For a brief encyclopedia entry I'm doing a bio of Hus, and have run
into an area of scholarly disagreement. Regarding the influence of Wyclif
on Hus, J. Loserth a century ago accused Hus of outright plaigarism from
Wyclif, implying that he had no real original ideas of his own. spinka
then responded with a career's worth of arguments against this, admitting
that Hus was influenced somewhat by Wyclif, particularly regarding his
idea of the church as the body of the predestinate, and the notion that
a pope concerned with material gain is not a grace-favored pope. But
spinka argues forcefully (and pretty convincingly) that Hus is not much
of a Wycliffite, as Czech Wycliffites went, and that his De Ecclesia is
inspired by, but not really reliant upon, Wyclif. Kaminsky in his History
of the Hussite Revolution implies that Hus was really more reliant on
Wyclif's thought than spinka thought, although he doesn't address spinka's
work directly. What do YOU think? I realize that questions of "influence"
are about as hard to answer as a two year-old's questions about God, but
your opinions would be very welcome. I've read a lot of Wyclif, but not
much Hus, and if you could suggest a section in De Ecclesia that would
cledar this up, I'd be much obliged. best, Steve Lahey
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