Daniela Müller

In my research, I focus on the self-image of the Cathars of the Middle Ages and the transformations this self-defined church underwent in contrast with the Catholic Church, who considered them heretics. The exploration of the methods and techniques of polemics used in the often sharp debates among Christian medieval movements is key to my research in order to understand how religious identities and profiles in this period were defined, refined, demarcated and vilified. It is a dynamic that eventually led to new forms of profiling by both parties and to a clearer perception of one’s own religious identity.

Recent historiographical studies on Catharism has the tendency to push back on that concept as a collective description of a specific movement. I propose an alternative perspective focused on theological-historical research: In my previous publications, I have shown what new insights the study of Cathar baptism rituals can offer. It is plausible that a committed group of self-identified Cathars existed as one of their doctrines was that salvation can only be obtained solely by receiving the consolamentum, baptism by the Holy Spirit. That focus on the rite of the consolamentum was common for all Cathar groups. As adaptation to changing contexts is precisely constitutive of rites, the apparent diversity of the individual Cathar groups does not necessarily imply a fundamental difference in their collective identity as a church.