The Middle Ages: More Christendom Than Mysticism?

In a previous post, "The Middle Ages: More Mysticism Than Christendom," I outlined and made the argument for how the Middle Ages was a period of mysticism rather than genuine Christendom. While the concerns raised in that post are worthy, I felt I needed to balance it with another look at the same period through the lens of the Medieval people. The post Reformation Protestant can be quite disingenuous towards churches of old. The Medieval Church was one formed in the Collapse of the Roman Empire. Many did not know what to do, civilization as they knew it had come crashing down and the only thing to fill the void was a Church and its bishop in Rome. The Bishop of Rome had retained renown prior to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Pappa as he became known helped settle matters and disputes in the East, often acting as arbiter and council to doctrinal problems. This combined with the collapse of the Western Empire in circa 313-380 A.D. created the Pope and Papacy, which endeavored to be both the Church of Rome and Rome itself (in judicial, legislative, and political matters especially). This created an unfortunate imbalance, a Church or Church Empire that had both spiritual and temporal powers. What had been a problem in the East, with the Emperor ruling the Church, appointing bishops, and controlling clergy with threats now inhstead had the Bishop controlling the emperors, and kings within the Church itself. In the West for a spans of four hundred years (313-600 A.D.), the Pope ruled as  indominus and omnipotent ruler of Europe.

To question the authenticy of the piety in the Papacy, and the Popes is not necessarily grounds for Excommunication. For even Catholic scholars and leaders admit there was corruption, and that many clerics that did not embody the character of Christ, but instead had houses of children after vows of chastity, and instead of practicing penance would hire prostitutes. The institutionalizing of the Church in the Middle Ages brought forth new problems that no one could had forseen. While Constantine the Great had liberated the Church and created Byzantium, a Roman Christian Civilization in the East, the ascension of the Pope created an entirely different civilization. While in East, the Church retained only spiritual powers and bishops exercised only authority in doctrine, theology, and faith; in the West through Popes there was absolute power over people's lives, giving the Roman Catholic Church dominion over doctrine and daily life. This overreach created a civilization that blended Christian faith with Christian living in a way not seen in the East. For Byzantines there was disconnect between Public Faith on Sunday, and Private lives of intrigues and duplicity that made one a saint in morning and sinner at night. This double life was not permitted, in the official sense, in the West, and asceticism and penances were for the common people as well as clergy, oppose to in East where no royalty could have imposed on them harsh penances by clergy, because of separation of Church and State; but in West no such separation existed because of Pope and Papacy. This is why kings and queens in West would submit to cruel sadism and penitential sentences of priests. The Western rulers submitted to Pope and Church at top authority, and only would with great risk resist its power, often with failure in later periods of Middle Ages. This is not to say those "born in purple" in Byzantium did not suffer, but their wounds were often for political intrigues and mistakes than for pious reasons; nor were they inflicted by their own hands as was often the case in the West. The adage is while in Byzantium a royal wore robes of purple and gold, bracelets decked in fine gems, and drinking from silver cups, a King of Briton would at some point put on a hair shirt, allow himself to be flogged by Monks (a lower class), and humiliated publicly for pious reasons. This is not to say monarchs and royals in the West did not have a level of decadence, but the point is those in the purple would not let a lower station lay hands on them, nor do a public display of humility; save for if they chose to leave their station to become ascetic (the exception in most cases, not the rule).

