Humanist Ecclesiology in Theory: The Dating of John Colet’s Written Works

Abstract

If John Colet’s (1467-1519) ideas were influenced by his experience of the Church, then this development ought to be traceable, to some extent, in his texts. However, this is not the case: Colet rarely made a reference to specific events or people within the works, leaving little indication of where and when a particular work was composed. From a close examination of the extant manuscripts and their scribal hands, I argue that Colet composed, or began composing, most of his works in Oxford, prior to his move to London in 1505, and that his lifelong search for clerical perfection had its roots in his Oxford period of study and lecturing. Infused by Italian humanism, Colet took his new knowledge and, whilst in Oxford, applied it to the scriptures, to his theology and to his ecclesiology. As Dean of St. Paul’s, he attempted to apply a rigid system of reform, regardless of the realities of the situation: it was not an ecclesiology influenced by contextual ministry, but was developed in the abstract. Due to this early development of his ecclesiology, his Church ideal remained inflexible in London, and remained inappropriate to the situation with which he was confronted at St. Paul’s.