To Be Martha or Mary during the Great Western Schism
During the Great Western Schism (1378-1417), the question of whether to live an active or contemplative life was not an academic exercise. Humanists and theologians, bishops and priests, church statesmen and high-ranking lay people had to decide whether and how to be involved in the shifting landsca...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Peeters
[2019]
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| In: |
Studies in spirituality
Year: 2019, Volume: 29, Pages: 71-85 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality HC New Testament KAF Church history 1300-1500; late Middle Ages KDB Roman Catholic Church |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | During the Great Western Schism (1378-1417), the question of whether to live an active or contemplative life was not an academic exercise. Humanists and theologians, bishops and priests, church statesmen and high-ranking lay people had to decide whether and how to be involved in the shifting landscape of ecclesiastical and secular politics. This essay explores the question by examining the exegesis of Luke's gospel story of Martha and Mary offered by three late medieval French figures: Pierre d'Ailly, Jean Gerson, and Nicolas de Clamanges. Their treatment of the gospel lesson of Martha and Mary reveals their self-understanding of the dangers of negotiating thewhen two and then three papacies compromised spiritual life not just at the highest curial levels but in urban and rural parishes as well as in lecture halls throughout Europe, especially at their home of the University of Paris. Their statements allow us to posit a biographical analysis of how they saw their own situations as well as the role of the pastor, the professor, and the church politician during the Schism. By looking at the way these players discussed the emblematic comparison of theand the, we may glimpse how fraught was the pragmatic and political late medieval answer to the question: to be Martha or Mary? |
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| ISSN: | 0926-6453 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in spirituality
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2143/SIS.29.0.3286938 |