To understand why Medieval Christians subjected their bodies to such harsh treatment, we must explore their minds and how they understood verses like, "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires," (Romans 6:12), "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling," (Philippians 2:12), and "If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." (Matthew 5:29-30). It is important to understand that Medieval people, from the Nobility to the Peasantry were highly illiterate. Knights, farmers, servants, soldiers, and most of society could not read, nor understand the language of Latin (in which most books were translated), nor could they read in their own language. This created a problem, how does one teach people the Gospel and the words of Holy Scripture if they cannot read? The answer came in several forms: iconography (images), ritual (practices, experiantetial), and preaching (auditory). Priests, monks, and other clergy would teach people through ritual. While peasants could not fully fathom the intricate details of Christ going into Heavenly holy holies for sin (Hebrews 9) he or she could understand that they were wicked and that Jesus Christ suffered for them as they see in artwork, and they could make amends through sacraments and penances. This developed into a less than Biblical concept of works, but it helped the lower classes in a tangible way touch the reality of their sin, and to a small extend the Savior's love. The Medievalists were literalists, so when you read "Gorge out your eye if it causes you to sin," they very well might have done so, until a priest or monk gave them an alterantive penance that in contrast was not so severe. Allegory, metaphor, symbolism, and multi-layered messages were not the approach of common folk, that was left to more learned clergy like Thomas Aquinas. The only symbolism simpletons and servants understood was in the icons of the West: crosses, crucifixes, statues of Saints, paintings of Biblical scenes, and more. To put it mild, the Medievalists were like babes and they needed to be nursed on less than stellar spiritual practices, because they lacked the education to understand the mysteries. This was albeit due to the Church itself, the idea of ecclesia and laity, a separation of holymen and sinners made learning theology, doctrine, and even Scriptures exclusive to the schools in monasteries and churches. While we who live in 21st Century can recite with ease John 3:16, Romans 10:9, James 4:7, John 10:30, John 14:6, Matthew 24:24, and more, the common Medievalist would never have known but a line of any of these verses and instead was content with the Pater Noster (Our Father Prayer) and Hail Mary.

The Church did not always seek to stifle and control the common people. Some leaders, like Abbot Cluny developed a pity and compassion for the other classes, in his case the knighthood. Cluny saw that most knights were less than noble hired swordsmen who pillaged, raped, and slaughter anything in their wake. Feeling a deep sense of urgency for this class (in early Middle Ages, being a knight was synonymous with being a murderer and monster, many good knights hid their swords), and developed a code of ethics for them which became known as Chivalry and Courtly Love. Most knights were illiterate, so keeping it to memorable phrases like "Be without fear in face of your enemies, be brave and upright that God may love thee, speak the truth always even if it leads to your death, safeguard the helpless and do no wrong," (Kingdom of Heaven 2004). Armed with a mantra, men at arms now had their Pater Noster that encouraged them to great feats and deeds, while still strongly in service and spirituality of the Church. A dramatic shift came over the West, as knights grew in virtue (not perfect by any means, they still committed adultery, brawling, and drunkenness, but rape, pillage without orders, and slaughter went down in record numbers) and the Church found at last Fidei Defensors (Defenders of the Faith), and Milites Christi (Soldiers of Christ) who could defend the cross with a sword; which would become important for later events.

What Abbot Cluny erected as scaffolding, Pope Gregory VII laid motar and brick to, and Pope Urban II added walls and a roof to. The Crusades was a byproduct of the successes of Chivalry. As the cavalry became more Christ like and under governance of the church as much as the state, the idea of rendering services via the sword for a nobler cause was brewing in both the hearts of clergy and the laity. By the time Clermont was called, a new enemy cloaked in the Crescent had sweeped across Asia, Northern Africa, and even into Spain, and Southern Italy. The coming of the Islam was just the impetus the Church needed to rally a divided Europe to an idea of a greater, nay a holier cause than combat against fellow Christians. Holy War was nothing new, St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.) had expounded upon its merits with help of Cicero's texts. But it took the advent of Islam and its invasion of the West to spur the acceptance of holy war on a wider scale. The Church had found its call, and in 1095 A.D. Pope Urban II accomplished was Cluny never dreamed of, and what Gregory VII had labored hard for but never lived to see, holy war. The First Crusade was preached and the response was so fanatical and applauding that people were heard shouting, "Deus lo Vult! God wills it!" To understand why this call to take up the cross, and to become crucinatia (signed with cross, crusader) we must understand how Medieval people thought about salvation and good works.

