A Brief Overview The Church through the Ages The Middle Ages, 1000-14501450 Larry Fraher Kino Institute cc108 Historical Events 1054: Eastern Schism 1096: First Crusade Launched 12 th c.: Monastic Revival 1170: Murder of Becket 1215: Fourth Lateran Council Mid-1200 s: Scholasticism, Inquisition 1270: Crusades End 1305-1370: 1370: Avignon Papacy 1370-1415: 1415: Papal Schism 1415: The Council of Constance A Brief Overview Important People Pope Urban II (Council of Clermont & the People s Crusade) St. Bruno & St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Monastic Revival) Ss. Francis and St. Dominic Ss. Thomas and St. Bonaventure The Rise of Great Medieval Religious Art The Popes of the Papal Schism John Wycliffe and Jan Hus A Brief Overview Important Theological Issues The Rise of New Religious Orders Scholasticism Mysticism Papal Location The First Attempts at Reform Wycliff: Self-interpreting Scripture Hus: Eucharist under both species Seeds of Reform Setting the Theological Stage Late Dark Ages (800-1100) Church s fall into Pelagianism: Belief in the doing of good, meritorious (Earning) of Grace. Florus, Deacon of Lyons: The Grace of God is never merited Eucharistic Controversies Radbertus: Real change of bread and wine into Body and Blood of Christ Ratramnus: Bread and wine become mystical symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ Setting the Theological Stage Theological Debates triggered by Gregorian Reform & East-West Schism Papal Primacy Filioque Church/Diocese run as a Monastic Community The first Crusade Pope Urban II 1
The Crusades The First Crusade 1096 Gathers in Constantinople in 1097 Nicaea: Western defeat in victory Antioch: The General s Ego Taking of Jerusalem Second Crusade 1144 First Crusaders go home. Territories Captured by Christians, retaken by Islam Fights between eastern and western Christianity don t help Reaches Antioch before being given up. The Crusades The Third Crusade 1187 Philip II, Barbarossa and Richard the Lionhearted Make it as far as the outskirts of Jerusalem Barbarossa dies en route Philip II tires and goes home Richard is the only one left fighting Jerusalem not re-captured. The Last Crusades Disease and Bad Strategy doom the last Crusades. Pillaging of Constantinople deepens east-west anger. The Crusades The Goal of the Crusades Spiritual Pilgrimage & Religious Fervor Military Recapture the Holy Lands Geographic Re-establish establish the Holy Roman Empire Ecclesiological Eastern and Western Unity The Problem with the Crusades Spiritual Pilgrimage implies a return home Military Supply lines and morale Geographic unfamiliar territory and climate Ecclesiological East often allied with Turks/Islam to preserve their traditions. Crusades in Context Holy Land as a place of pilgrimage Safety of pilgrims Respect and honor of holy sites Military combination of Church and State Common Reality of the 11 th to 13 th centuries In service to God and Country Monastic Revival The New Spirituality Return to the strict observance of the Rule(s) Bruno Bernard Augustinian Canons Religious in the Parishes Dominic Preaching against Albigensianism (Neo-Manicheaism) The craft of argument Francis Poverty, Simplicity and Service Rebuild my church. Monastic Revival Francis of Assisi And after the Lord gave me brothers, no one showed me what I should do, but the Most High Himself revealed to me that I should live according to the form of the Holy Gospel. And I had this written down simply and in a few words and the Lord Pope confirmed it for me. And those who came to receive life gave to the poor everything which they were capable of possessing and they were content with one tunic, patched inside and out, with a cord and short trousers. And we had no desire for anything more 2
Monastic Revival The rise of the combination of Art and Theology Illuminated Manuscripts Images decorating and informing the text with an understanding of the faith. Here: Mary as Eve s Corrective. Scholasticism The question of the day: Religion OR Philosophy Scholasticism s Response: Religion AND Philosophy Great Names of Scholasticism Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Anselm of Canterbury And so, O Lord, since thou givest understanding to faith, give me to understand as far as thou knowest it to be good for me that thou dost exist, and that thou art what we believe thee to be. Ontological Argument for the Existence of God. (Modern Adaptation) God is that entity over which nothing can be greater. The concept of God exists in human understanding. God exists in one's mind but not in reality. The concept of God's existence is understood in one's mind. If God existed in reality, it would be a greater thing than God's existence in the mind. There are things which exist in reality greater than in one s mind. Since God is that which noting can be greater, God in reality, must exist. Five Ways Proofs for the Existence of God 1. From Motion: The Unmoved Mover 2. From Causality: First Efficient Cause 3. From Contingency: Regression to Nothing Creatio ex nihilo (Creation from Nothing) 4. From Being/Order/Perfection 5. From Intelligence: Beyond Instinct 3
