IMC 2021: Sessions
Session 122: Spreading the Word, Controlling the Message: Dissemination and Transformation of Alternative Beliefs in the Late Middle Ages
Monday 5 July 2021, 11.15-12.45
| Sponsor: | Institut de Recerca en Cultures Medievals (IRCVM), Universitat de Barcelona / Medieval Heresy & Dissent Research Network, University of Nottingham |
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| Organisers: | Delfi-Isabel Nieto-Isabel, Departament d'Història Medieval, Paleografia i Diplomàtica, Universitat de Barcelona Justine Trombley, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of Toronto, Downtown |
| Moderator/Chair: | David Zbíral, Department for the Study of Religions, Masarykova univerzita, Brno |
| Respondent: | Rob Lutton, Department of History, University of Nottingham |
| Paper 122-a | On Private Brothels, Two Antichrists, and the Spear that Pierced Christ: Transmission and Distortion of Olivian Beliefs among the Laity (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Religious Life, Theology |
| Paper 122-b | 'The perverse doctrine of Brother Peter of John': Disseminating the Condemnation of Olivi's Lectura super apocalipsim (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Theology |
| Abstract | In the Late Middle Ages, the gap between theology and devotion reached a turning point. The writings and teachings of certain charismatic but controversial figures of authority were received enthusiastically by their lay contemporaries, who welcomed, adapted, and spread their own versions of these doctrinal texts. This session will trace the journey followed by some of these teachings from their dissemination among the laity to the reactions they triggered within the Church. In particular, we will focus on the theologian Peter of John Olivi, who died in 1298 after completing what would become his most problematic work, the Lectura super apocalipsim. In less than a year, the Lectura was on the one hand condemned by the Franciscan General Chapter and on the other translated into the vernacular and circulated by his lay supporters, who saw Brother Peter of John as an uncanonised saint. We will analyse how the Olivian message spread and how the Church attempted to control it, while Rob Luton, an expert in medieval devotional culture, will act as Respondent for the session placing the Olivian test case against the backdrop of other late medieval alternative religious movements. |