Within the church there were several means to salvation, non of them Biblical or accurate. One could argue the mantra of Middle Ages is "many religious paths lead to salvation." Popes and clergy achieved salvation through admistering The Sacraments, such as Eucharist (Communion), common people achieved salvation via the Sacraments, penance (harshly appointed tasks,beatings, or mutilation of the body), confession, indulgences (paying to build a monastery, this later would develop into just giving money outright for salvation in Late Middle Ages; "buy salvation for five silver floins"), and pilgrimages to holy sites and the tombs of saints. The Cult of the Saints came forth from misunderstanding that newly converted pagans believed the bones of saints could infuse them with righteousness and holiness on contact; by touch. This was not corrected. Clergy that were Monks and Nuns would live an austere, ascetic, and holy life that would achieve the merit of salvation. Kings and other royals had the Divine Right mantel, they were in theory appointed by God, so they had some special cosoldiations, but they pretty much did as the commoners did to achieve salvation. What disrupted these roads to salvation was the knighly class and military. Sins had to be assuaged by counter pennaces. If you stole, you had to donate lots of money or even land, if you had sex out of wedlock you had to do something harsh to your body, and so forth. Cluny and the Church realized there is no counter balance to murder and killing. Very few since Peter and Paul's days had raised anyone from the dead and expecting knights who were laity, and not holy, to have such a power would have been preposterous; so the answer came to Gregory VII who realized that killing for God, slaying the infidel was an act of pennace and holy war could justify a warrior; this created the concept of penitential warfare and the Milites Christi. The only impediment to this was the lack of a pagan enemy, most of Europe and the East was Christian, and so certainly in eyes of Medievalists, God would not bless war against brothers and sisters in Christ as holy; enter Islam and the problem was resolved. Now the Church had an enemy at right time for penitential warfare. Now, rather than being cursed for killing, a knight could could become a blessed crusader and earn the merits of Christ and all the saints with the stroke of his sword.

This development of holy war created the High Middle Ages (1099-1312 A.D), and nearly two hundred years of war in the Holy Land (1096-1291 A.D.) and almost six hundred years in Reconquista (1096 A.D. to 1492 A.D.) in Spain. This concept of holy war, of crusade shaped Christendom, with ballads and proses written praising the First Crusaders and immortalizing the deeds of knights in service of Christ. Emerging from this era came the hybrid crusader, known as Military Orders, which were monks and knights. The Military Orders were the permeant crusader, who in contrast to the typical Crucinatius who returned home after their expedition would stay in Holy Land, Spain, Baltic regions and more fighting for God until their last breath. The most famous orders were The Poor Soldiers of Jesus Christ of the Temple of Solomon, better known as the Knights Templar which boasted white tunics and red crosses, and The Knights of St. John of the Hospital of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta, better known as the Hospitallers which wore black surcoats and white crosses until they moved their headquarters from Jerusalem to Malta and Rhodes. The Crusades had given the Church influence over the knightly class in a way chivalry only scratched the surface of.

Medieval people were pious. Many attended mass, participated in penances,

sought council from priests, prayed daily the Pater Noster, and celebrated the plethora of feasts and fasts such as Lent, Passion Week, Easter, Christmas, Michaelmas, All Saint's Day, Ascension Day, and more. Life was etched with the Savior and Saints on flags, castles in form of archery slits in the shape of crosses, beds with posts in shape of crosses, jousting arenas blessed by priests, towering cathedrals with crosses and scenes from Bible on the outside and inside, which featured stain glass within, and much more. The Medievalsit ate, breathed, smelled, tasted, slept, and even made love in the cradle of Christiandom. But wasn't it mostly heretical, not biblical, sacrilegious, and short of knowing Jesus Christ? The rituals, rites, theology, doctrines, and more were indeed tainted with errors, especially the confusion over doctrine of salvation which in Scripture was simple, "If you confess Jesus as Lord (God, Hebrew Jehovah: God of Israel) and believe in your heart god raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." (Romans 10:9), and "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it." (Ephesians 2:8-9). Monasticism, Crusading, Popery, Papacy, and penance all violated this with false roads to salvation (Galatians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 11:4). But to understand why this happened, we need to go back prior to Middle Ages. In fourth century, when church was liberated from persecution by Constantine The Great, a problem arose. Christians had suffered for four hundred years, and martyrdom had become a sign of authenticity, true piety and even salvation (Eusebius): persecution had become part of being a Christian and its identity, now it was gone, and so an identity crisis began. How was one to compensate, to keep up with words, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me," (Matthew 5;11), "You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved," (Matthew 10:22), "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me," (Matthew 24:9), "If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you," (1 Peter 4:14), "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him," (Philippians 1:29), "Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus," (2 Timothy 2:3), "So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, His prisoner. Instead, join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God," (2 Timothy 1:8), "For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory," (2 Timothy 2:10), "Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man," (Luke 6:22), "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day," (2 Corinthians 4:16), "He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward," (Hebrews 11:26), "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him," (James 1:12). An idea arose out of Egypt which had once housed Christ (Matthew 2:13), a movement called the Ascetics who believed by living a hard, harsh, and holy life you could through creating suffering supplement the fact that suffering and persecution had ended; thus giving the identity of a suffering church back to the church, only instead of suffering because there was no choice, it became choosing suffering. Thus monasticism was born, and another gospel (Galatians 1:8) took root in the church and made its way into the Medieval world. Due to the corruption of many Church leaders, especially priests, and even popes, monks and nuns became known as "The Church of Piety," while those who held ecclesiastical-political offices with scarlet robes and golden crosses were part of "Church of Power" (Rodney Stark, God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades). At least this was the theory, because even the monastic houses broke down into licentious and lazy lifestyles, with even prostitues servicing monks and other wicked practices. Reformers came in the form of Bernard of Clarivaux (1090-1153 A.D.), who preached The Second Crusade, and St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226 A.D.) who preached to Muslims (unheard of at the time). Each preaching the need to return to the harsh ascetic life with its self denial, chastity, and even self hatred. Obviously the Monks never read St. Paul's words, "These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh." (Colossians 2:23). Monastic life and its vintage of Christianity took root earliest in East with Antony the Great (251 A.D.), and Athanasius of Alexandria (298-373 A.D.), but grew in the respect in the Western Church, hence the rise of Benedictines, Cistercians, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, and many more orders of monasticism.

