Religion in the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages was an era that extended from approximately the fifth century to the fifteenth century in Western Europe. It was a time of change like many other periods in our history. With careful reading, I have come to realize that the lives of many people in the Middle Ages were highly influenced by religion, especially Christianity, and reflected their beliefs and moral values.

The Gothic cathedral symbolized the primary role of the Christian church in medieval life. Here, the priests conducted their worship services, baptized babies, and married young people. The church grew great and powerful, and had its own courts and laws.

The cathedral was to be the most beautiful structure on earth, and was the largest building in the center of town because people believed "the church held the keys to the kingdom of heaven and provided the only way to salvation." (Matthews & Platt, Western Humanities) It was decorated with many sculptures and stained glass windows that told stories from the Bible since many peasants were unable to read. For example, in the photo on page 224 of the textbook, fifteen of twenty-four panels of stained glass windows of the Chartres cathedral in France tells the Life of Christ. In addition, there were also huge figures that were created to decorate the doorways and columns of churches. Like in the image of The Last Judgement, in Notre Dame on page 232 of the textbook, Jesus is surrounded by the Apostles, the prophets, the church fathers, and the saints - who were arranged in order of their importance in relation to Jesus.

People believed that height and light were symbols of the divine, and so they built the cathedrals tall with many windows. For example, the church of St. Denis in Paris, which was the first church to be built using the Gothic style, presents an overwhelming image of God's majesty and the power of the church. The vertical spires of the Gothic exterior brought your eyes up towards the ceiling as if you were looking up to heaven, and the interior surrounded you with beautiful colored lighting, and the very high ceiling was to fill you with an overpowering emotion of greatness.

Literary works of the Middle Ages greatly reflected upon the influence of religion on the peoples' daily lives. Like in Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica, he illustrated that God had given human beings two divine paths to truth: reason and faith. He claimed that "reason based on sensory knowledge could prove certain truths, such as the notion that God exists and that the soul exists, but that reason had limits and that faith was necessary for those truths that were beyond sensory proof, such as the belief in the soul's immortality." (Aquinas, Summa Theologica)

In addition to Aquinas's work, Dante Alighiere's the Divine Comedy was the climax of the literature of the Middle Ages. In this book, he narrates a journey he takes through three places of the Christian afterlife, guided by two different spirits. Led by Vergil, an ancient poet, he first descends into hell and then to purgatory. After purgatory, he is then guided by Beatrice, Dante's symbol of the eternal female. Dante makes Vergil inferior to Beatrice, which reveals that Dante agrees with Aquinas's idea, which was "reason can lead only to awareness of sin; revelation is necessary to reach God's ultimate truth." (Matthew & Platt, Western Humanities) In addition, Dante's Divine Comedy was structured in three-line verses called terza rima because "three" symbolized the Christian Trinity, which was the union of the Father, the son, and the Holy Ghost in one God.

The highly religious lifestyle of the Christians in the Middle Ages reveals their strong belief in God. Architecture and literature were only a few of the critical aspects of their religious life. By using religion, they gave themselves something to have faith in, and with faith, they believed one could reach a feeling of inner majesty like God.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.) Matthews, Roy T., and Platt, F. Dewitt. The Western Humanities. 3rd Ed. Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1998. (Ch 10)

2.) Jacobsen, Aaron H. "Middle Ages, Art and Architecture of The." The New Book of Knowledge. Danbury: Grolier Incorporated, 1987.

3.) The Middle Ages. Yahoo! Internet Web site. Http://www.learner.org/exhibit/middleages/