Patristic Age (2nd-5th century)
Politically themed writing by Christians in the
second and third centuries tended to be apologetic in nature, defending
the church as neither subversive nor perverse. Yet Christians also thought
of themselves a separate way of life, a politeia, alternately opposing
or permeating the old order. In 313 when Constantine issued the Edict of Milan
and made Christianity legal within the
Roman Empire, things were bound to change, and after 324, Christianity
quickly became the established religion. This was a watershed event,
but not one that produced complete consensus:
- Some, such as Eusebius of Caesurea, saw the imperial approval
of the faith as the natural outcome of the expanding Christian
mission, while others, such as Ambrose of Milan, continued to hold that
the Christian witness was in the way of martyrdom and that all political
authority must be called to account by the church's message.
- A shift in the Christian view of military service
did take place between the third and fourth centuries. Whereas before,
it had been common to see military service as either unacceptable or
at least suspect for Christians, it became more acceptable. In part,
this was despite baptismal vows against it, perhaps because it was a time
when Christians often delayed baptism to later in life.
- Already the political experience of Christians in
different parts of the empire was leading to differing views of church
and state. The Latin experience with Roman republican tradition led to
a view of the church and state as separate entities, while the Greek
experience of imperial rule led to a monist position often labeled
(perhaps unfairly) as "caesaropapism."
- The Greek Patristics were more likely to stress
the connection between the logos as a pattern of rationality
inherent in the universe and nomos as the law that establishes
that pattern. This led in the fourth and fifth centuries to a greater
hope that the imperial ruler might be an instrument of God's
providence. The Western tradition was just as likely to stress what
Augustine would call the two cities: "the City of God" and
"the City of Man." Augustine himself argued for the need for
rulers to act as a just restraint on human sinfulness, while the
church's role was to offer mercy and penitence to the remorseful.
Early Medieval Kingship (5th-9th century)
The Early Medieval era can be divided into three
broad periods with characteristic, if intertwining emphases:
- Late Antiquity: Christians, such as
SIdonius Apollinarius and Cassiodorus, stressed portraits of the new
rulers as "citizen-emperors" and as rulers bound by law, promulgating
an idealized vision of humble, missionary kings. At the same time, the Roman
pontiff came to be understood more and more as a separate power from and
a spiritual authority over that of kings. New legal codes arose, most
importantly that under Justinian. The Justinian Code included such
important concepts as the difference between written and unwritten
law, the relationships of law to rights, and the concept of the
emperor being accountable to the law because his sovereignty is
conferred by the people.
- The Post-Justinian Period: Pope
Gregory I and Isidore of Seville developed the notion of public
authority as a ministry within the purposes of God. The authority of
ecclesiastical leadership and regal kingships are each chosen by God
to suppress and correct evildoing in the populace, and their exalted
status and power is given by God with this office in mind. Isidore
also stressed that natural, divine law is ascendant over and more permanent
than human, customary law, and he further developed theories of rights
as deriving from nature, civil establishment, and national action.
- The Carolingian Empire: The forged
document, the Donation of Constantine, possibly written during
the reign of Pope Stephen II, helped to establish papal control of the
territory surrounding Rome. Pope Leo III's crowning of Charlemagne in
800 as "Emperor of the Romans" gave new life to the notion
of a new Roman empire as a Christian political order. In theory,
Charlemagne reigned as a king-priest (rex et sacerdos) who
guarded the legal, political, and spiritual health of his people. In
practice, Frankish kings were equally dependent upon legal compacts
with the aristocratic sections of the populace. The Council of Paris
in 829 attempted to stress again the division of political and
spiritual powers, proclaiming the right of the bishops to speak on
matters of the Church, and adjuring the political rulers to make just
laws, punish wrongdoing, and maintain a good social order.
High Medieval Rivalries (11th-14th century)
- Papal Corruption: The period
between the late 9th century and mid-11th
century suffered from extensive papal corruption with a succession of
murders, power plays, and the children of popes being placed on the
papal throne. Popes were often appointed as puppet rulers by powerful
Roman barons. The period ended in 1046 with Henry III interfering in
order to depose three rival popes. In 1059, the Papal Election Decree
established a college of cardinals to choose successive pontificates.
- The Lay Investiture Controversy: After the
mid-11th century the Roman Catholic Church and the
Western rulers, especially those associated with the Holy Roman Empire and
the Capetian dynasties, were in constant tension, each set on a course of
political expansion. The Lay Investiture
Controversy embodied the various rival theories
of papal and royal authority (1075-1122), beginning in a showdown between Pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand)
and Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire and climaxing in Pope Urban II's
continued opposition to Henry IV and Henry V. Gregory
VII willing used the power of excommunication to force Henry IV to
give up the practice of electing bishops, abbots, and priests, as well
as to (unwilling) acknowledge the superior authority of the pope, as
did Urban II against the less strong-willed Henry V.
The Corcordat of Worms in 1122 recognized the right of the emperor to
have symbolical territorial jurisdiction in church matters, but also
stressed the separate authority of the papacy to make its own
ecclesiastical appointments.
