Ryan convincingly demonstrates that Gerson's conciliarism was motivated primarily by a return to apostolic virtues of poverty, simplicity, and holiness; the newer ideas of democracy and representative government articulated by Marsiglius of Padua were not central to Gerson's agenda. His program of protest and renewal centers on a call to return to the 'apostolic life,' a concern that has found repeated expression in the church ever since the rise of monasticism and reached intense fervor in the fourteenth century. This book brings a fresh voice to conciliar studies with its nuanced understanding of the forces at work to end the papal schism.

Carl Volz, Luther Seminary