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History of the Bible

  1. Lesson One
    Revelation and Canon
    17 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  2. Lesson Two
    Transmission and Translation
    19 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    Reformation and Publication
    16 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    Modern Bible Translation
    15 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    The Bible Movement Today
    14 Activities
    |
    3 Assessments
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Wrap-Up
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

Participants 11

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History of the Bible Reformation and Publication In Front | The Regulation of Bibles in the Middle Ages
Lesson 3, Activity 11

In Front | The Regulation of Bibles in the Middle Ages

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Ultimately, it was the perceived threat of heresy, of false teaching or misreadings of the Bible, that led to prohibitions like that declared at the Council of Toulouse. Vernacular translation spread in the Middle Ages, at times by Christian groups with different ideas about the meaning of the Bible and key theological issues than had been agreed on in early church creeds and councils. 

Two major targets for these prohibitions were the Cathars and Waldensians, both considered heretical by the church. Each of these groups had viewpoints that set them at odds with church authorities. Among other things, Cathars rejected almost all of the Hebrew Bible on the grounds that it was attributable to an “evil God” opposed to the God of the New Testament in cosmic dualism. 

They attributed the New Testament to the benign God and the Old Testament to the malign God, and rejected the whole of the latter except for certain passages quoted in the New Testament.

The Waldensians developed their own hierarchies of church authority and rejected official Church views on indulgences and purgatory. 

The church viewed both of these groups, and others, as dangerous to its accepted teachings. And Christianity, even in its so-called “heretical” sects, was still a “religion of the book.” The best way to control heresy, in the opinion of many officials, was to control the book—the Bible in its distribution and translation. However we feel about medieval prohibitions of lay possession of the Bible and vernacular translations, it is important that we understand these prohibitions for what they were. They restricted the Bible, but their target was something else—misreadings of the Bible and so-called “heretical” theology. 

References and quotes: Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay, The History of the Albigensian Crusade (trans. W. A. Sibly and M. D. Sibly), 1998, p. 11;
A. Patschovsky, “The Literacy of Waldensianism,” Heresy and Literacy, 1000-1530, ed. P. Biller and A. Hudson, 1994, p. 116;
Edward Peters, Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe: Documents in Translation, 1991, p. 195;
P. Biller, “The Cathars of Languedoc and written material,” Heresy and Literacy, 1000-1530, ed. P. Biller and A. Hudson, 1994.