WRITING AUTHORITY IN LATE MEDIEVAL ... - Cornell University

is not to say that they are not human or that they are lesser than Christians. Quite the contrary, it
is to say that there is no such thing as a fixed idea of the human and that every encounter with a
foreign “other” requires its own language and necessarily a type of immediate and individual
encounter with the language of the “other” through translation. Infidelity, as an ontological
position outside “fides” ‘faith,’ deserves to be treated differently because its being is not dictated
by law but by the absolute relation of an individual to the power of his speech.
This is why Vladimiri argues that the problem with reducing authority to translation is
that fixed ideals, such as ethical and natural laws, can be simultaneously violated and upheld. If
law’s authority is merely a product of its representation—of its embodiment by a sovereign
entity or event, then anyone who can embody authority automatically follows the law regardless
of his action. For example, a Christian can commit illegal and unnatural acts and still be
Christian under the law simply because his speech, above all, is the very process of law making.
If the idea of Christianity is inseparable from its representation by Christians, any Christian may
kill, steal, and pillage while still acting “sine pecato” ‘without sin’ since to be Christian is to be
the embodiment of Christian law.
At first sight, Vladimiri’s conclusion may seem overly simplistic. First, one cannot argue
that, by giving the Pope the right to take infidel property, Hostiensis is making a point about
Christians in general. Removing the legal rights of criminals does not exonerate citizens from
taking their law into their own hands without a mandate. Likewise, it does not follow that the
denial of infidel authority, even in a general sense, is a license for the constant persecution of
infidels. This much is clear to Hostiensis who denies the power of private individuals (even kings
and the Emperor) to declare war on infidelity without the Pope’s license. 73
73 Muldoon Popes 18.
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