Persecuting the Waldensian Heresy

At the end of the 12th century, a wealthy merchant named Peter Waldo from the city of Lyon in the Kingdom of Burgundy, commissioned local monks to translate the Bible into the vernacular Franco-Provencal language --- the first time the Bible had been translated from Latin into a common tongue spoken in the West. Waldo became fascinated with the ideas of purity and perfection and decided to follow the example of Jesus by selling his possessions to give to the poor. He then traveled around the countryside begging and preaching about the value of poverty. By 1170, Waldo had gathered a large following that became known as the “Poor of Lyon.” Waldo’s focus on Biblical examples put him at odds with ecclesiastical tradition. Waldo rejected doctrines including transubstantiation and purgatory as non-Biblical and promoted a universal priesthood instead of specialized clergy. The church reacted by condemning Waldo’s ideas at church councils, and when he refused to recant, he was excommunicated and declared a heretic.

In a lecture presented from Lyon, which is now in the Republic of France, John Hamer of Centre Place will look at the life of Peter Waldo in context, and consider the Waldensians as a precursor of the later Protestant Reformation.

Join the livestream to participate in the discussion and to ask questions to our lecturer during the Q&A.

[fastballflakes]

Another fantastic Hamercopia of Knowledge this evening. Thank you once again to John and everyone at Centre Place for giving us the privilege of tagging along on the journey. Hope you enjoy your next week off. You certainly deserve it.

[billhamer]

The dialogue is comfortable and natural. The video production and editing are of excellent quality. The content is both educational and compelling. This is the best that I've seen from you, John. I look forward to more videos like this.

[Merlinemryys]

There is a Waldensian community in North Carolina called Valdese. My mother lived there and was buried there. They have a local play of their persecution and ultimate relocation to found Valdese.

[pamtaheem]

Great lecture Ina beautiful city. Thank you. 😀

[loganperry]

Please never sotp making these videos. You are a gifted educator. Also if you would supply a list of related book recommendations for each future video, that would be excellent. I often come away from on of these videos with a desire to learn more, but I dont know where to start.

[coreybell-qq]

A very fine point at the end of the lecture about the downside of open access to the scriptures. I can see how this problem energizes your work, and though we are far apart in many points of philosophy and theology I am grateful for your project of bringing scholarship on the scriptures to the lay masses. I have benefited much, thank you.

[Geordie-qzbs]

Great format & Waldo joke. There was a lot at stake in those days, I'm glad he wasn't too burned by his experiences

[Entropicalli]

I had never heard of this. Thanks for the lecture.

[vtblda]

It's always a pleasure to watch and learn with Centre Place the so many interesting themes that John is master in delivering with insight and truly deep knowledge. The way the story rolls keeps us glued to the screen, always waiting for that moment where those elegant details are revealed with great class. 
Thank you all for another superb video. Thank you John for your eloquence and didactic capacity!

[exoplanet]

Good to learn more about the Waldensians. I have often wondered: within the span of Christian theologians and reformers, "Where's Waldo?"

[josepheridu]

Very remarkable that Protestantism was already popping there at that time!

[kaloarepo]

Most Italian Protestants belong to the Valdesi church. They were once quite numerous in the mountains of Piedmont in the north west and a duke of Savoy in the 17th century actually enacted a savage persecution of them - this prompted a response and a rebuke from the Oliver Cromwell government then in control in England and the great Puritan poet John Milton, who was Oliver Cromwell's Latin language secretary (Latin was used then for diplomatic correspondence) to write the poem "Avenge oh Lord thy slaughtered saints."

[jeffkunce]

"Modern Christian movements with voluntary poverty." Those who want to learn more should check out the Catholic Worker movement, and its key members, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin.

[anamcaraxi]

Has anyone ever done a comparison to try to determine if the first rule of Franciss in fact based on Waldo

[anamcaraxi]

What are some of the churches that still exist in the North America'sthat merged with the waldensians here

[ggauche]

I totally agree with your take on "scripture" - a bunch of documents, an anthology. But Christians I am acquainted with believe, like Paul, that they have a direct and personal relationship with Jesus that is (necessarily) outside of history and time and normal experience. They cherry pick from the Bible to support and justify their beliefs.

[claesvanoldenphatt]

The problem of language (liturgical-scriptural vs. vernacular) which seems to have been Waldo’s first issue, is specifically a Roman Catholic one. In the ‘Greek’ East, the main language of scripture and worship, Koine Greek, was not the only one, and well before the schism of 1054, Orthodoxy was already being practiced in many languages, from Georgian to Arabic to Glagolitic (predecessor to Slavonic). If you count the non-Chalcedonian apostolic churches, there was already Ethiopic (Ge’ez) Syriac, Armenian and Coptic in use as well.

[nonameronin]

Will this video be made available for download for YT premium members? I noticed I'm not able to download this one but I am able to download previous lectures

[MarkMaber]

John if you want, I have a good joke about the Cathars

[maxsonthonax]

A short one this week, then.
Edit: Is this the shortest one yet?! Barely an hour! I was hoping to learn more about Waldo.