The Courage of the Lollards

Image via Wikipedia

It's difficult when reading the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards not to be moved and impressed by their courage.

Although the document, which was presented to the English Parliament in the 1390's, is less comprehensive doctrinally than some of the later outpouring of the Reformation era, these radical medieval church reformers certainly possessed fortitude when confronting the abuses they saw in the church of their day.

When the death penalty was normative for "heresy", the cry of these third stream believers is hugely impressive. The image is of Sir John Oldcastle being executed in 1417 for "Lollard heresy and insurrection."

Consider some of the language used:

On the priesthood:

Our usual priesthood, the which began in Rome feigned of a power higher than angels, is not the priesthood the which Christ ordained to his Apostles.

In a thoroughly modern-sounding criticism of clerical celibacy:

That the law of continence annexed to priesthood, that in prejudice of women was first ordained, induces sodomy in Holy Church

On transubstantiation:

The service of Corpus Christi made by Friar Thomas is untrue and painted full of false miracles, and that is no wonder, for Friar Thomas that same time, holding with the Pope, would have made a miracle of a hen's egg

On pilgrimages

the pilgrimage, prayers, and offerings made to blind roods and deaf images of tree and stone be near kin to idolatry and far from alms deeds

In the era of carefully nuanced news-speak, the directness of the Lollard "Conclusions" hits the post -modern mind like a hurricane.

The full text of the twelve Conclusions can be read here.

Inspired by Ignatius

I'm in the process of discovering Ignatius of Antioch, and what a wonderful discovery he has been.

The letters from the early-second century bishop of Antioch (not to be confused with the C16 founder of the Jesuits with the same first name) are a treasure of inspiration and insight.

The elderly bishop-martyr certainly had a way with words - think Spurgeon with a toga. The fact that his letters were largely penned on the road in AD 107 during his final journey as a prisoner to be executed in Rome, adds a powerful quality to both his content and style.

A few highlights so far, all taken from the letter of Ignatius to the Ephesians:

"It is true that I am a prisoner for the Name's sake, but I am by no means perfect in Jesus Christ as yet; I am only a beginner in discipleship."

Ignatius is often cited as giving evidence of a proto-episcopalianism in his writings, and thus providing a theological rationale for the gradual emergence of the monarchical bishops who ruled the churches by the fourth century.

In fact, there is a strong case to be made that the emphasis Ignatius places on the role of the bishops in the churches is not because he is fixated on an episcopalian model as such. Rather, his focus is doctrinal. In the absence of a closed canon of Scripture, much less any universally agreed creeds or confessions by the church, the body of gospel truth handed down by Christ and the twelve was (dynamically and intellectually) resident in the lives and teachings of the overseers and shepherds of the church, some of whom had been appointed by the original apostles and prophets, or by their delegates, during the preceding half century.

His comments on the role of the bishops should, in my view be read, in this context.

"Your justly respected clergy, who are a credit to God, are attuned to their bishop like the strings of a harp, and the result is a hymn of praise to Jesus Christ from minds that are in unison and affections that are in harmony. Pray, then, come and join this choir, every one of you; let there be a whole symphony of minds in concert; take the tone all together from God, and sing aloud to the Father with one voice through Jesus Christ, so that he may hear you and know by your good works that you are indeed members of his Son's body."

Commending the church in Ephesus for its recent refusal to entertain false teachers who had visited them, Ignatius notes:

"You stopped your ears against the seed they were sowing. Deaf as stones you were: yes, stones trimmed ready for God to build with, hoisted up by the derrick of Jesus Christ (the Cross) with the Holy Spirit for a cable; your faith being the winch that draws you to God, up the ramp of love."

Perhaps the most intense (and deservedly famous) quote of Ignatius from these letters is a comment on his impending martyrdom, in which the bishop exalts:

"I am God's wheat, ground fine by the lion's teeth to become purest bread for Christ."

It's heady stuff.

I'm discovering Ignatius through reading the Penguin edition of Early Christian Writings, translated by Maxwell Staniforth.