IT would generally be conceded that Jean Gerson is one of the
writers of the era of the Schism who most influenced the formula-
tion of later doctrines on the nature of the Church and its govern-
ment. In the century after his death he is constantly quoted by
the Conciliar rebels of the period of the Council of Basel and by
the later remnants of the same tradition, such as John Major and
Jacques Almain, at Paris in the early sixteenth century. Luther
knew and approved of some of his writings, while he was
appealed to by the seventeenth-century protagonists of 'Gallican
Liberties', such as Edmond Richer, who wrote an Apologia on
behalf of the dead Chancellor of Paris.

The majority of Gerson's posthumous admirers belonged to
schools of thought linked to the traditions of Gallican particu-
larism and opposition to the Papacy; this fact accounts for the
suspicious attitude shown by more orthodox theologians and
historians towards this upholder of Conciliar supremacy. In such
circumstances the polemics of both sides tended to submerge an
objective examination of Gerson's doctrines and to make of him a
symbol, praised or denounced, in controversies of centuries later
than his own. Neglect of any attempt at appreciation of the
topical circumstances in which Gerson was driven to discuss
the problems of Church government led to a failure to grasp
the essential fact that his ecclesiological works are not primarily
systematic and abstract treatises, but livres de circonstance.

Much valuable work on Gerson has been done in the past
century, since Schwab's classic biography set the standard for a
dispassionate and historical approach to the great doctor and
preacher. Despite this efflorescence of Gersoniana it is remarkable
that no specific study of Gerson's ecclesiology appears to have
been made. It would be presumptuous to say that the present
study proposes to fill the gap; rather does it attempt to indicate
the lines on which further detailed investigation might be pursued.

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