Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

CHAPTER 4 THE SECOND GREAT SPLIT: WESTERN CHRISTENDOM TORN
APART – THE PROTESTANT UPHEAVAL
Innocent III’s papal reign (1198-1216) epitomises the Western ideal of the Church as having
powers both temporal and spiritual. In his reign transubstantiation was set down as a dogma
and auricular confession to a priest was enforced. In his reign both Henry IV of France and
John of England were forced to bow to the Pope‟s will. In his reign attempts were made to
extirpate heresy, particularly of the Cathari (Albigensians) in Southern France.
From the cradle to the grave, for both rich and poor, the Church ruled all of life – though the
rich had the prospect of a better life beyond death as they paid for the mitigation of pains in
purgatory by having masses said for them.
Rumblings of discontent against the power of Pope and priest arose in England as early as
Bishop Grosseteste of Lincoln (1170-1253). Almost all his life, Grosseteste was deeply
disturbed by the worldliness of the Church and the stifling effect of the centralised power of
the Roman Curia. He was a scholar, Biblical commentator, theologian and scientist. His
treatise De Luce („On Light‟) suggested that light was the first form of all matter to be
created.
In 1235 he left the academic life of Oxford to become Bishop of Lincoln. As a pastor he had
a zealous concern to remove clergy living a worldly life, both religious and secular. In 1245
he went to Lyons to plead for church reforms in England before Pope Innocent IV. Five years
later he went again to Lyons and a Memorial he had written was read to the Pope. In it he
appealed to the grace and condescension of Christ in coming to earth to redeem mankind as a
model for Christian ministry. He laid the blame for the indolence, luxury and worldliness of
the Church firmly on the bad example of the Papal Curia. Innocent IV considered
excommunicating him.
Just before his death, Grosseteste had another tussle with the Pope, who tried to impose his
own nephew, Frederick of Lavagna, as a canon of Lincoln Cathedral. Grosseteste firmly
opposed the move, consistent with his campaign against non-residency of the clergy. He
prepared even for open rebellion against the Pope if necessary: it was not unity at any price
for him. A century later Wycliffe was to be influenced by his writings.
John Wycliffe (c.1330-1384). Wycliffe was an Oxford scholar, and Master of Balliol
College around 1360. He was an acute critic of the worldliness of the Church of his day,
which he saw as a lack of grace. He held the thesis that rule and authority were only valid
when exercised by godly people. The Church was in the midst of its Great Schism at this
time, with three rival Popes all claiming authority to rule the Church.
Wycliffe attacked folk religion, with its superstitious pilgrimages and reverence of relics, as
well as the non-residence of clergy in their parishes. He questioned the doctrine of
transubstantiation, though he held to a real, though not physical, presence of Christ in the
Eucharist. He taught predestination of the elect to salvation and inspired the translation of the
Bible into English from the Latin. Many copies of this translation are still extant.
Page 44