Tag: Christianity

The Dark Ages

Atheism is getting popular these days—it’s sort of becoming cool. But any good non-believer knows to recognize the historical significance of the Catholic Church, especially after the fall of the Western Empire. This period is known as the Dark Ages.

The Middle Ages go from around 500 to 1500 AD—it’s the first 500 that were considered dark. This was a time of small kingdoms warring against nomadic tribes and other small kingdoms. And without centralized control being provided by Rome, the only thing keeping it together was the Church. 

After the fall, what we know of Europe became a mess. Literacy took a nosedive and violence erupted everywhere. Why? Because without law and order people take matters into their own hands. Us modern folk complain about the role of government but without a police department, registries for property, some sort of centralized military, and departments for things like taxation, societies tend to fall apart.

War

Many believe old time rulers were greedy but that wasn’t always the case. Often the objective was plunder. Victors stole gold, silver, wheat, and land for personal survival. As a matter of fact, that’s how most armies got paid. Why else would anyone take such risk? Soldiers would often receive a share of the bounty or something substantive as a reward. 

The other reason was fear. In the words of Alcibiades, it’s rule or be ruled. So if you’re not conniving against your neighbour, they’re conniving against you. Even at home, regular folk were always edgy about riders in the night. Personal safety is a major concern of happiness. Without it, societies tend to get nervy. And that’s how it was after the loss of Rome. 

Faith

Buddhism and Confucianism were both devised around 500 BC. Almost 900 years before the construction of the Catholic Church. They provide ways of accepting the circumstance of humanity—the human condition—but neither identifies nor tries to explain a higher power. These systems deal only with introspection to find meaning. Perfect for the poor but ineffective with rulers of the day. 

Sure many thought the thoughts but neither hosted a sophisticated organization like the Catholics. They didn’t have the wingspan of churches and monasteries. Why? Because this religion of Rome was different. Like the empire itself, it was administratively organized and things were clear from the start that this institution would participate alongside power.

Catholicism

In addition to stories about Jesus, Catholicism is the merger of the old Jewish faith with philosophies of the Greeks. It kept the monster god of the Old Testament (for fear) and added a more loving one that speaks of thy neighbour. This dualism of love and fear connects with our innermost instincts, plus the guy could perform miracles. Perfect for a spooky time. 

Bishops and kings debated like peers and the church really did comfort the weak. As a result, it was greatly respected. Monasteries were the only stable locations of learning and priests were generally considered the smartest guy in town. And don’t kid yourself, these teachings got into your head. 

The psychological presence of Christianity was powerful, no matter your position. A good example comes by way of France. The queen of a small kingdom lost two sons to dysentery and blamed the tragedy on her selfish ways. She proceeded to burn the records of all those who owed the king money. Later, in an attempt at atonement, they both became generous to the poor. So from a tactical perspective, this religion was brilliant. It provided multiple levers for different situations. As one historian puts it, “this period wasn’t the rise of Christianity, it was the use of it.” 

Genres

This time also marked the end of the Mediterranean as being somewhat homogeneous. Prior to, most everyone was the same. Augustus would travel to Egypt on a regular basis. But after the fall, regions developed personalities. You had the Northern Europeans of Germany and the Franks (French), Scandinavian countries with Vikings, and Byzantine went through its own challenges. And though the story of Charlemagne is interesting, the empire of Islam accomplished the most. 

Spirituality aside, Muhammad made desert people see something larger than themselves. Saudi was a land of nomads constantly fighting among tribes. So the region was going nowhere. Then he created a belief system, not much different than Judaism or Christianity, and it unified a nation. Power then turned this natural belligerence into a caliphate that spread eastward to India and as far west as Spain. Over time they brought forward many achievements. The scientific knowledge of Greece was translated into Arabic and numbers were imported from India. They enhanced trigonometry, devised decimal fractions and square roots, created pi to 16 decimal positions, and invented algebra. They also bettered astronomy, medicine, and geography. So thanks go to Mecca.

Summary

Studying antiquity is like listening to music from the 1950s. After a while it all sounds the same. Learning about the Middle Ages is more like sounds from the 60s. There were genres and weird things going on. The fall of Rome was similar to the removal of Saddam in Iraq, there was chaos in the streets. Multiple groups clamoured for control and you never knew who to believe. With no police force or public registries, it was a basic disaster. The only constant was the Church. 

