James of Viterbo
On Christian Government (De regimine Christiano)
Published on 6. April 1995
Book
Hardback
196 pages
978-0-85115-397-1 (ISBN)
Description
Edition and translation of fourteenth-century analysis of the distribution of power within the Christian community, defending the authority of the pope.
James of Viterbo (c. 1255-1308) was one of the most respected intellectuals of the late thirteenth century. Combining an academic and an ecclesiastical career, he was professor of theology at the University of Paris from 1293-1300and then, from 1302, successively Archbishop of Benevento and Archbishop of Naples. The papalist treatise De regimine Christiano (On Christian Government)is his only venture into the field of political theory; an exhaustive analysis of the distribution of power within the Christian community, it was composed at the height of the conflict between Pope Boniface VIII and king Philip IV of France, probably during the spring and summer months of 1302.Written from a standpoint of Thomist Aristotelianism, the work seeks to defend the view that the pope is the supreme judge of the world in spiritual and temporal matters alike and that temporal princes are to regard themselves asthe servants and auxiliaries of the Church.Dr R.W. DYSONis Lecturer in Politics at the University of Durham; he has also translated Aegidius Romanus's De ecclesiastica potestate, published by Boydell & Brewer as Giles of Rome on Ecclesiastical Power.
James of Viterbo (c. 1255-1308) was one of the most respected intellectuals of the late thirteenth century. Combining an academic and an ecclesiastical career, he was professor of theology at the University of Paris from 1293-1300and then, from 1302, successively Archbishop of Benevento and Archbishop of Naples. The papalist treatise De regimine Christiano (On Christian Government)is his only venture into the field of political theory; an exhaustive analysis of the distribution of power within the Christian community, it was composed at the height of the conflict between Pope Boniface VIII and king Philip IV of France, probably during the spring and summer months of 1302.Written from a standpoint of Thomist Aristotelianism, the work seeks to defend the view that the pope is the supreme judge of the world in spiritual and temporal matters alike and that temporal princes are to regard themselves asthe servants and auxiliaries of the Church.Dr R.W. DYSONis Lecturer in Politics at the University of Durham; he has also translated Aegidius Romanus's De ecclesiastica potestate, published by Boydell & Brewer as Giles of Rome on Ecclesiastical Power.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Woodbridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-85115-397-1 (9780851153971)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
Part 1 On the glory of the ecclesiastical kingdom: the author's epistle to the lord Pope Boniface VIII; the prologue of the work, in which is described the matter or invention of the work and the cause in which the work has been undertaken; that the Church is aptly and properly called a kingdom, and why and in what way; that the kingdom of the Church is orthodox, that is, rightly glorious, and in what its glory resides and consists; that the kingdom of the Church is one, and in what way and by what cause; that the kingdom of the Church is catholic, that is, universal, and in what way; that the kingdom of the Church is holy, and in what way; that the kingdom of the Church is apostolic, and in what way. Part 2 On the power of Christ the King and of his vicar: on the manifold power of Christ - here begins the second part, in which is discussed the power of Christ the king and of his vicar; that Christ's power has been communicated to men, and why and in what way; to what men the power of Christ which could be communicated has been communicated - priesthood and royal power distinguished; on the differences between priestly and royal power in the prelates of the Church, and of the actions of each, and certain other comparisons of the one with the other; on the degrees and inequalities of priestly and royal power in the different persons who hold them - here also is discussed the primacy of the Supreme Pontiff over all churches and rulers of churches; on the differences and similarities of the two kinds of royal power - that is, the spiritual and the secular; on certain other comparison between these two kinds of royal power - that is, the spiritual and the temporal; on certain aspects of the powers discussed above which are especially worthy of note; that in the highest spiritual power there is a fulness of both pontifical and royal power, and in what way; containing certain objections relating to the foregoing remarks, and the solutions to these objections.