"No Reformation" is an obvious potential alternative. In Anderson's Genesis, an AI emulates (consciously simulates) a timeline where the conciliar movement successfully reorganized the Church, thus preventing the Protestant Reformation.
In two sentences, Phillip Pullman makes his contribution to this genre:
"Ever since Pope John Calvin had moved the seat of the Papacy to Geneva and set up the Consistorial Court of Discipline, the Church's power over every aspect of life had been absolute. The Papacy itself had been abolished after Calvin's death, and a tangle of courts, colleges, and councils, collectively known as the Magisterium, had grown up in its place."
-Phillip Pullman, Northern Lights (London, 1996), 2, p. 31.
Naming a great Reformer as Pope is shorthand for: "There was no Reformation in this timeline." The result is theocracy.
Also relevant here, of course, is Part Six of Anderson's The Shield Of Time about two alternative outcomes of the medieval church-state conflict: theocracy or autocracy.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I have expressed before my disagreement with Anderson on this matter of the "Conciliar" movement. It is my firm belief that a successful Conciliar movement would not have been good for the Catholic Church, that in fact it would have been contrary to the will of God. Because such a thing would have destroyed the authority of the Papacy, reducing the Popes to being mere powerless chairmen a la the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury. A successful Conciliar movement would also have destroyed the doctrinal and ecclesiastical unity, structure, and organization of the Church. Opening the way to doctrines being changed and contradicted at will because of temporary, passing majorities of this or that synod or council.
That does not mean I believe every pope will be wise and able men. I know very well that has not been the case! It's simply a matter of standing by what I believe God has decreed His Church be set up and organized.
Oh, and in addition, a successful Conciliar movement would have so weakened the Church that it would be more susceptible to domination by the state, any state. One of the functions of the Papacy is to defend the freedom and independence of the Church from undue meddling by the state.
Ad astra and Happy New Year! Sean
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