(Christianity enters the Middle Ages)
by Bro. Jim DeManche
1. What made medieval church history different from ancient church history?
Of course church historians do not always agree upon when these dividing lines ought to be placed. Some think medieval church history began at A.D. 313 when Christianity stopped suffering official Roman persecution. Others believe it began at the Nicene Council of A.D. 325. Still others think it should be at A.D. 378 when the Battle of Adrianople paved the way for the Visigoths to overrun the Roman Empire. Some are persuaded that the dividing line should be at A.D. 476 when the Roman Empire finally fell. Yet there is a plausible reason for the dividing line being placed at the accession of Pope Gregory I in A.D. 590 because the beginning of his papacy brought with it a new era of power for the Western church, a power that would help characterize the medieval church in Europe.
2. Did the pontificate of Pope Gregory I (the Great) truly usher the Christian church into the medieval period? Why or Why not?
Gregory was one of the noblest leaders of the Roman church. His rejection of wealth impressed the people of his day. He was humble and thought of himself as serving the servants of God. He was passionate about missions, and he was crucial to bringing Roman Christianity to England. Because of his legal education and common sense, he was one of the most able administrators the Roman church had in medieval times.
3. What were Pope Gregory I's contributions and how did they form the foundations for what the Christian church, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, would become in the medieval period?
Gregory believed that humanity was a sinner by nature and choice, but he softened Augustine's view of it by saying that human beings did not inherit guilt from Adam but only sin which all are subject. He believed in free will and only its goodness was lost. He believed in predestination but only for the elect. Grace is not irresistible because it is founded upon both God's foreknowledge and human merit. He held to the idea of purgatory as a holding place for souls to get purified before entering heaven. He believed in the verbal inspiration of Scripture, but he gave tradition an equal position with Scripture. He changed a little the Canon of the Mass which continued to show how the Eucharist was a sacrifice anew of Christ's body and blood each time it is observed. Gregory also stressed good works and the entreaty of the saints in order to gain their help. It can be assumed that the church's theology during the medieval period had the imprimatur of Pope Gregory I's thought.
Pope Gregory I's time as bishop of Rome could very well be a milestone in the transformation of the Christian church's history from ancient to medieval. Those men who came after Pope Gregory I used the foundations that he laid to further develop the sacramental hierarchy that would shape the church in the Middle Ages. Pope Gregory I arranged Christian doctrine in an orderly fashion, and he made the church a significant player in secular political disputes.
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