SOURCE: Pascoe, Louis B. “Personal Reform.” In Jean Gerson: Principles of Church Reform, pp. 175-206. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973.

In the following essay, Pascoe explores how Gerson's views on ecclesiastical reform are rooted in the reformation of the individual.

All ecclesiastical reform must, in the final analysis, terminate in personal reform if it is to be in any way effective. This personal orientation is intrinsic to Gerson's ideas on episcopal and clerical reform. Hierarchy and hierarchical activity result in the reformation and sanctification of the individual and thereby contribute toward the growth and edification of the entire mystical body. The purpose of the present chapter is to analyze the process of personal reform. Like episcopal and clerical reform, personal reform rests heavily upon the principle that man has been made to the image and likeness of God. The present chapter, therefore, will investigate the various interpretations of the...