2 articles.
Throughout church history, there have been various debates over what constitutes a church, yet there has been much consensus as well. The marks of the church are agreed upon by virtually all Christians; differences arise in their understanding and practice. While much could be said of the denominational differences in interpretation, this short essay will be concerned with the marks in an objective sense, interpreted in light of Scripture and history.
Curialism is the position that the Roman Pontiff or Pope has ultimate authority over the church and is "the vicar of Christ on earth… entrusted with the keys of the kingdom as Peter's proper heir. Therefore, he ha[s] final authority, even over the gathered consensus of councils." Conciliarism, on the other hand, posits that "church councils were to be the voice of tradition, wielding authority over the most prestigious of popes." These two positions clashed on many occasions, two of which were the "Great Western Schism" (1378-1417) and the Council of Constance (1414-1418), the latter in which it had seemed that conciliarism had won.