The Medieval
Mind: Fusion and
Order
Generations
If we are not Jewish, then what are we?
If Jesus does not return soon, then how do we organize
ourselves?
What, exactly, makes us “Christians?” in other words,
what is essential to the Faith?
Who has authority to interpret Scriptures now that the
Apostles are gone?
How does our faith fit with what we “know” to be true
of the physical world (Greek philosophy)? Does
Christianity have an answer? Is it important to have an
answer?
Generations (2 Peter 3:10-16)
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will
disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth
and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be
destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to
live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and
speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens
by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his
promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where
righteousness dwells. 14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking
forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at
peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means
salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom
that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking
in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to
understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the
other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Generations:
Doctrine & Organization
Clement of Rome (c.30-100)
“Laymen”
Apostolic succession (Demos)
Obedience to Elders
Ignatius of Antioch (died c.117)
Christ fully human and God
Docetist Heresy
Submit to authority of bishop
“Monarchical bishop”
Communion central to Church
Generations:
Doctrine & Organization II
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165)
Athenagoras & Theophilus
Triad (trias)
Tertullian (c. 155-215)
Trinity = 3 persons, 1 substance
Doctrine of Original Sin
Clement of Alexandria (c. 155-215)
Christianity is perfect philosophy
Sought synthesis of Christianity
(revelation) with Greek philosophers
(reason)
“Clergy” (kleros)
Late Roman Empire
Late Roman Empire
East – West Differences
Secular authority failing,
barbarian (Arian) invasions
Relatively peaceful, strong
secular authority
Hierarchy of Church more
stratified, secular roles where
Roman rule breaks down,
growing independence from
Caesar
Hierarchy of Church
remains collegial (until
Council of Nicaea)
Establishes “Orthodoxy”
Existential threat in Arian
Heresy
Willing to engage
philosophies that are
heretical & debate them
“Eternal” Rome Falls!
410: Rome Sacked by Visigoths
Augustine’s The City of God
420: Benedict of Nursia
Monte Casino Monastery
451: Council of Chalcedon
Nicene Creed now “orthodox”
476: Rome falls to Arian Vandals!
Bishop of Rome
664: Synod of Whitby
Irish Celtic & Roman Catholic
united under Bishop of Rome
“Medieval” Church is born
Monks
Missionaries
Councils
Pope
Monks (Monasticism)
Influence of Greek philosophy
Material world is corrupt;
Spiritual world is pure
Church after Constantine
Nominally Christian
AD 400: 10% Christian
AD 500: 90% Christian
Anchoritic & Cenobitic Hermits
Day in the life of a monk (Benedict)
4 hours communal prayer
4 hours individual prayer
6 hours physical labor
10 hours sleeping & eating
Missionaries
Mission: Convert & Civilize
Celtic Monks “White Martyrs”
Missionaries to Arian Europe
Over 200 monasteries in France alone
Roman Catholic Missionaries
Synod of Whitby (664)
Selecting bishops, shaving heads, &
dating Easter
Charlemagne (800)
“Emperor of the Romans”
Arianism all but eradicated
Petrine Theory
(Matthew 16: 13-19)
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his
disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied,
“Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others,
Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he
asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are
the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed
are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by
flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that
you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in
heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Pope
Petrine Theory
Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, Tertullian
Damasus, Bishop of Rome (366-384)
Claimed Peter’s authority
Latin, pilgrims, veneration of saints
Innocent I (401-417)
Claimed supremacy over all doctrinal
issues, East and West
Leo I (440-461)
“To deny the Pope is to deny Peter; to
deny Peter is to deny Christ.”
Council of Chalcedon (451)
“Peter has spoken through Leo.”
Pope
Gregory I (590-604)
Sent missionaries to England & Spain
Original Sin, not Original Guilt
Free Will & Predestination … Both!
Bible & Church tradition both equally
inspired
Now 7 Sacraments
Communion, baptism AND
confirmation, penance, extreme unction,
ordination, marriage
Priests set apart from laymen
Grace dispensed through sacraments
Power & authority of Medieval Church
rested on control of access to grace
1st Century Church had 2 Sacraments
Every believer was considered a priest
Grace given through faith in Christ
“Christian” Europe Begins
Charlemagne’s Coronation (800)
Fusion of Christianity, German
culture/paganism, Greek philosophy
Faced Magyars, Muslims and Vikings
Church supreme
Pope crowned emperor
All education is Church-controlled
July 16, 1054: Great Schism
Roman Catholic & Eastern Orthodox
churches excommunicated each other
Not fixed until December 20, 1965
Crusades
1095-1291
Reason it is still hard to witness to Arabic
people
Bloody and brutal
Even sacked Constantinople!
Greek Synthesis
Bible and Church tradition are
supreme in spiritual matters
Greek/Roman philosophers are
supreme in matters of this world
Ptolemy’s Almagest/Ptolemaic System
Perfection of the “heavenly spheres”
Crystal spheres
Thomas Aquinas (c.1225–1274)
Summa Theologica