The Dark Ages To

The Renaissance

500 to 1500 AD
 Iconoclastic Conflict
 Related to Church-State conflict 726 -843 AD
 Latourette pages 292-297
 Emperors (Leo etc.) against icons in worship
 Clergy, particularly Greek clergy, were for icons in worship, also
women in favor of…
 Icons a popular way of instructing the illiterate but became
objects of veneration
 2nd commandment was against images…
 Pro-icons – sense of historical faith
 Against icons (iconoclasts) neo-Platonist, Origenist, Christianity
stood outside history…
 7th Ecumenical council in 787 AD approved icons but regulated
how they should be honored… finally resolved in 843AD
 Eastern Church – no sculpted or 3D images, just 2D paintings
Allegorical Interpretation
 Origen – three levels of Scripture interpretation:
 Common / Historical – surface meaning for even the
‘simple-minded’
 Soul of Scripture – which edifies those that perceive it
 Hidden Meaning – lying beneath the surface of difficult
or morally / intellectually repugnant passages and which
can be exposed by allegory ‘for the perfect’.
 Allegory helps perfect a person in Christ….
 Related to typology – OT is a ‘type’ and NT the anti-
type
 Commonly used in the Middle Ages
Collapse Of The Roman Empire
 Latourette pages 269-274
 Enemies of Roman Empire In the North & West –
Germanic tribes, Huns, Goths,Visigoths etc
 476 AD end of the Western Empire
 Enemies In the South and East – Islam
 Corruption in the State and in the Church
 Over-identification of Christianity with Greco-Roman
thought and culture
 Yet also saw the conversion of Clovis, King of the
Franks and of many Germanic tribes.
 The Great Recession – many formerly Christian lands
became Muslim or pagan.
The Rise Of The Papacy
 Latourette pages 336-341
 Rome rises to first place among the five main bishops –
Jerusalem, Antioch, Constantinople, Rome and
Alexandria
 As Rome and the Western Empire is abandoned by the
Emperor and invaded by the Germanic tribes the Pope
is the only societal leader
 Gregory the Great stabilizes Rome and sets the model
for the papacy
 Roman practical and administrative skill gave it and edge
over the more ‘spiritually-minded’ patriarchates
 Bold theological claims to power and legitimacy and to
authority over the life of the believer
Monasticism -1
 Latourette p. 331-336
 Monks and nuns and friars were an important part of
medieval life
 Desert Fathers – Anthony the Great, Pachomius etc –
known as Eremitic monasteries, unstructured, often solitary
 Cassiodorus – learning, manuscripts, structure introduced –
Cenobitic monasteries with an abbot in charge
 Ireland – monasticism was the dominant expression of
Christianity, scholarly copied many manuscripts
 Irish monks travelled all over Europe, and even to Iceland and
were powerful evangelists
 The Irish annoyed the established Church in Europe as they
were wanderers and did not ‘fit in’
Monasticism - 2
 Benedict of Nursia – Rule of Benedict, cenobitic
(structured, communal) monasticism is defined
 Head was an Abbot (from Abba as in father) and various
officers
 Community was to be self-supporting
 Prayer, work and study
 Orderly lifestyle amidst chaos, widely admired
 24 hrs a day was planned in some way (though not
overly difficult or harsh).
 Idleness was an enemy of the soul
 Monks were ‘kept from contact with the world’
The East-West Split - 1
 Tensions built between the Eastern & Western sections
of the Roman Empire for centuries over questions of
theology, church structure and administration and the
role of the Bishop of Rome.

 1014 AD the Roman Catholic Church (known then as

the Western or Roman Church) added the words ‘and
the Son’ to the Nicene Creed (in the section about the
Holy Spirit) without consulting the Eastern Church
(Bishop of Constantinople).