The Dark Ages ended with the introduction of feudalism. Economies were getting stronger and something new could now work. The best example is William the Conqueror in Britain. After defeating the current monarch in 1066, Billy decreed that all land was now his and taxed out large portions to barons, who could re-rent them for a profit. In return they gave him a standing army. Shared power was starting to take shape. 150 years later, King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta, limiting his power to raise taxes. Another step forward, at least in the West.

In closing, though many choose to see the negative side of faith, the psychological perspectives were perfect for this time. Dogma aside, organized religion provides a moral compass and fills in when government is gone. And frankly, I think we still need it today. There’s nothing wrong with a little fear to keep you on the straight and narrow, or virtual love to get you through the day. Even if it does come from a little man in the sky.

Note: Information for this article was taken from a free online course provided by Yale University.

History of Western Faith

Western Civilization is based largely on the Judeo-Christian faith. But how did this come to be? And why are so many North Americans born Christian?

Before Judaism

Before Judaism, people believed in multiple Gods, with human-like personalities, most of which were mean. These Gods were highly-sexed and occasionally needed to be satisfied with human sacrifice. Back then, people also believed life was cyclical—an experience where the same things occurred over and over, across every generation. So they figured we were like hamsters on a wheel, created to serve all these crazy-assed gods.

Judaism

Then a small group of nomads changed things. The Jewish religion began around 1800 BC and developed over the years to produce the following concepts:

  • belief in just one God (monotheism)
  • no more human sacrifice
  • God is loving and good (albeit, in the Old Testament he was also vindictive and cruel, but still better than all Gods at the time)
  • we need to have faith (e.g., Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son)
  • the Sabbath—a day of rest, education, and enjoyment
  • the rest of the ten commandments (granted they don’t denounce slavery or discuss equality by gender, but they do promote some pretty good stuff)
  • life is linear, not cyclical. (They changed the concept of time. They moved away from a perspective where one comes to inner peace by coming to terms with the wheel, to a new outlook where we’re not bound by some predetermined fate and are free to write our own future.)

Though Jews represented only a small percentage of world population, they started a new belief system. One that made more sense than what came before. And probably due to its sensibility, this religion persevered.

Christianity

Then along came Jesus, a Jew who founded Judaism 2.0. He moved away from the bad parts and made God more loving. Gone was the monster god of the Old Testament and the notion that Jews were his chosen people. Added was the idea that God is always loving and we should be the same way (e.g., love thy neighbour).

Jesus said and did a lot of great things, and his religion was more positive and sensible than multiple gods or Judaism 1.0. As a result, it grew to eventually become the Holy Catholic Church (the first Christian church).

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire existed between 27 BC and 476 AD. After years of persecuting Christians, Rome changed from its polytheistic belief system to a Christian empire. This occurred between the years 300-400 AD, with Rome declaring Christianity as its state religion. At the time, Christianity meant Catholicism and it was imposed upon all subjects, which translated into all of Europe becoming Catholic.

Protestant Reformation

During the mid-1500s, a number of movements challenged Rome’s authority over the faith. The result was the Protestant Reformation, which converted large numbers away from the Catholic Church to other Christian denominations. For example, most of England, whether willingly or by force, converted to the Church of England (what Canadians call Anglicans). Most Germans became Lutheran. And many countries, like France, remained primarily Catholic but allowed Protestants to practice (eventually).

This transition was hardly smooth and discrimination resulted everywhere. Even in 1950’s Canada, whenever a Catholic would marry a Protestant, some relative wouldn’t attend the wedding for reasons of faith.

Fundamentalism

Up until the past few generations, most people took religion seriously. The Bible was regarded as actual words of God and the clergy was seen as His messenger. So religion had great influence over culture and held huge political power.

Most people were, what we now call, fundamentalists. But thanks to education and civil liberty gains over the past 100 years, people are now encouraged to think for themselves. Resulting in today’s fundamentalists representing less than 10% of the population (at least, in Western society).

Summary

So the Jews invented a better religion, Jesus kicked it up a notch, the Roman Empire adopted it, the Protestant Reformation created multiple denominations, and, because North Americans are primarily of European descent, the majority of us were born into it. You didn’t choose your religion, nor did it choose you. It’s about geography. If your ancestors originated in the Middle East, you’d be a Muslim; if they were from India, you’d be Hindu; if they came from Japan, you’d be Buddhist; and if they were from a communist country like China, you wouldn’t have been raised with any religion at all.

You were born in North America and are probably a Christian. How seriously you take it is up to you, but now you know your heritage.