Gareth Bezett

What a great word. Let's all try to use it once a day.

I (along with my long-suffering wife) are off to Queensland for a week on Monday.

I make no promises about posting photos or videos, but I'm sure that I will want to show off my new digital video camera.

I sat the exam for Medieval and Reformation Church History with Otago on Saturday. It covers the period 600-1600 AD, so there's quite a chunk of history there.

I have had a few revelations during the course of the paper that impact on my own faith today. Some of the more significant ones include:
- we tend to talk about The Reformation in the 16th Century, but reformation was a constant theme throughout the Middle Ages. We shouldn't imagine that Martin Luther emerged from a vacum
- corruption and abuse within the Church was probably not as widespread as I have believed it to be, however there were some truly amazing examples of total depravity in Church leadership. Let's not assume that we are immune from such problems today
- doctrine is dangerous. Protestant churches, as today, fragmented over donctrinal disputes that appear minor to me now

I'm pleased that my specific prayer that the course would not be dry and God-less were answered.

So, this essay was worth an A+. It's about the causes and effects of the Avignon Papacy (when the Popes were in France, not Rome) and the Great Western Schism (when there were two or three popes).

The Avignon papacy and the great western schism were both caused, to a significant degree, by the influence and interference of France. Turmoil in Italy prolonged the papacy’s time in Avignon, and a poor choice of pope pushed the church towards schism. With canon law being unclear on the ability to depose pope’s schism became a reality. Both of these important events in the history of the papacy led to a sullied reputation for popes and Church.