William of Ockham A Short Discourse on Tyrannical Government [Paperback]

The Short Discourse is a passionate but compelling statement of Ockham's position on the most fundamental political problem of the medieval period.Written at the time of the emergence of the European nation-states by the most eminent theologian of his day (c. 1285-c. 1387), this document issued a direct challenge to claims of limitless papal power in its attack on the medieval church and the Avignonese papacy of John XXII.Written at the time of the emergence of the European nation-states by the most eminent theologian of his day (c. 1285-c. 1387), this document issued a direct challenge to claims of limitless papal power in its attack on the medieval church and the Avignonese papacy of John XXII.William of Ockham (c. 1285-c. 1387) was the most eminent theologian and philosopher of his day, a Franciscan friar who came to believe that the Avignonese papacy of John XXII had set out to destroy the religious ideal on which his order was based: the complete poverty of Christ and the Apostles. A Short Discourse on Tyrannical Government is an attack on the claims of the medieval Church, specifically the papacy, to universal spiritual and secular power. Written at the time of the emergence of the European nation-states, Ockham's work issued a direct hard-hitting challenge to the claims of limitless papal power. The text is accompanied by a full bibliography, a chronology and an introduction setting his work in its intellectual and historical context.Preface; Note on references; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Principal dates in Ockham's life; Suggestions for further reading; A Short Discourse on the Tyrannical Government over things; Divine and human, but especially over the Empire and those subject to the Empire; Usurped by some who are called Highest Pontiffs; Prologue; Book I; Book II; Book III; Book IV; Book V; Book VI; Appendix: text and translation; Bibliography; Index of references to the Bible; Index of references to canon law; Index of persons; Subject index.lc