Crack-Up

In his book, The Last Days of the Renaissance , Theodore Rabb notes that one sign of the fragility of the late medieval church was its inability to continue to absorb fresh movements. This was not relativism; there was recognizable unity throughout the church. Yet, there was also remarkable diversity:

“The medieval Church had been able to encompass a vast spectrum of belief. From the maze of details beloved by canon lawyers to the stark mysticism of Joachim of Fiore in the twelfth century or St. Bonaventure in the thirteenth; from the complex rituals of well-organized monks to the simple rites conducted by virtually illiterate parish priests; and from the elaborate sermons in richly ornate cathedrals to the preaching of poverty by Franciscans in the streets: All were accepted as paths to salvation and all redounded to the greater glory of God. But in the late 1300s, buffeted by crisis, the Church seemed to lose its ability to embrace those who sought new paths to their faith.” Rabb illustrates by contrasting the reaction to Francis to the church’s reaction to Hus and Wycliffe.

Which raises some questions: What would have happened to a 12th-century Luther? Canonized, eventually. And what happens to a church that becomes so rigid that it is incapable of absorbing diverse expressions of orthodox faith?