Ever Resemble Janus with a Diverse Face : ジョン・ダン『イグナチウスの秘密会議』における公会議主義(2)

Abstract

Part Two of this essay deals with the other face of Janus, namely, the conciliar theories. Conciliar Theorists, such as Gerson, d'Ailly and Zabarrella, asserted the superiority of general councils to popes. The final authority in the government resides in the whole body of its corporate membership, not only in the sphere of ecclesiastical polity but also in the sphere of secular polity. When the pope, or its secular counterpart, the king, lapses into tyranny and imperils the entire corporate membership, the whole community of people assert the right to judge or depose him, if necessary. Conciliar theories easily led to a political extremism, advocated by Calvinist radicals, such as John Knox, Christopher Goodman, and George Buchanan. The Protestant Buchanan could be said to stand side by side with Jesuit Mariana in stating a theory of popular sovereignty as well as a theory of personal deposition/assassination of secular princes. Thus, both faces of Janus, Utramontane and conciliar Galican, inevitably posed serious threats to the stability of the absolute monarchy which James and Donne cherished so much. Seemingly docile conciliar Galicans, including anti-Jesuit Appellants in England, were not to be trusted because they had the same body, that is, the Roman Catholic Church.