of the arrangements produced conditions in which the clergy enjoyed material advantages that were not equally available to those who supported the institutional structures through which the clergy operated.
The third mechanism was the informal social privilege that operated alongside the formal legal and fiscal arrangements. The social privilege included the systematic deference that the broader population was expected to extend to the clergy in ordinary social interactions, the privileged access that the clergy enjoyed to various institutional resources, the institutional support that the clergy received from the broader ecclesiastical structure when they encountered difficulties, and the various other forms of informal advantage that the operation of the broader system produced. The informal privileges operated, in many cases, with effects that were substantially greater than those of the formal privileges, since the informal privileges affected the daily operation of the clergy’s relationships with the broader population in ways that the formal arrangements alone could not have produced.
The fourth mechanism was the institutional protection that the clergy received from the broader ecclesiastical structure when they engaged in conduct that came under challenge from the broader population. The protection operated through the institutional procedures available to the ecclesiastical structure for the management of complaints against clergy, and the procedures systematically operated in ways that produced outcomes favorable to the clergy whose conduct was being challenged. The patterns of protection have been documented across extensive historical scholarship on the medieval period, and the documentation is sufficient to establish that the protection operated as a substantial feature of the broader system of clerical privilege rather than as a feature specific to particular cases.
The cumulative effect of these mechanisms was the production of a system in which the clergy operated under conditions of substantial privilege relative to the broader population whose religious life the clergy administered. The conditions affected the daily operation of the clergy’s relationships with the broader population, the institutional consequences they faced for their conduct, the material resources available to them, and the various other dimensions of their institutional standing. The conditions also affected the broader population’s perception of the relationship between the clergy and the religious tradition the clergy administered. The credentialed class that articulated the demands of the religious tradition was observed, by the broader population, to operate under conditions that systematically differed from those that the tradition’s demands imposed upon others, and the observation produced cumulative effects on the broader population’s relationship to the tradition that contributed substantially to the institutional dynamics of the period.
The sociological dynamics identified in White Paper 9 operated within the medieval system of clerical privilege with substantial visibility. The prestige shielding that protected the credentialed class operated through the institutional structures that the broader system maintained. The elite networks among the credentialed class operated through the ecclesiastical relationships that connected the clergy across the broader institutional structure of the church. The status preservation dynamics operated through the various forms of institutional protection that the credentialed class extended to its members. The construction of the social environment within which the credentialed class operated produced conditions of moral insulation that the analytical framework of White Paper 9 identifies as characteristic of the Teflon pattern in its developed forms. The application of the analytical framework to the medieval Christian case therefore provides substantial analytical traction in understanding why the broader system of clerical privilege operated as it did across the period.
IV. The Operation of Sacramental Asymmetry
The third analytical task of the paper is to examine the sacramental asymmetry that developed through the operation of these mechanisms, in which the substantive operation of the sacramental life of the church came to be substantially mediated by the credentialed class in ways that produced systematic advantages for that class. The sacramental life of the medieval church was, in its formal theological articulation, available to all members of the church on the same theological terms, but the substantive operation of the sacramental life produced patterns that diverged substantially from the formal equality the theological framework articulated.
The sacramental asymmetry operated through several specific dimensions. The first dimension was the substantial institutional mediation that the credentialed class exercised over access to the sacramental life. The credentialed class administered the sacraments, determined the conditions under which the sacraments could be received, and exercised substantial discretion over the application of the sacramental requirements to particular cases. The mediation was, in its formal articulation, defended through theological considerations about the proper administration of the sacramental life, but the substantive operation of the mediation produced conditions in which access to the sacramental life was, in many cases, conditional upon the credentialed class’s exercise of its mediating function, and the conditional access produced systematic advantages for those whose relationships with the credentialed class facilitated the mediating function.
