Role of Faith in the Middle Ages - Essay Example

? College Role of Faith in the middle Ages The middle Ages is the middle period of the traditional division of western history intoclassical, medieval and modern times In a way the main subject matter of history is everything that suffers to change owing to its existence in the development of facts, events or situation that history contemplates. Philosophy and faith were intermingled during the middle ages where deep thinkers emerged in those dark days. St. Augustine Hippo was the first major philosopher and today he serves as a bridge for the classical and the medieval worlds. Augustine used Neoplatonic philosophy to endorse and defend Christian theology. He attempted to affirm some of the mysteries of Christianity by giving explanations. He was operating from a starting point based on faith. To endorse his Christian dogma he adopted the platonic principles. Augustine believed that genuine insight does not solely come from a man’s brainpower but by divine intervention. One of the enigmas that Augustine spoke of was the notion of god and free will. He asserted that God is beyond time as he exists upon an eternal realm where time is meaningless; there is neither past nor future, just the eternal present. According to God this is his natural taste and he does not control our free will. Augustine further espoused that evil is a reflection of the absence of good in response as to why bad prevails if God who is perfected created this world. Today many agree on his concepts while quite a number are on the contrary. According, to men and women of faith, we all have the free will to embrace the light, and we can also choose to embrace darkness and swallow whatever comes with it and descend into an abyss of pain. According to Augustine sin is a terrible void and it is only through faith that we can be saved by God’s grace (Procopius 89). Procopius wrote a book on the ‘secret history which was only published after his death. He is the most important source of data about the reign of emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora.it is probable to assert that history is an achievement made possible by great women and men, this may be arguably true in the case of Justinian because it would never happened as it did were it not for the failures of Justinian. His ill-conceived western venture resulted to an absolute split between the westerners and eastern romans. He would later fail to reunite the Roman Empire as the previous leaders had attempted to do. His reign weakened the eastern empire and strengthened the Persians setting a war that would devastatingly weaken the eastern empire so much that Islamic spread was limited. Finally he overthrew the western Germanic governments that were trying to preserve as much of the roman imperial civilization as possible. Indirectly, this generally led to the rise of the medieval church (Augustn 17). The rule of St. Benedict is a foundation piece spirituality of the monastic people in the western world. It was founded in the middle ages for communities to adapt it. It is claimed that they were the main educators in Europe. The rule is about community living originally written for men who want to be monks. The rule is still a profound inspiration for today’s monastic movements. The rule establishes a culture that depicts life rooted in the gospel and in spiritual principles of charity where a monk is always ready to help as he may, humility; where a monk is said to be humble and finds joy and humor in his humility and that he shows humility to everyone he comes across with the head bent and eyes fixed on the ground he thinks of all the sins done and imagines his guilt before the presence of god., stability where he viewed working as a prayer. This gave much insight to the slaves during this period. He asserted that one’s body pays not only in the act of kneeling down at the alter but it’s also praying by working and sweating it out in the field to get your daily bread and faithfulness where a monk should remain true to himself and true to his maker because only he can control his deeds. More spiritual principles have their origin in benedicts rule and were practiced in the medieval monasteries in times when refuge could only be sort in the monasteries (Eusebius 109). Courtly love was a method used towards control but not all the women that used it were noble.it was not the only window to exert power into a man’s world, one could chose to be a nun and thus avoid marriage but nuns were typically under the church and were forced to keep quiet. All in all courtly love served women first and foremost and the women seemed to enjoy when men seemed to make fun of them as they tried to win a woman’s heart. The only way around this was mysticism to get influence in the church on the base of revelations from God... for instance the life of the virgin of liutbirg who turned to mysticism to solely get power through her religious zeal and unusual holy behavior. Eusebius-ecclesiastic history Benedict, . The Holy Rule of St. Benedict. Grand Rapids, Mich: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1990. Internet resource. Eusebius is widely known for his ecclesiastical history where he used the information passed on to him by Origen to create his and Origen’s list. He got information about what texts were accepted by the third century churches. He made a history of persecutions affirming the notion that many martyrs lived together.his ecclesiastic history is a narrative of the church’s history and Christian community from the apostolic age to eusebius’ own time. His work has proved to be a literary landmark in the final emancipation of that discipline from the lingering effects of the baseless attack on the theological interpretation of history and it boldly endorses the need for examining the church in its contingent development. Work cited Augustine, , Thomas, E B. Pusey, and William Benham. City of God. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909. Print. Benedict, . The Holy Rule of St. Benedict. Grand Rapids, Mich: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1990. Internet resource. X Eusebius, , and Isaac Boyle. Ecclesiastical History. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1955. Print. Procopius, , and H B. Dewing. The Secret History. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1914. Print. Read More