The Middle Ages: The Great Experiment

The Great Experiment
    Life during the centuries of the early Middle Ages was hard for almost all Europeans. Because of the devastation wrought by the barbarian invasions of the fifth and sixth centuries AD, they faced three major challenges.

1) The struggle for subsistence: The first challenge was simply to survive. People were economically very poor; they had to work hard to join hand and mouth. Their living and wearing style was equivalent with primitive men. They lived in primitive way, their dwellings were no more than caves cut into the hillsides. People dressed in home spun clothing which they did not change from year to year. Anyway, their life was very dark having extreme problem about survival.
2) A world of enemies: Another challenge that people of Middle Ages faced was the perpetual threatening from the enemies. Living in small, self-contained communities, lacking a powerful central authority or civil police, they were constantly attacked by pirates and marauding criminals. So the protection was full time job during middle Ages. Being attacked by outlaws, the leading social disease of the time was probably the main cause of death of medieval people.
3) The problem of god: God was the last of the three great medieval challenges, and the most important. Human beings had always been interested in God and had attempted to understand his ways. Greek and Roman had kept this interest under control but people of medieval period were supersaturated by God. The life became more God- centered than ever before in Western history. Mathematics and philosophy became focal points of Greek, politics and law became focal point of Roman, in the similar fashion, theology became the queen of science in medieval age.

The Principle of Theocracy
    In theocracy, God rules. The question may be raised how God rules in theocracy? God rules through the divine law. In Judaism, God rules through Old Testament. People have to carry out his action in accordance with the prescriptions of Old Testament. In Islam, God rules through Koran which contains rules that people should obey, Koran regulates the activities of people. In Christianity, God rules through New Testament. Church interprets the Bible and says about do's and don'ts in life. In Hinduism, Puran guide our behaviors, similarly in Buddhism. Tripitak regulates the behavioral patterns of people.
Empire and papacy
    During middle ages, the conflict between empire and papacy became frequent. Both wanted to be in superpower. Sometimes, popes rose in a higher position and even instructed the great empire. But at times, even they became puppets from the hands of kings, and empires. After all, the relative power of the empire and the papacy rose and fell during the centuries after 800. This hustle and bustle continued till the scandal of Babylonian captivity. In the 14th century, Popes set out to Rome then king ruled the senate by the grace of God which was quite different from theocracy.<
Monasticism: The word monasticism came from the Greek word 'monos' which means alone. The first Christian monastics were called ones who live alone because they lived by themselves in the desert. Monasticism is a special form of religious community life. People who practice monasticism separate themselves from ordinary ways of living so they can follow the teachings of their religion as completely as possible. Men who adopt a monastic life are called monks and live in a monastery. Monastic women are called runs and live in a convent. Monasticism became especially influential in Europe during the early middle ages. At that time, Europe had thousands of monasteries that were great centers of learning. Life in a monastic community involves work, prayer and meditation untouched by so-called worldly things. St. Benedict established 16 monasteries during middle ages.
Scholasticism: This concept developed during middle ages, which came from school and scholar. It was actually a revival of classical education in middle ages. After the extension of this concept, schools were established. People were taught about philosophy, religion, faith and so many others related with education. This concept got influence from stoic and Neo-Platonic philosophy.

Millennial Fears, Postmillennial Achievements
    The number one thousand had always fascinated Christians. They feared the coming millennium for many reasons, not least because of the prediction laid down in the 20th chapter of the Book of Revelation, in which it was said that "an angel came down from heaven.... laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the Devil. and bound him a thousand years.... and after that he must be loosed a little season." When the period thousand AD was approaching, European were afraid. They were afraid that Devil will rule in postmillennial. The just sat idle and all the time remembering God. They were thinking that something terrible might be happened in the year 1001. Thinking that they left working and eating. But at last, nothing actually happened as 1000 AD was over. They crossed this millennial fear without any danger. In the postmillennial era, people became hopeful, they began contemplating God. They started hankering after science, art, culture, civilization and Christianity with modification. People became a bit liberal and their liberty worked at the beginning point of renaissance.Middle age is called the age of experiment especially in the field of religion and philosophy. The philosophers of middle age tried their best to link philosophy with Christianity. St. Augustine Christianized platonic philosophy. He interpreted platonic version of philosophy with the light of Christianity. He wrote two books named
(a) The city of God
(b) The city of Man
     The city of God is like platonic world of idea which is eternal and transcendental whereas the city of Man is equivalent with the world of senses which is very mundane and fleeting. He gave consolation to the Roman people who had been ravished by barbarian, saying that barbarian can not do anything for the city of God that is the word of idea.Similarly, St. Aquinas, another theologian Christianized Aristotle. As Aristotle gave equal emphasis to both body and soul, same is done by St. Aquinas. For Aristotle:
(1) This world is regulated by unmoved mover.
(2) Women are unfinished men.
     For Aquinas this unmoved mover means God. That means God activates other to change not being moved himself. The story of Adam and Eve says that Eve was born out of Adams rib. According to Christianity, women are always inferior. In this connection, there is no different between Aristotelian philosophy and biblical philosophy said Aquinas. During middle age, Greek philosophy is continued rather in modified form.In the Middle Age, there arose problem regarding the issue of truth. Problem was created due to St. Augustine who said about two cities of God representing body and soul. How can there be one truth for body and another truth for soul? People in this way began to ask question people were in dilemma - in terms of choosing about truth.
Boethius was born in Rome around 480 AD who was greatly impressed by Plato and Aristotle. He translated the works of Aristotle from Greeks into Latin so that people of the time could read Greek thoughts. He was of the opinion that God can be comprehended with human reasoning. The truth of one realm is same with another. For him what is truth in the city of God is the truth of city of man. So for him, there is single truth.
Avicena is the great Muslim philosopher of the Middle Age who was widely influenced by Greek thoughts. He believed that reason is a primary source of deriving truth or understanding the God.
There was also Pseudo-Dionysius who gave emphasis on the mystical vision of God. For him, God could not be understood by the application of human reason. The city of God is different from the city of Man. For him truth about the city of God differs from that of the city of Man. It is only faith from which we can understand God. So there are two different truths for both the cities.
Averroes was Arabic philosopher and commentator who was influenced by Plato's idea. In the manner of Plato, he said there is only one truth that is Koran. He held that metaphysical truths can be expressed in two ways: through philosophy, as represented by the views of Aristotle, and through religion, which is truth presented in a form that the ordinary person can understand.
When the Middle Age was about to end Dante wrote a book 'The Divine Comedy' which is in many ways a love poem praising Beatrice's mortal beauty, and her power to lead Dante to a vision of supreme goodness. She guides Dante through the 10 Spheres of heaven, where Dante meets the souls of the blessed. This book is dedicated to his beloved Beatrice whom he could not get in his life.