The truth is that penance, sacramental practices, and even crusades stemmed from a conscious developed in the cloister of monastery rather than the palaces of the Vatican City. This explains then why common people felt the need to practice them, not willing, nor able to be a monk or nun, they decided to follow their example in their daily lives, albeit with less success and accuracy. The origin of the Middle Ages truly can be found in monastery, for it was the thinking of monks like Cluny, and Popes from monastic backgrounds like Urban II that were able to place ascetic practices in the secular and state realms. While the symbol of Middle Ages is often a knight in shining armor, it really should be the Monk, for it was monasticism in both its ecclesiastical and secular forms that created the Medieval World, and that preseverd Antiquity in its libraries. The common person was at a disadvantage, for monks and nuns in theory had their whole lives, and all day to make pennace for their sins, but ordinary folk had to be content with masses, crusades, indulgences, and other rituals that only guaranteed Purgatory. In fact, the reason The Crusades stuck a  cord with common folk as well as kings, was that the Popes issued Plenary Indulgence, which means a blanket covering document that says "all your sins are forgiven for good" if you preform that act of taking up the cross and fighting in holy wars. A crusader was promised salvation, a straight shot to heaven if he died on crusade and if he survived his sins were covered for a lifetime, so in eyes of ordinary society it was only sure way of salvation outside the monastery and nunnery. The fact that so many people, from princes to paupers, from kings to criminals took the cross and fought in the Crusades proves that Medieval People cared about their eternal destination and cared about pleasing God. The fact that so many royals and commoners sold all they had, gave up family, possessions and their very lives for this cause of crusading proves how devout Medieval People were. Sadly it was zeal in the wrong direction, for salvation is promised  only through  Jesus Christ and belief in Him and His Sacrifice, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved," (Romans 10:9), "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life," (John 3:16), "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, none may come to Father except through me," (John 14:6), "so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him," (Hebrews 9:28), "Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit," (1 Peter 3:18), "But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation/Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault," (Colossians 1:22), "Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault," (Jude 1:24), "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us," (Romans 5:8), "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast," (Ephensians 2:8-9), "Jesus Christ whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed." (Romans 3:24-25), and "and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:12-14).