The second dimension was the substantial role that financial considerations played in the administration of the sacramental life. The various sacramental occasions, including baptisms, marriages, burials, and the regular reception of communion, involved financial obligations that the broader population was required to discharge in connection with the sacramental occasions. The obligations were, in their formal articulation, framed as contributions to the support of the institutional structure that administered the sacramental life, but the substantive operation of the obligations produced conditions in which the sacramental occasions were, in practice, more readily available to those with the financial resources required to discharge the obligations than to those whose resources were more limited. The differential access has been documented across extensive historical scholarship on the medieval period, and the documentation is sufficient to establish that the financial dimensions of the sacramental life produced patterns of asymmetric access that operated alongside the formal equality the theological framework articulated.
The third dimension was the substantial differentiation that developed between the conditions under which the credentialed class participated in the sacramental life and the conditions under which the laity participated. The credentialed class participated in the sacramental life on conditions that included substantial institutional support, regular access to the sacramental occasions, and the various other forms of participation that the institutional structure facilitated for its members. The laity participated on conditions that included less substantial institutional support, less regular access in many cases, and the various other forms of more limited participation that the institutional structure provided for those outside the credentialed class. The differential participation has been documented across extensive historical scholarship on the medieval period, and the documentation is sufficient to establish the patterns of asymmetry that the third dimension produced.
The fourth dimension was the substantial role that institutional standing played in the resolution of cases involving the sacramental life. When questions arose about the proper administration of the sacraments in particular cases, the resolution of the questions was conducted through institutional procedures that the credentialed class controlled, and the procedures systematically produced outcomes favorable to those with institutional standing within the broader structure. The patterns of resolution have been documented across extensive historical scholarship on the medieval period, and the documentation is sufficient to establish that the fourth dimension contributed substantially to the broader patterns of sacramental asymmetry that operated across the period.
The cumulative effect of these four dimensions was the production of a sacramental life that operated, in substantive terms, on conditions that systematically differed depending upon the institutional standing of the participants. The formal theological framework articulated the equality of the sacramental life across all members of the church, but the substantive operation of the sacramental life produced patterns that diverged substantially from the formal equality. The credentialed class enjoyed substantial advantages in its participation in the sacramental life, and the broader population participated on conditions that were substantially more constrained and more dependent upon the mediating function of the credentialed class. The cumulative pattern instantiated, within the specifically sacramental dimension of the church’s life, the broader patterns of elite exemption and clerical privilege that operated across the medieval ecclesiastical structure.
The performative sacrifice dynamics identified in White Paper 10 operated within the medieval sacramental system with substantial visibility. The symbolic austerity of the credentialed class operated through the visible practices of clerical life that were calibrated to produce favorable impressions while the substantive material conditions of the clergy frequently diverged substantially from the visible symbols. The burden displacement operated through the systematic concentration of the demanding aspects of sacramental discipline upon the laity while the credentialed class operated under substantially more accommodating conditions. The institutional theater operated through the elaborate public ceremonies through which the sacramental life was conducted, ceremonies whose visible operation could be witnessed by the broader population while the substantive deliberations through which the credentialed class governed the system remained substantially less visible. The application of the analytical framework to the medieval Christian case therefore provides substantial analytical traction in understanding why the sacramental life operated as it did across the period.
V. The Institutional and Theological Developments of the Sixteenth Century
The fourth analytical task of the paper is to examine the institutional and theological developments that culminated in the protests of the sixteenth century, in which the substantive issues the Teflon pattern had produced finally received the institutional confrontation that the operation of the pattern across the preceding centuries had made unavoidable. The developments are documented across extensive historical scholarship on the period, and the documentation is sufficient to establish the broader patterns the present section examines.
The sixteenth-century protests did not emerge from a context in which the substantive issues had not previously been raised. Substantive concerns about the patterns the present paper has been examining had been articulated across the preceding centuries by various reform movements within the broader Christian community, by various individual figures whose witnesses contributed to the accumulating pressure for substantive reform, and by various theological and pastoral developments that prepared the way for the more substantial confrontation that the sixteenth century produced. The preceding history of reform efforts is, in itself, a matter of substantial historical and theological significance, and the recognition of this history is essential for understanding the broader context within which the sixteenth-century protests occurred.