 In 1054 AD the two main Bishops (Rome and

Constantinople) excommunicated each other
The East-West Split - 2
 After the split the Catholic church became split into the
Roman catholic Church (based out of Rome) and the
Orthodox Church (based out of Constantinople)
 The Orthodox Church continues today as the Greek
Orthodox, Russian orthodox etc.
 The Orthodox churches are regional and are all in
communion with one another – that is a Greek
Orthodox is welcome in a Russian Orthodox Church
etc.
 There were various attempts at reconciliation but none
was truly successful.
 The Nicene Creed issue and the Roman Catholic claims
about the papacy stand in the way.
The East-West Split - 3
 The Eastern Church (Constantinople) has some unique
doctrines such as chrismation (like confirmation but
involves anointing)
 Veneration (but not worship) of icons
 Emphasizes the divinity of Jesus
 Emphasizes our participation in the nature of God,
especially via contemplation
 Likeness to God is the aim ( not just salvation)
 Theosis – becoming like God
 Three Stages: Purification, Illumination, Theosis
The Crusades - 1
 Latourette – p. 407-414
 Islam – 622 AD Mohammed moves to Mecca
 By 650-670 most of North Africa and the Middle East
subdued under Islam including the Nestorian and Arian
Christians
 Conquered Spain in the 600s and 700s and threatened
Constantinople
 In 1096 there was a call from Constantinople for help
against the Seljuk Turks.
 Forgiveness of sins and eternal life promised to those
who took part
The Crusades - 2
 1096 – First Crusade eventually a success, captures Jerusalem
 1144 – Second Crusade organized after the fall of Edessa, a
poorly organized failure
 1187 – well organized Muslim armies under Saladin destroy
the Crusaders
 1189 – Third crusade, very costly, recaptures Acre
 1202 - Fourth Crusade , plundered Constantinople for gain
(sponsored by merchants from the city of Venice)
 Made matters worse between Roman catholic & Orthodox
Christians
 Various other Crusades – also generally failed
 Need BOTH piety and logistics for success!
Indulgences
 Started off as applying ‘the merit of the saints’ to sins in
this life with genuine repentance required
 Remission of the good works required of penitent
sinners in satisfaction for their offenses.
 Then became able to be ‘earned’ by participating in
Crusades – and eventually by paying money
 Eventually indulgences applied to souls in purgatory (but
not Hell) in order to shorten their stay there.
 Plenary indulgences – remission of all the temporal
penalties for sins
 Eventually became abused as a ‘license to sin’ and led to
the Reformation
The Mongols
 Genghis Khan (Universal Emperor) 12th and 13th
centuries (Latourette p. 383-384)
 Mongols – largest land empire ever! Sweep down from
Mongolia, conquer Russia, China, Central Asia, Arabia
and even reach as far as Vienna, Austria in Europe. Even
threaten Japan
 Stopped just outside Nazareth
 Influence in India lasted until the 19th century
 Ruined large tracts of central Asia to this day!
 Was not hostile to Christianity, Christian faith
flourished in China at this time
 1368 break up of Mongol Empire, Ming Dynasty, takes
over, anti-foreign, Christianity completely eradicated
from China
The Plague
 Around 1350 Bubonic Plague reduced the population of
Europe by a third and that of England by a half
 Continued on and off for hundreds of years
 Unable to resist the rise of Turkish and Muslim armies
 Decimated the missionary orders – the Franciscans and
the Dominicans
 Monasteries forced to accept inferior candidates
 Labor is short supply – spelled the end of serfdom and
of feudalism
 Plague lead to widespread questioning of the faith for
many lay people
The Rise of Literacy
 Rediscovery of Greek bible manuscripts
 Translation of the Scriptures into the
vernacular
 Increased art, education, especially with
the Renaissance
 The invention of the printing press
 Relative prosperity meant many more
people could be educated
The Long Decline
 From 500 to 950 the Church went into serious decline
 From 950 to 1350 it saw some growth and resurgence
through monasticism and by pushing Islam back
 From 1350 to 1500 it went into even deeper decline
and by 1350 was far, far, worse off than it had been in
500 AD.
 The mixture of Christian Church + Roman State +
Greek Culture was toxic to the Church!
 The Church needs to be independent of the State and
the Culture
 Church was now doctrinally astray and materially
corrupt – and God was going to change it!