- Expanding Papal Power: Papal
reasoning extended the “power of the keys” beyond the assumed
powers of excommunication, penance, and purgatory to wide-spread
ecclesiastical control of all the subordinate offices of the Roman
Church.
Papal supremacy now extended to judging bishops, electing church
officials, granting plenary indulgences, as well as claiming immunity from royal judgment.
A letter of the Patristic Leo I's was used to stress the doctrine
of papal plenitudo potestatis (fullness of power), holding that
papal authority and dignity included both temporal and spiritual
power. The "two swords" doctrine came to mean that the pope
possessed both swords, but had granted the temporal sword to rulers;
therefore, the papacy had the right to depose kings and emperors. The papacy came to be understood as a "corporation of corporations"
which included the executive administration and ownership of otherwise
semi-independent organizations (monasteries, hospitals, parishes,
etc.) that held church property and assets.
- Imperial Reassertion: Understandably,
royal and imperial prerogatives were asserted in answer to this. Dynastic counter-pressure was mustered to maintain
the two swords
as separate bodies and separate authorities. However, Henrys IV
and V, Frederick I, as well as his Hohenstaufen descendents, did not
attempt to entirely reassert imperial control over the ecclesiastical
appointment process. Philip IV (the Fair) of France came closest to
this until Frederick II put forth his Liber augustalis, a revival of
the theory that the king serves as the high priestly protector of
public justice, proclaiming himself "God's vicar on earth."
- Law and the Common Good: Others, such as Henry Bracton
and John of Salisbury held that royal power was bound by human and divine
law. Kings should voluntarily imitate Christ in their service to their
people, as well as in his submission to Father God. Salisbury, in
particular, stressed the difference between a true king who serves the
law and the common good and a tyrant, who is entirely self-serving, as well as the right of people to overthrow tyrants
who abuse the common good. With the influx
of Aristotelian and Thomist natural law theory, medieval political
theory took a more nuanced reading of both civil and ecclesiastical
power and authority. In particular, Aquinas looked at how the civil
community could address "natural moral dignity" and the need
for a common will to pursue the common good of the people, including
in that the pursuit of virtue and charity. Post-Aquinas theory embraced a more
extreme separation of the goals and purposes of royal and papal rule,
as well as a more radical stress on the rights and powers of political
corporations.
Late Medieval Dualism (14th-15th century)
- Captivity and Schism: The Babylonian Captivity
(1309-1377), or the seven popes of the Avignon papacy, represent one
of the nadirs of papal authority and influence, and the Great Papal Schism (1378-1417)
that followed represents the almost intolerable state things
eventually descended to, with two rival lines of popes in Avignon and
in Rome, and after the Council of Pisa, three competing claimants. The Council of Constance (1414)
eventually resolved the issue, but also raised the larger question of
the power relationship of church councils and popes, an issue not
entirely decided in the papacy's favor until the dissolution of the Council of Basel (1431-1449).
Constance's policy was to see the authority of Christ's revealed in
both pope and council, while Basel went further, treating the pope for
a season as the minister of the conciliar corporation.
- Marsilius of Padua was one of three
important late medieval theorists. He argued for the spiritual poverty
of the church, one without political jurisdiction or wealth. The civil
ruler should work to establish civic harmony, and the people represent
the true source of the best laws and the ultimate authority of the
ruler. The best forms of government are ones that clearly establish
the responsibility of the ruler to the people. Marsilus supported a
definition of the church as "the whole body of the faithful"
and the work of the councils as divinely inspired. His work was
eventually placed on the Papal Index (1559).
- John Wyclif, the second theorist, also
stressed spiritual poverty as an ideal for the church to attain. He
held to the authority of scripture as an inerrant and sufficient guide
for life and law, and he put his words where he mouth was, in
promoting translations of scripture into the vernacular of the people.
Wyclif held that the "evangelical lordship" of the Christian
community freely possess the goods of the creation without claiming
proprietary ownership, while "civil lordship" is a fallen
necessity in a world dominated by private interest and limited
resources. Civil lordship is at its best when it practices a just use
of property for the needs of the poor. Wyclif held the monarch to have
a plenitude of rule by God's design in order to benefit the church and
the people.
- William of Occam, third of the great
theorists, held that the right of property proceeded any regal attempt
to grant or define it, that the common use of property is Adamic in
origin, and that the voluntary forsaking of all property is commanded
by Christ for spiritual perfection. He held that theologians trained
in scripture are more qualified to bring correction to doctrine than
the compulsory force of popes, and he argued that church councils are
not automatically inspired since they are men trying to understand the
meaning of scripture. Papal authority is a divine grant, though
meditated by fallible humans, while imperial authority is only given
by the consent of the people.
This overview is deeply
indebted to Oliver O'Donovan and Joan Lockwood O'Donovan's monumental
study, From Irenaeus to Grotius: A Sourcebook in Christian Political
Thought. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999. |