The sixteenth-century protests addressed the substantive issues the present paper has been examining through several specific channels. The first channel was the direct theological challenge to the indulgence system that the protests articulated. The challenge identified the substantive divergence between the operation of the indulgence system and the biblical theological framework within which the matters of repentance and forgiveness ought to have been articulated. The challenge identified the financial dimensions of the system as substantively incompatible with the biblical understanding of the gospel, and the identification produced the broader theological reformulation that the protests articulated. The theological challenge was not, in itself, primarily an institutional challenge; it was a substantive theological challenge that addressed the theological frameworks within which the institutional patterns had been defended.
The second channel was the broader challenge to the system of clerical privilege that the protests articulated. The challenge identified the substantive divergence between the privileged conditions under which the clergy operated and the biblical theological framework within which the proper conditions of religious leadership ought to have been articulated. The challenge identified the formal and informal mechanisms through which clerical privilege operated as substantively incompatible with the biblical understanding of the ministry, and the identification produced the broader reformulation of the conditions of religious leadership that the protests articulated. The challenge to clerical privilege had substantial implications for the broader institutional structure of the church, since the operation of clerical privilege had been one of the foundational features of the broader institutional structure across the medieval period.
The third channel was the systematic reformulation of the sacramental life that the protests articulated. The reformulation identified the substantive divergence between the patterns of sacramental asymmetry that had developed across the medieval period and the biblical theological framework within which the sacramental life ought to have been articulated. The reformulation reduced the substantial institutional mediation that the credentialed class had exercised over access to the sacramental life, reduced the financial dimensions that had played substantial roles in the administration of the sacramental life, and produced sacramental practices in which the participation of the laity was substantially less constrained by the institutional mediation that had characterized the medieval period. The reformulation of the sacramental life had substantial implications for the broader institutional structure, since the sacramental life had been one of the central features of the institutional life of the medieval church.
The fourth channel was the broader reformulation of the relationship between Scripture and the institutional tradition that the protests articulated. The reformulation identified the canonical Scripture as the foundational authority for the church’s theological and institutional life, and identified the institutional tradition as subordinate to the canonical Scripture rather than as equivalent to it. The reformulation had substantial implications for the broader institutional structure, since the institutional tradition had been one of the foundational sources for the theological frameworks within which the institutional patterns of the medieval period had been defended. The subordination of the institutional tradition to the canonical Scripture produced the conditions under which the substantive challenges to the institutional patterns could be conducted on the basis of the canonical witness, and the conditions facilitated the broader reformulation that the protests articulated.
The institutional response to the sixteenth-century protests exhibited many of the patterns of institutional self-protection that the preceding paper documented in the first-century case. The institutional structure of the medieval church responded to the substantive challenges through procedures that included the formal dismissal of the substantive content of the protests, the institutional sanctions against those who articulated the protests, the construction of categorical characterizations that placed the protests within frameworks the institution had grounds to oppose, and ultimately the development of military and political responses through which the institutional structure attempted to suppress the substantive challenges that the protests presented. The patterns of response have been documented across extensive historical scholarship on the period, and the documentation is sufficient to establish that the institutional response exhibited many of the same patterns of institutional self-protection that the preceding paper documented in the first-century case.
The cumulative effect of the sixteenth-century developments was the substantial institutional fragmentation of the broader Western Christian community, with substantial portions of the community separating from the institutional structure that had operated across the medieval period and establishing alternative institutional arrangements within which the substantive theological and ecclesiological reformulations could be pursued. The institutional fragmentation had substantial implications for the subsequent history of Western Christianity, and the implications continue to shape the institutional arrangements of contemporary Christianity. The recognition of the sixteenth-century developments as the eventual institutional confrontation of the substantive issues that the Teflon pattern had produced across the preceding centuries is essential for understanding the broader trajectory of the Christian tradition across the period the present paper examines.
