The long-awaited second volume of The Cambridge Translations of Medieval Philosophical Texts offers first-time English translations of major texts in ethics and political thought from one of the most fruitful periods of speculation and analysis in the history of Western thought. The seventeen texts in this anthology offer late medieval treatments of fundamental issues in human conduct that are both conceptually subtle and of direct practical import. This is an important resource for scholars and students of medieval philosophy, history, political science, theology and literature.

Presented in modern english for the first time, this is an accessible language edition of Richard Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, the major prose work of the English 16th century. Hooker's monumental work was the first substantial contribution to theology, philosophy, and political thought written in English. It is important for the language and thought of all three fields and is a founding text of Anglophone cultural identity, in particular the self-understanding of the Church of England and its descendants in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its great human interest lies in its author's personal engagement with the most divisive religious and political issues of his day. But the depth of Hooker's treatment of these issues and the extraordinary range of sources he brings to bear on them makes the Laws a book not only for its own age but for any time when human reason and the human spirit seek coherence. Its style is magnificent, a prototype for later works of English prose writing by the likes of Gibbon, Burke, and Ruskin. This edition includes a detailed introduction explaining the turbulent times in which Hooker came to write the laws and who he wrote them for. Arthur Stephen McGrade provides a tour of each of the eight books of the laws, examines their reception, and considers their legacy today.To assist the reader in navigating the text, a chronology of Hooker's life and times is also provides, along with a glossary, and a guide to the sources and persons Hooker mentions. Extensive indexes are provided.

The English Franciscan, William of Ockham (c. 1285–1349), was one of the most important thinkers of the later middle ages. Summoned to Avignon in 1324 to answer charges of heresy, Ockham became convinced that Pope John XXII was himself a heretic in denying the complete poverty of Christ and the apostles and a tyrant in claiming supremacy over the Roman empire. Ockham’s political writings were a result of these personal convictions, but also include systematic discourses on the basis and functions of spiritual and secular power as well as exhaustive discussions of Franciscan poverty and the general problem of papal heresy. Ockham emerges in this study as a man deeply committed to natural and Christian human rights, who found these fundamental values so seriously menaced in his time that their survival could be assured only by radical, even revolutionary, personal action and by a basic reworking of traditional political thought.

The long-awaited second volume of The Cambridge Translations of Medieval Philosophical Texts offers first-time English translations of major texts in ethics and political thought from one of the most fruitful periods of speculation and analysis in the history of Western thought. The seventeen texts in this anthology offer late medieval treatments of fundamental issues in human conduct that are both conceptually subtle and of direct practical import. This is an important resource for scholars and students of medieval philosophy, history, political science, theology and literature.

More than any other single thinker, William of Ockham (c.1285-1347) is responsible for the widely held modern assumption that religious and secular-political institutions should normally operate independently of one another. Today, when this assumption is questioned in some quarters, Ockham's analysis of the basis and functions of authority in spiritual and temporal affairs is of current as well as historical interest. His point of departure was a tragic collision between two specifically Christian ideals: the Franciscan conception of Christ's lordship (as lacking material wealth and power) and the ideal of a society guided by the single supreme authority of Christ's vicar, the Pope. This volume begins with Ockham's personal account of his engagement in that conflict and continues with important passages from the major works in which he attempted to resolve it.

More than any other single thinker, William of Ockham (c.1285-1347) is responsible for the widely held modern assumption that religious and secular-political institutions should operate independently of one another. His point of departure was a tragic collision between two specifically Christian ideals: that of St. Francis and that of a society guided by the single supreme authority of the Pope. This volume begins with his personal account of his engagement in that conflict and continues with essential passages from the major works in which he attempted to resolve it.

William of Ockham (c. 1285-c. 1347) was the most eminent and influential theologian and philosopher of his day, a giant in the history of political thought. He was a Franciscan friar who came to believe that the Avignonese papacy of John XXII had set out to destroy the religious ideal on which the Franciscan order was based: the complete poverty of Christ and the apostles. This is the first complete text by Ockham to be published in English. The Short Discourse is a passionate but compelling statement of Ockham's position on the most fundamental political problem of the medieval period: the relationship of supreme spiritual authority, as represented by the pope, to the autonomous secular authority claimed by the medieval empire and the emerging nation-states of Europe. Professor McGrade's introduction, and the notes on the translation make the volume wholly accessible to a modern readership, while a full bibliography and chronology are included as further aids to the reader.

William of Ockham (c. 1285-c. 1347) was the most eminent and influential theologian and philosopher of his day, a giant in the history of political thought. He was a Franciscan friar who came to believe that the Avignonese papacy of John XXII had set out to destroy the religious ideal on which the Franciscan order was based: the complete poverty of Christ and the apostles. This is the first complete text by Ockham to be published in English. The Short Discourse is a passionate but compelling statement of Ockham's position on the most fundamental political problem of the medieval period: the relationship of supreme spiritual authority, as represented by the pope, to the autonomous secular authority claimed by the medieval empire and the emerging nation-states of Europe. Professor McGrade's introduction, and the notes on the translation make the volume wholly accessible to a modern readership, while a full bibliography and chronology are included as further aids to the reader.