Medieval & Reformation Church

Postulants should know about the Great Schism which took place around 1054 A.D. In this tragic break, ending a millennium of Christian unity, the undivided church was profoundly broken by schism. Be able to describe how the Western Church continued to develop the power of the papacy through its zenith in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, papal schism (“the Babylonian captivity of the papacy”) in the early 14th century and the Reformation (and next great schism) in the sixteenth century. Be prepared to speak about these developments to explain how and why the Reformation took place. Especially it is important for you to know what major events shaped the English Church into the Anglican Church leading up to the eighteenth century just prior to the American Revolution and the development of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. Below you will find various topics that you should at least be able to recognize and describe briefly.

Read J. R. H Moorman, A History of the Church of England: focus your study on the English Reformation, especially the development of the Prayer Book, Henry VIII’s break with Rome (and the 1534 Act of Supremacy), the Elizabethan Settlement (1558 Act of Uniformity and Act of Supremacy)

Read this article as a basic introduction to the history of the church from the last ecumenical council to the Reformation: [1]

Recommended Reading

Medieval

Kevin Madigan, Medieval Christianity: A New History (Yale University Press, 2015)

R. W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages (Penguin, 1970)

Reformation

Carlos M. N. Eire, Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650 (Yale University Press, 2016)

Carter Lindberg, The European Reformations, Second edition (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)

Resources for Further Study

Medieval

Bede, Ecclesiastical History ([2])

Thomas Aquinas, selections of the Summa Theologica on God’s existence (First Part, QQ. 2-26; [3]), grace (First Part of the Second Part, QQ. 109-113; [4]) and virtues (First Part of the Second Part, QQ. 55-70; [5])

Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God ([6])

Julian of Norwich, Showings ([7])

Cloud of Unknowing ([8])

Anselm of Canterbury, Prayers and Meditations ([9]) and Cur Deus Homo ([10])

Reformation

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion ([11])

Homily on the Salvation of Mankind ([12])

Martin Luther, Freedom of a Christian ([13]) and Preface to Galatians ([14])

John Jewel, An Apology or Answer in Defence of the Church of England ([15])

Preface, 1549 Book of Common Prayer and 39 Articles of Religion ([16])

Canonical Areas

Church History/Anglican Church History

a. Patristics & Early Church b. Medieval & Reformation Church c. Modern Church