VI. The Biblical Critique Applied and the Bridge to the Subsequent Papers
The closing analytical task of the paper is to apply the biblical critique developed in the first cluster of this volume to the patterns the preceding sections have documented, with the recognition that the medieval Christian case provides the second foundational instance, after the first-century Jewish case examined in the preceding paper, of the Teflon pattern operating within a religious tradition.
The first observation is that the medieval Christian case exhibits the dynamic the biblical literature condemns with patterns that, in their formal structure, parallel the patterns the preceding paper documented in the first-century case. The credentialed class of the medieval church had constructed and operated a system in which the visible operation of religious practice had been substantially separated from the substantive moral and theological matters that the canonical witness identified as central to the religious tradition. The credentialed class had developed extensive mechanisms of institutional protection that operated against the substantive engagement with prophetic challenge that the substantive function of the church would have required. The credentialed class had ultimately responded to the substantive prophetic challenges of the sixteenth century through institutional suppression rather than substantive engagement, and the suppression demonstrated the depth of the institutional disorder that the operation of the Teflon pattern had produced across the preceding centuries.
The second observation is that the parallel between the first-century case and the medieval case is itself a matter of substantial significance for the broader argument of the volume. The medieval church understood itself, in its formal theological articulations, as continuing the witness of the original apostolic community and as preserving the canonical authority of the gospel narratives that documented the Lord’s critique of the first-century religious establishment. The medieval church nevertheless produced, in its substantive operations, patterns that the same canonical witness identifies and condemns. The production of analogous patterns within an institution that formally affirmed the critique of the original patterns is, in itself, a substantial confirmation of the broader argument the volume has been developing regarding the universality of the Teflon dynamic across religious institutions. The same dynamic that operated within the first-century religious establishment can operate within institutions that formally affirm the critique of the original instance, and the operation within such institutions confirms that the formal affirmation of the critique is, by itself, insufficient to prevent the operation of the patterns the critique identifies.
The third observation is that the analytical framework developed in the first two clusters of this volume applies to the medieval Christian case with substantial precision. The institutional mechanisms identified in White Paper 6 operated within the medieval church through the various formal and informal arrangements that the present paper has examined. The sociological dynamics identified in White Paper 9 operated within the medieval church through the broader social environment within which the credentialed class operated. The performative sacrifice dynamics identified in White Paper 10 operated within the medieval church through the elaborate ceremonial life through which the credentialed class conducted its public functions while the substantive material conditions of the class frequently diverged substantially from the visible symbols. The application of the analytical framework to the medieval case provides substantial analytical traction in understanding why the patterns operated as they did across the period, and the application confirms the broader argument that the framework captures the underlying dynamics that operate across religious institutions regardless of their specific theological and historical contexts.
The fourth observation is that the medieval Christian case provides the standing warning to subsequent Christian institutions of the dynamics that can develop within institutions that share the same foundational commitments. The warning is particularly significant for the broader Christian community of the contemporary period, since the contemporary community includes both the institutional inheritors of the medieval church and the institutional inheritors of the sixteenth-century protests against the medieval patterns. Both categories of contemporary Christian institutions are subject to the same dynamics that operated within the medieval church, and both categories are therefore subject to the application of the analytical framework that the present paper has been developing. The application is not an inappropriate extension of the analysis to contemporary Christian institutions; it is the natural and necessary application of the framework to the institutions that have continued the religious tradition across the period since the medieval era.
