6 - Liberty of Conscience and Freedom of Religion in the Medieval Canonists and Theologians

Summary

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The present study examines the ways in which theologians and canon lawyers in the Late Middle Ages (1150–1450) developed principles of religious freedom that applied to their fellow Christians and to non-Christians, both those within the boundaries of Western Christendom and those without. The analysis considers the related issues of tolerance, conscience, and rights, seeking to strike a balance between those fundamental liberties of the human person guaranteed under natural and evangelical law and the common good of a Christian society. The study begins by looking at juristic material regarding the rights of Jews living within the bounds of the Christian West as well as those of nonbelievers living outside Christian borders. From there, the focus turns inward to examine the treatment of dissenting Christians from both a theological and a judicial perspective before narrowing the scope even further to consider the role of the masters within the late medieval university. We discover a society that did permit a certain degree of religious nonconformity and could be considered tolerant, even if its particular form of toleration diverges from modern Western models. The medieval West, moreover, recognized that all human beings – Christian and non-Christian alike – possessed a set of inviolable natural rights that could not be lawfully infringed by ecclesiastical and secular authorities. In that regard, it does anticipate some modern conceptions of human rights, most notably those that ground such rights in an eternal divine order. This study does not attempt to gloss over or excuse the failings of medieval Christendom; it does, however, seek to understand that society on its own terms. This is a work of intellectual history that is concerned with the principles enunciated by the medieval theologians and canonists, who contributed significantly to the greater tradition of religious freedom in the West that extends into the present day.

INTRODUCTION

This essay examines the views of late medieval theologians and canonists on the matter of religious freedom. We will look at the rights and obligations of Christians, on the one hand, and non-Christians on the other. One finds that in the Late Middle Ages (1150–1450), notwithstanding coercive tactics adopted under some circumstances, there remained a consistent recognition of religious freedom secured by both divine and natural law.