Lorenzo Cozzi

The project aims to investigate the controversy over the beatific vision that was sparked when John XXII delivered his All Saints’Day sermon in Avignon in 1331, through which the pope claimed that the souls of the blessed would only attain the full vision of God after the Last Judgement. This controversy was not merely a doctrinal dispute; indeed, it stood at the crossroads of theological speculation, papal politics, and the religious tensions of the fourteenth century. Specifically, the research will systematically reconstruct the intellectual network that supported the doctrine of the visio beatifica differita, paying particular attention to figures such as William of Alnwick, Walter Chatton, and John Lutterell. Adopting an integrated historical, theological and philosophical approach, the project will analyse both manuscript and printed sources to demonstrate the deep interwining of the debate on the beatific vision with the cultural, ecclesiological, and institutional dynamics of Avignonese Christendom.