The Corrupt Religion In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

Joel Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas; the largest Protestant church in the United States. He is reportedly worth $40 million and lives in a $10.5 million dollar home. Osteen preaches a “Prosperity Gospel”, which declares that the strength of one’s faith, giving, and behavior can be used to get things from God. He uses this mantra to make money and to sell his books and to attract an enormous crowd every Sunday. In the late Fourteenth century Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a story depicting a religious leader called the Pardoner who taught his congregation the same mantra that belief , giving and acts can be used to win God’s favor. Geoffrey Chaucer used the Canterbury Tales to highlight some of the problems in his culture. Chaucer points out specifically the corrupt religious leaders and the role and view of women.

The Pardoner in “Pardoner’s Tale” describes himself and his greed in saying “Let me briefly make my purpose plain; I preach for nothing but for greed of gain” (1-2) The pardoner would “beg from kirk to kirk and never do an honest job of work” (11-12) He preached that the people needed to give him money. Furthermore, he sold archetypes of Biblical artefacts as well to gain money cheating and lying to the people. But Chaucer also calls out the corrupt religious leaders in the “Wife of Bath’s Tale” when he says that “women can now go safely up and down by every bush or under every tree; there is no other incubus but he, So there is really no one else to hurt you and he will do no more than take your virtue.” (53-56) Which means that those with high class or friars would rape women that were alone. In both stories, Chaucer shows how corrupt the political leaders were in his