1.1. Whether another doctrine is necessary besides the philosophical sciences. I answer: it was necessary for man s salvation that there should be a doctrine founded on revelation, as well as the philosophical sciences discovered by human reason. It was necessary, in the first place, because man is ordained to God as his end, who surpasses the comprehension of reason Men must have some foreknowledge of the end to which they ought direct their intentions and actions. It was therefore necessary that some things which transcend human reason should be made known through divine revelation. Summa, 1.1 85.2. Whether the whole good of human nature can be destroyed by sin I answer: we said in the preceding article that the natural good which sin diminishes is the natural inclination to virtue. Now the reason that man inclines to virtue is that he is rational. It is because he is rational that he acts in accordance with his reason, and this is to act virtuously. But a man would not be able to sin without his rational nature. Sin cannot deprive him of it altogether. It follows that his inclination to virtue cannot be entirely destroyed. Summa, 85.2 Transubstantiation Eucharistic Controversies Beginning in the 9 th c. Historical/Physical Presence (Radbertus & Ratramnus, 9 th c.) Christ s Glorified Body and Eucharistic Presence (Berengarius, Lanfranc, 11 th c.) Relation to Body and Blood in Sacramental Species (12 th c.) Responds with Transubstantiation Substance is always Immeasurable Substance is always retained, accidents (appearance) may change. In Transubstantiation, Substance changes, accidents remain. When it ceases to be bread (Accidentally) When it ceases to be wine (Accidentally) Eucharist is the Reception of Christ, Substantially The Balance to Scholasticism Bonaventure Not only invest in reason The heart and head must combine to know Jesus Christ. This gets taken to extreme Rejection of theology Rise of experientialism Bonaventure argued that we cannot rely only on reason But would not have been hostile to reason. Bonaventure Scholasticism = extrinsic Bonaventure: God s existence is known from: within Without God s presence is imprinted on the soul Observation of the external should not be the sole criteria 4
Bonaventure And thus it is clear how the manifold wisdom of God, which is clearly revealed in Sacred Scripture, lies hidden in all knowledge and in all nature. It is clear how all divisions of knowledge are handmaids of theology. It is likewise evident how wide is the luminous way and how in everything which is perceived or known, God himself lies hidden within. St. Bonaventure Retracing the Arts to Theology 1377 Pope Gregory XI Returns the Papacy to Rome from Avignon, France, initiating the Papal Schism in 1378 Increasing National Religious Loyalties = Divisions French Cardinals want Papacy in France Pope Urban VI Elected Keeps Papacy in Rome French Cardinals Elect another Pope (Clement VII) Two Popes Governments begin to take sides Rome: England and Germany Avignon: Scotland, Spain and Naples Urban s Dastardly Politics Both popes excommunicate each other The Council of Pisa (1409-1410) 1410) Cardinals from Both Sides Meet in Pisa Elect Alexander V (1409) John XXIII (1410-1415) 1415) Total Number of reigning popes = 3 Emperor Sigismund Calls the Council of Constance Reconciles Pisa and Rome, Avignon (Benedict XIII) Refuses Reconciliation and Flees to Spain. Abdicates in 1429 Effects of Papal Schism Early attempts at democracy = Conciliarism Dominican Order Some in the papal curia believe this to be an answer Cries for Reform John Wycliffe No Confidence in the Clergy Jan Hus Simony and Eucharist Religious Identity was the Culture In the fifteenth century, indeed, the Church was enjoying its last years as the relatively unchallenged custodian and interpreter of the cosmos. -- Ahlstrom, p. 22 Wycliff and Hus John Hus Treatise on Simony Accessibility of all to both Species of Eucharist Hus at the Council of Constance (1415) John Wycliff Evil of the Priesthood Everyone can be holy Scripture is Self Interpreting Adding to the Seeds of Reform 1440 Guttenberg invents the printing press Wycliffe s call to read the bible now becomes possible Self interpretation of scripture and faith becomes widespread The lack of trust in the hierarchy combines and the stage is set 5