The fifth observation is that the institutional fragmentation produced by the sixteenth-century protests did not, in itself, eliminate the dynamics that the present paper has been examining. The substantive theological and ecclesiological reformulations that the protests articulated were, in many cases, substantive corrections of the patterns that had developed across the medieval period, and the corrections have had substantial implications for the subsequent history of the Christian tradition. The institutional arrangements that emerged from the protests, however, have themselves been subject to the same dynamics that operated within the medieval church, and the dynamics have produced, within the post-Reformation institutional arrangements, patterns that exhibit many of the same characteristics that the present paper has been examining within the medieval context. The recognition of the recurrent character of the dynamics across the institutional arrangements that have emerged within the Christian tradition is essential for the broader application of the analytical framework to the contemporary Christian situation, and the recognition will inform the subsequent papers of the cluster as they extend the comparative examination to additional religious traditions and to the broader pattern of human institutional life.
The paper closes with the observation that the medieval Christian case provides the second foundational instance, after the first-century Jewish case examined in the preceding paper, of the Teflon pattern operating within a religious tradition. The two cases together establish the foundation for the broader comparative examination that the subsequent papers of this cluster will undertake. The subsequent papers will examine the operation of the Teflon pattern within the religious traditions of other major world religions, within secularized priesthoods in modern ideologies, and within the broader human temptation toward exemption that operates across all religious and quasi-religious frameworks. The comparative examinations will draw on the foundation that the present paper has established, and the foundation will continue to inform the analytical work that the remainder of the cluster undertakes. The first-century case remains the foundational biblical instance against which all subsequent instances are measured, and the medieval Christian case adds the foundational historical instance within the broader Christian tradition itself, providing the standing warning to all subsequent Christian institutions of the dynamics that can develop within institutions that share the same foundational commitments.
Notes
Note 1. The analytical work of this paper has drawn on extensive historical scholarship on the medieval period, with attention to the substantive patterns that the scholarship documents. The work has not undertaken to settle disputed questions about particular aspects of medieval ecclesiastical history, the relative weight of various historical factors in the development of particular institutional patterns, or the substantive evaluation of particular medieval theological positions on their own terms. The biblical critique that the paper develops applies to the substantive patterns the scholarship documents, and the application does not depend upon the resolution of the disputed questions that subsequent scholarship has addressed.
Note 2. The biblical critique developed throughout this volume should not be misunderstood as a wholesale critique of all aspects of medieval Christian life or of all individuals who participated in the medieval church. The medieval church preserved, across the period, the substantial portion of the canonical witness and the broader theological tradition that subsequent Christian generations have continued to receive. The medieval church produced, across the period, substantial numbers of individual figures whose witnesses contributed substantially to the broader Christian tradition. The critique is directed at the specific institutional patterns the paper has documented, and the critique applies with comparable force to any subsequent religious institution that has operated under analogous patterns. The recognition of the substantial contributions of the medieval church to the broader Christian tradition is consistent with the substantive engagement with the patterns the paper documents.
Note 3. The development of the indulgence system examined in the second section has been the subject of extensive historical and theological scholarship across the centuries since the medieval period. The scholarship includes works that examine the development from various theological perspectives, including perspectives that defend particular aspects of the system, perspectives that criticize particular aspects of the system, and perspectives that examine the system primarily as a historical phenomenon without taking a particular theological position on its substantive merits. The present paper has drawn on the scholarship primarily for its analytical purposes, with attention to the patterns the scholarship documents rather than to the particular theological positions the scholarship articulates.
Note 4. The system of clerical privilege examined in the third section has been the subject of extensive historical scholarship on the medieval period, and the present paper has drawn on that scholarship for its analytical purposes. The scholarship includes works that examine the legal, fiscal, and social dimensions of clerical privilege from various perspectives, and the present paper has drawn primarily on the descriptive scholarship rather than on the various interpretive frameworks that have been developed for the evaluation of the patterns the scholarship documents.
Note 5. The operation of sacramental asymmetry examined in the fourth section has been the subject of extensive historical and theological scholarship, and the present paper has drawn on that scholarship for its analytical purposes. The scholarship includes works that examine the substantive operation of the sacramental life of the medieval church from various theological perspectives, and the present paper has drawn primarily on the descriptive scholarship rather than on the various theological frameworks that have been developed for the evaluation of the patterns the scholarship documents.
