christian church in MA
The Christian Church in the Middle Ages played a significant role in society. Unfortunately though, the church is often regarded as the capital of corruption, evil, and worldliness. Today, so many people depict the medieval church as being led by materialistic popes, devouring tithes from poverty-stricken peasants, having various illegitimate children, and granting indulgences for money from wayward believers. Yes, circumstances like this may have been the case, and is often hard to disapprove, considering the fact that this notion is often advocated in movies. But we must open our mind, and look at the situations first before jumping to conclusions. As many things define the distinct characteristics of history, the Christian church has made a remarkable milestone especially during the Middle Ages. Christianity's emergence as an official religion influenced not only the church, it enabled people to look beyond the obsession of power and worldly pleasures, but to a final and ultimate reward for a life well spent. Everybody put their faith in the hope and love of the Christian God. It gave the people goals and led them to the right path, yet why is it looked down upon so harshly? Maybe it was because of the wealth it exempli
The major problem relating to the maltreatment of power between the popes was commonly known as the traffic in indulgences, which certainly was a commercial exploitation. The church in the Middle ages does not mean that what happened then does not happen now, if anything, today we still can witness pastors, clergymen, televangelists, all abusing their power of religion just to get money as Julius II and Leo X did centuries ago. Apart from the Protestant reformers, there were other historical facts of the late medieval church that contributed to the tenacious myth of corruption. The arbitrary use of historical evidence and the ignorance of the circumstances are a couple to name. It is simple to call the imperfections that happened in the Middle Ages characteristic of the medieval church, but depicting its reforms as surpassing in its own time would only contradict that statement. It is also worth noting that not all contemporaries who were interested in the reformation, such as Erasmus, joined Luther in his famous feat, the Reformation. Also, sexuality among the popes was unbelievable. Finally the question once again arises. A major theme that is often used to show how corrupt the medieval church was is the Western Schism that lasted from 1378 to 1417. An example of this would be in the Vatican, which we can still see today. As a conclusion, the medieval church was not uniquely corrupt and immoral; it was just adjusting itself to an age of chaos. Luther and his contemporaries definitely did not introduce the concept of "reform". With this in mind, Luther and other reformers are usually credited with bringing the church back to the New Testament ideal, which is not necessarily the case. He strongly dedicated himself to end nepotism, unethical conduct, and immorality among the papacy. However, one of the undesired effects of Benedict XI's reform was the expanding concentration and bureaucratization of the church.
Common topics in this essay:
Middle Ages,
Christian God,
II Leo,
Urban VI,
Western Schism,
Clement VII,
Peter Avignon,
Apart Protestant,
Ages Christianity's,
Benedict XI,
middle ages,
medieval church,
church corrupt,
clerical abuses,
church middle ages,
popes lived,
church church,
urban vi,
julius ii,
age chaos,
italian urban vi,
medieval church corrupt,
julius ii leo,
protestant reformers,
|
Acceptance Essays
