There were several dissenting movements prior to Martin Luther that revolved around questioning Church authority and dogma.
In the early Thirteenth Century, the Albigensian heresy or Catharism became especially prominent in central southern France (where the town of Albi was located). Albigensian belief was dualistic: that is, they saw the universe as a struggle between good and evil. They believed that the physical world was inherently corrupt, evil and the creation of Satan, while the spiritual universe was the realm of the good God. As a worldly organization, the Christian church was…