Note 6. The sixteenth-century developments examined in the fifth section have been the subject of extensive historical and theological scholarship across the centuries since the period. The scholarship includes works that examine the developments from various theological perspectives, including perspectives that affirm the substantive theological reformulations of the period, perspectives that criticize particular aspects of those reformulations, and perspectives that examine the developments primarily as historical phenomena. The present paper has drawn on the scholarship primarily for its analytical purposes, with attention to the patterns the scholarship documents and to the relationship between the substantive issues of the medieval period and the substantive responses of the sixteenth century.
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Lindberg, C. (2010). The European Reformations (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
Luther, M. (1517/1957). The ninety-five theses. In H. T. Lehmann (Ed.), Luther’s works (Vol. 31). Fortress Press.
Luther, M. (1520/1957). The freedom of a Christian. In H. T. Lehmann (Ed.), Luther’s works (Vol. 31). Fortress Press.
MacCulloch, D. (2003). The Reformation: A history. Viking. [Cited for historical analysis; broader theological framework is not endorsed.]
McGrath, A. E. (1987). The intellectual origins of the European Reformation. Blackwell.
McGrath, A. E. (1999). Reformation thought: An introduction (3rd ed.). Blackwell.
Murray, I. H. (1971). The puritan hope: A study in revival and the interpretation of prophecy. Banner of Truth.
Needham, N. R. (1997). 2000 years of Christ’s power: Part one, The age of the early church fathers. Grace Publications.
Needham, N. R. (2000). 2000 years of Christ’s power: Part two, The Middle Ages. Grace Publications.
Needham, N. R. (2004). 2000 years of Christ’s power: Part three, Renaissance and Reformation. Grace Publications.
Oberman, H. A. (1989). Luther: Man between God and the devil (E. Walliser-Schwarzbart, Trans.). Yale University Press. [Cited for historical analysis; broader theological framework is not endorsed in its entirety.]
Ozment, S. (1980). The age of reform 1250–1550: An intellectual and religious history of late medieval and Reformation Europe. Yale University Press. [Cited for historical analysis; broader theological framework is not endorsed in its entirety.]
Packer, J. I. (1990). A quest for godliness: The Puritan vision of the Christian life. Crossway.
Pelikan, J. (1971). The Christian tradition: A history of the development of doctrine, Volume 1: The emergence of the Catholic tradition (100–600). University of Chicago Press. [Cited for historical analysis; broader theological framework is not endorsed in its entirety.]
Pelikan, J. (1978). The Christian tradition: A history of the development of doctrine, Volume 3: The growth of medieval theology (600–1300). University of Chicago Press. [Cited for historical analysis; broader theological framework is not endorsed in its entirety.]
Reeves, M. (2009). The unquenchable flame: Discovering the heart of the Reformation. B&H Academic.
Schaff, P. (1910/1996). History of the Christian church. Hendrickson.
Southern, R. W. (1970). Western society and the church in the Middle Ages. Penguin Books. [Cited for historical analysis; broader theological framework is not endorsed.]
Sproul, R. C. (2017). What is Reformed theology? Understanding the basics. Baker Books.
Steinmetz, D. C. (2001). Luther in context (2nd ed.). Baker Academic. [Cited for historical analysis; broader theological framework is not endorsed in its entirety.]
Tierney, B. (1964). The crisis of church and state, 1050–1300. Prentice-Hall. [Cited for historical analysis; broader theological framework is not endorsed.]
Trueman, C. R. (2017). Grace alone: Salvation as a gift of God. Zondervan.
Walker, W. (1985). A history of the Christian church (4th ed.). Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Wengert, T. J. (2015). Reading the Bible with Martin Luther: An introductory guide. Baker Academic. [Cited for historical analysis; broader theological framework is not endorsed in its entirety.]
Wylie, J. A. (1878/2002). The history of Protestantism. Hartland Publications.
