Church, Clergy, and Authority: An Exploration of Medieval Religious Life and Culture

Dear Colleagues,

The medieval period from the fifth to the fourteenth century was one of enormous paradigm shifts regarding religious life in Europe and beyond. If we take this period to begin after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and end with the Reformation, we have myriad events, wars, doctrinal discussions and power struggles in between. Such a period might well be looked upon as the most intense in terms of loyalties, persecutions, assertions of authority, heresy, subversion and movements of renewal, many of which still resonant in our religious and secular lives in the twenty-first century and have contributed to shape our way of living as we know it. The study of this period poses interesting questions and points of discussion about definitions of events, identifications of driving forces, assessments of significance and interpretations of meaning. The liveliness of contemporary scholarly debates on these issues bears witness to the lasting importance of these centuries in terms of not only ecclesiastical but secular history.

This Special Issue will consider the developments during this time with regard to the power and authority of the Churches, both in the West and East. It will look at how these developments redefined identities both clerical and lay. The articles will examine expressions of these changes within religious life and culture in terms of the arts, architecture, Church structures, power dynamics and theological understanding. In addition, it will discuss the impact of changes in perceptions towards ordinary people, women and society in general, and those who lived on the fringes or beyond the boundaries of Christendom such as heretics, Jews and Muslims.

Dr. Jack Cunningham
Dr. Angelo M. Silvestri
Guest Editors

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• church
• authority
• community
• dissent
• culture
• clergy