Update Sixteen

III: The Middle Ages

i: Introduction

Through the work of the Church and the Franks, Europe was slowly pulled out of the Dark ages. The attack of Islam proved the impetus to turn the continent around. Under enormous pressure Europe solidified as it had not done since the days of the Roman Empire’s height. Now, as the ninth century was about to began, a new force was on the rise that would once again redirect the course of the Church and set it down a new path.

ii: The New Empire

Islam had taken all of ancient Christendom. The heartland of Christianity was gone. Now Europe, the last stronghold of Christian belief, was under siege. In the East the Islamic Turks and Seljuks kept the Byzantine Empire on its toes as it took one city after another. In the West Islam forces quickly took all of the Iberian Peninsula and was about to enter the lands of Gaul. Superior in number and technology, the Muslims nearly had the victory. It was up to the Franks to save Europe. The Frankish kings had long been weak men occupying an empty throne. The real power rested in the hands of the House Mayor of the Merovingian kings. Charles Martel (the hammer) was the last of these. It was Charles who led a Frankish force against the Muslims and finally stopped them in their tracks. Charles, the last defender of Europe, was able to take and hold Southern Gaul and Northern Iberia from the Islamic hordes. The threat of Islam was stopped for several centuries. Following Martel, his son Pippin rose to take on the throne as the king of the Franks. Pippin would lead attacks against the remaining Arians and set up the beginnings of the future dynasties. His son, Charles, would grow to a greater stature yet. This Charles, called Charles the Great or Charlemagne, would lead to a revival in European culture. He reinstituted centers of education, poured money into arts, encouraged a new empire being built up in the image of Augustine’s City of God. Near to the opening of the 9th century, Christmas morning in the year eight hundred, the tide of barbarians had turned their allegiance and finally saw themselves the heirs of the Roman as Charlemagne came stepped into Rome and took on the crown of the Empire. Declared Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charlemagne saw himself as the new Constantine. As Byzantium had no emperor at the time, for a short time Charlemagne was the sole Emperor of all of the former Roman Emperor. This was just one more reason for what was a growing split between the East and the West, a split that would divide the world of the Church.

iii: The Great Schism

The western empire once again rose in power, as its major threat, the barbarians, were now its strongest citizens, and the work of Charlemagne restored the power of the cities and gave a new birth to civilization. Due to this the Roman church began to put more weight into its claim for ultimate supremacy over all of the Great Church. Entering into the 11th century, the Eastern Church was being rocked by numerous Islamic assaults. All land east of the Bosporus was under Islamic control by this time. Geographically the East was disconnected from the West by hundreds of miles infested by pagan barbarians from the far steppes. Philosophically they could be no further apart then they were. The East still held onto a highly Alexandrian teaching focused on allegory and deification. The west took on a much more literal, legal approach with German influence. Dissension in the councils grew greater and greater. Effectively they were two different Churches. Officially this distinction was coming soon. Despite the centuries of strife and disagreement the Church had stayed unified. Heresies arose and were cast out. Some groups grew powerful enough to challenge the Church but the unity still remained. Philosophical differences were bridged and theological differences were fixed. No more. In the year 1054 the pope Leo IX sent a delegation to Constantinople. Coming into the great Hagia Sophia, the delegation stepped up to the high offer and placed on it an official bull of excommunication for the Metropolitan Michael. In response, Michael sent a bull of excommunication to the Pope. The East and the West were irrevocably divided. The unity of the Church was gone. No longer was there a Great Church. There was the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.

iv: The Scholastics

As the medieval age began to blossom in the west the growth of the Roman Catholic Church brought on a new form of theologian, the scholastic. This movement evolved out the push of the new universities and Church schools. Scholasticism broke away from the ancient ideas of mysticism and focused on human reason and its ability to find and understand the ways of God. This movement would give rise to a great many others things. The focus on reason helped develop the unique western philosophy we live in to this day. Out the scholastics rose humanism, which would lead to the enlightenment and its push for rational deism. Out of the scholastics would come the natural philosophers, an oxymoron to any Greek thinker. These would latter develop into the scientist of our day. Indeed, in the age of the scholastics theology was considered the queen of the sciences. While few new theological constructions would arise to improve the church through scholasticism, its method of viewing and studying God would have an influence on all western culture.




v: Thomas Aquinas

The most well known scholastic in Church history, Aquinas was so important to the foundation of Roman Catholic theology that he was declared the angelic doctor of the Church and his theology was made the official religion of the Roman Church (even though he was against some of the theology held by the Roman church to this day[semi-Pelagianism]). Born in the year 1225, Aquinas quickly grew in intellectual prominence and would become an intellectual celebrity. His genius in theology moved him to write his Summa Theologica, his systematic theology. Like Augustine he wrote a vast amount of work, to much to deal with extensively. There are some areas, though, that are of particular interest to Protestants. In regards to salvation, on the surface, his theology seems to lead to a works based salvation. Indeed, the Roman Catholic Church took it as such. But portions of his work seem to point in another direction. Some other important developments he made for theology was his development of natural theology and how God shows Himself to us, as well as his idea of the beatific vision. Overall, one of his greatest legacies was the framework of viewing theology he created.

vi: Crusades, Inquisitions, and Indulgences

Following these expansions of religious thought came an expansion of military power. As Europe rebuilt itself from the fall of Rome and defended itself from the threat of Islam, the Europeans increased greatly in technology and power. With this rise of military power came an increase of pressure in the continent. Utilizing the violent force of the feudal kingdoms of Europe, violent preachers and power hungry popes called for a Christian war against that enemy in the East, the religion of Islam. A great army of peasants gathered in 1068 and set out for Jerusalem to retake the holy land. As this ragtag army was decimated on its travels, a religious fervor kept them going. Eventually, when they didn’t receive the provisions from heaven they had counted on, they started to strip the surrounding countryside for supplies. In response, the peoples of these countries hunted them down and executed them. By the time the first official crusade got under way in 1069, 200000 crusaders had been killed. Through numerous attempts over 200 years, eight official crusades were sent out. Jerusalem would be taken, along with much of the holy land. Several European kingdoms were set up. Constantinople itself was sacked by the western crusaders, helping along its decline. By the year 1271, the last crusade was sent out and defeated. All the Europeans kingdoms were overthrown. But this mattered little. The Crusades had made Europe rich beyond belief and opened up brand new trade routes. During the time of the Crusades, in order to strengthen the faith in Europe, the Holy Office of Inquisition was created. These inquisitors would terrorize Europe for years. Any hint of heresy could mean a painful death by fire. The Popes of this time allowed the use of the rack to get confessions. If you could hold onto your innocence to the death, you probably were innocent. If not, you were executed. Not many good options. The inquisition was used as the Papacy’s excuse for its many attempts for more power. Following the crusades, in which people could support the war effort to help their souls, the Church instituted a new type of penance, the indulgence. With one of these you could write off some sin in your life for a fee. This went to increase the power of the papacy even further and built many of the great structures of the Roman Catholic Church. All of these inconsistencies and errors in the Church were adding up quickly. The theology of the Church was corrupt, its leadership even more so. A change was needed. In just a few short years a change would happen. The world would be reformed.