John of Salisbury
St. Augustine was so deeply concerned with the theological defense of Christianity against paganism and heresy that he did not elaborate a political theory clearly defining the boundaries between political and ecclesiastical power. But toward the end of the fifth century, Pope Gelasius defined the relation between the two authorities (or the two swords):
- Ecclesiastical authority dealt in spiritual and religious affairs; while
- Political authority dealt in the care and administration of temporal matters.
Gelasius did not raise, or answer, the question of who is to decide whether a specific issue is predominantly religious or political. In his dualistic conception of authority he assumed the Church and State would cooperate in practical tasks rather than engage in bitter jurisdictional disputes.
The first great conflict between Church and Empire occurred in the latter part of the 11th century, when in 1076, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV deposed of Pope Gregory VII. Shortly thereafter, the Pope not only deposed the Emperor but also excommunicated him and relieved his subjects from their oath of allegiance. From that time until the end of the 13th century, the conflict between ecclesiastical and secular power dominated theory as well as practice of politics.
John of Salisbury’s the Statesman’s Book is the most incisive presentation of the papalist viewpoint. He is considered to be the most typical of medieval writers before the spread of Aristotelianism in the 18th century. (John of Salisbury was a friend of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury who also became Adrian IV, the only English pope.) He championed the supremacy of the ecclesiastical over the temporal.
Question: Is the state, even the democratic state, to have complete and absolute authority, or must there be some competing principles of allegiance that will make it difficult, or impossible, for the state to be an all-consuming Leviathan? The church can no longer, as in the Middle Ages, play the part of the sole competing source of loyalty and authority, but thus far no other institution or idea is in sight that can be relied on to do the job.
Historical Backdrop: The experience of fascist and communist totalitarianism in the 20th century shows that a community which lacks ideas and institutions that can challenge the state may eventually be devoured by omnipotent depotism.
