Abstract This essay draws attention to The Lanterne of Liȝt ’s expansive view of salvation and ecclesiology. This analysis challenges the Lanterne ’s reputation as a rigorously predestinarian work and its function as a foil for the ecclesiological vision attributed to Langland. The essay’s method for developing a more thorough, accurate, and alternative account of the Lanterne ’s ecclesiology is to examine neglected and mischaracterized passages from the Lanterne and to assess whether these passages exhibit characteristics that James Simpson identifies as Langlandian. The results of this method indicate that closer, contextual, and more generous readings of religious prose works can reveal their deeper congruence with canonical literature — not only in style, but also in substance.
Lora Walsh (2025) studied this question.