Customer Reviews

Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian Reform to the Reformation

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Lambert's _Medieval Heresy_ provides a surprisingly readable overview of the major European heretical movements of the Middle Ages. Readers interested in Church history and the development of Catholic and Protestant theology will find useful insights. Historical heresies also have a surprising resonance with modern charismatic cults.
To cover the vast array of major heretical movements over several centuries, the book assumes a basic grounding in medieval history and culture. It is readable without such a grounding, but may be more confusing.
A short glossary of heretics is provided. A timeline of major events would have been useful.

Lambert's book manages to cover a large amount of history in readable and helpful manner. It is a great introduction into the heresies of the medieval period.

This is really an introductory work - one comes to know the major heresies about at the time, as well as how the Church attempted to deal with the situation and how the secular governments reacted. For those of us trying to get a start into the field, this book is most helpful. Not only does it give you an overview of the topic, but the amount of citation is extremely useful for further study. The short glossary is also helpful in keeping straight the various groups being mentioned.

Another benefit of this work is how it manages to avoid falling into an unfortunately typical problem - the genuflecting to heresy. While some historians tend to fall into seeing the heretics as wonderful, creative, populist bodies cruelly put down by the oppressive, corrupt, arrogant, mean, etc., etc. Church, Lambert thankfully takes a much more distanced and objective look at the matter. He relates who, what, when, where, and offers some discussion on why, without falling into the worship of the "wretched of the earth."

If there would be any critique, it would be the lack of a time table to keep the various groups organized in time (for the benefit of the reader). But, it doesn't really warrant a star marked off (oh, if only one could put in four and a half stars). This work is readable and easily accessable. Anyone interested in this topic or time period should pick this book up, whether academic or interested layperson. Highly recommended.

Dr. Lambert has provided a wonderful historical summary of heretical movements just prior to the reformation period. In addition, he describes which of those movements survived to be engulfed by the wave of the reformation heresies that followed them. Beginning with the 12th century early Cathar and Waldensian movements, he describes how those movements developed over time and how the Church reacted at different times to their spread. He also provides some insight into the possible connection with earlier Bogomil heresies from the Eastern church. Without being obvious, Dr. Lambert also points out the similarities with earlier cults such as the anti-clericalism of the Donatists that fed into the reformation as well.

Other movements that attract Dr. Lambert's attention are the spiritual Franciscans and Joachimites where an obsession with last days predictions seems a forerunner of today's dispensationalist heresies. Dr. Lambert also details the spread of Lollardism from Wyclif's influence and the rise of Jan Huss and the subsequent Bohemian wars. Interesting is how quickly each of these movements shattered into smaller spinoff groups as is so common with schismatic movements. It seems that once they leave the protection of Church authority, there is no limit to their divisions and fanatical schism over varied interpretations of scripture.

Finally Dr. Lambert explores the possible connection of these heresies with Luther and Calvin. They seem few though there are many similarities in doctrine. But those similarities seem to have fed the reformation movement to the point that the reformation traditions finally engulfed and eliminated the memory of those earlier heresies. All the while we are reminded that, in the area of heresy, there is truly nothing new under the sun. Whether they be an obsession of end times madness or extremism in clerical demands that leads to Donatists challenges, they are really no different from the first century heresies that attempted to drag the Church into obscurity and schism.

A well researched and interesting read. A few more details on doctrines that marked the movements would have been interesting as well but overall it is a thorough and enjoyable study. Well worth the time and a relatively easy though studious read.

Lambert does a good job of giving the reader an overview of Medieval heresy. We learn about the Cathars, Waldensians, Lollards, Hussites and others, who ran into conflict with church teachings or practice. The church was uncertain at first how to deal with these sects, but soon resorted to crusading and persecution, a tactic that turned out to be largely successful in eliminating them. Surviving groups were eventually absorbed into Protestantism by the reformation of the sixteenth century.

What kinds of religious initiative were meritorious, and which could get you the death penalty? Lambert explores where that line lay, and who crossed it. On the one hand, popes like Innocent III (1198-1216) looked for ways to encourage initiative by both clergy and lay people. He spoke of empowering three orders of religious workers -- the clerics, monastics, and associations of married men, who would live with their families while spreading the Gospel. This "third order" of married men, Innocent advised, should be allowed to extol moral behavior, but they must leave all teaching of holy doctrine to the clergy. With that fine distinction, Innocent hoped to renew the church while retaining full control. The two goals, of course, tended to conflict.

Lambert shows how it was not enemies of Christianity, but the "over-enthusiasts", like the Waldensian lay preachers' movement, or the "Peace of God" movement, who the church most commonly condemned. The Peace of God movement, which called on laypeople to organized prayer for an end to warfare, was condemned for violating the proper division of religious labor: the priests and monastics were to lead prayers, and laypeople to do secular work.

Obviously demand was growing among ordinary believers for a share in the spiritual life of monastics, and a share in the pastoral responsibility of priests. But as Lambert shows, the church's response was less to encourage than to punish that initiative -- as if religious power was a finite resource which the clergy must hoard to itself. In that case, it seemed that the church's official goal was less to spread religion than to monopolize it. A dominator church displayed greater zeal for enforcing an upper limit to spiritual growth, than it did for uplifting the socially "sub-normal".

-author of Correcting Jesus