Had Monasticism and Asceticism been left as personal choice, rather than develop into another gospel (Galatians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 11:4) that dominated both secular and ecclesiastical life in the Middle Ages, it would have fallen under these words of Paul, "One man regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God." (Romans 14:5-6). The Primacy of Peter also was very Pelegian. Pelagius was a theologian who adopted some Gnostic ideas and who decided to 'hand' pick and choose in Bible what should be kept according to his own personal theology, and so he had like two gospels, only a few epistles, and hardly any Old Testament. Pelagius was denounced as an aggiatator and heretic preaching another gospel (Galatians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 11:4), but the idea crept into Rome, with the Medieval Church while keeping all Scriptures, making Peter more important than Paul, even though Paul actually in the Scriptues is documented as being in Rome three years. The reason, Paul spoke against everything the Monastics wanted to impose, "These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh." (Colossians 2:23), "influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron, They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth." (1 Timothy 4:2-3). The Monatists, Nestorians, Cathars, and other cults found a voice in Medieval Church, encouraging chastity as virtue of virtues, when it is consider a important choice, "Now to the unmarried and widows I say this: It is good for them to remain unmarried, as I am. But if they can't control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It's better to marry than to burn with lust," (1 Corinthians 7:8-9), and "The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry. Not everyone can accept this statement," Jesus said. "Only those whom God helps. For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others--and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it." (Matthew 10:9-12). Perhaps some Monks did get some support from Matthew 10, and these words, "These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb." (Revelation 14:4). However, if Revelation is followed strictly, you run out of monks and eunuchs, for it takes married coupels to give birth to monks in future. Then again, I have argued in previous post that Jesus Christ cannot come back until there are few believers left, " tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?," (Luke 18:8), "This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (which is more people keep being born, there are more opportunities, monasticism and chastity would end this)," (1 Timothy 2:4), and "In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God's chosen ones." (Matthew 24:22), also read about Seals and Trumpets in Revelation and how many die (Revelation 4-8). Monasticism went wrong on two accounts, it became another gospel (Galatians 1:8) and it tried to impose forbidding marriage (1 Timothy 4:2-3). It would have been fine to leave it as a choice, and an honor, ""These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb." (Revelation 14:4, note this is about a select group known as the 144,000 who do this, see earlier and later verses in Rev 14).


Something we have to consider when measuring people of past is what they had access to, the average intellect, and access to education. The average Medievalist was illiterate, and stayed that way. They could not refute the doctrines of church that were heterodox with Scripture. Even the Monks, Popes, and priests often did not know what Bible said, because their translation was The Latin Vulgate, translated by Jerome when it was in vogue, but by that turn of the 600's, the Early Middle Ages, Latin was becoming a dead language used only in ceremonies like coronations, masses, and judicial matters; this means only doctors of law and scholars knew the intricacies of Latin. Think fo it like this, Legal Jargon, the Laws of a country are so stepped in a language, though it be native tongue is so complex that most people have to hire lawyers to understand, explain, and simplify it; this became case with the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, the clergy created Canons (not to be confused with the Canon of Scripture 66 Books of Old and New Testament) that explained doctrine and practices. Again, only those in cloister and clergy could understand the Canons, the average person had only a rudimentary, albeit bare bones understanding of these laws and so the Clergy acted like lawyers explaining it to the masses through preaching, ceremony, iconography (art), and parables. Jesus Christ himself did this often, simply read Matthew 25, Luke 13, Matthew 10, John 6, and you will find parables that explain deeper spiritual truths. What happened in Reformation was that most people by that time, the average person, had become educated and intellectual; literate and so now there was capacity to read The Scriptures, it only took translating them into vernacular and language of people, something William Tyndale, John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, and Zwingli did at their own peril. The reaction of Church of Rome and its Counter Reformation should be seen in two lights: one they feared losing control of people and their coffers (money), but there was another less monolithic and sinister motive; the priest's feared becoming irrelevant. To put it bluntly, The Reformation threatened to put the religious lawyers out of job and instead made everyone a lawyer. Now for us this sounds grand, and because we are Post-Reformation there is great bias, but think of it this way, what if you were a priest, monk, or clergyman and now you learn that people will not need you; your purpose as pastor feels as if it is going out to pasture and now what? Certainly this was an overreaction, just because people could read The Bible in 16th Century, did not mean they understood it the same as a scholar, but worse the Radical Reformers did not want any tutors, they wanted complete emancipation from the old system, which created many deaths, four hundred years of war between Catholics and Protestants, and Inquisitions on both sides. Neither side wanted to concede, the Catholic refused to let laity know even shadow of what they knew and the Protestants wanted to remove all semblance and connecting to Catholic Church, even removing crosses and crucifixes, which Martin Luther himself confronted and approved as appropriate. Luther had dreamed of a reform that would change the whole Catholic Church, rather than create another schism like had happened in 1054 A.D. between Roman Catholic and Byzantine Orthodox clergy.
The Middle Ages gave us many meaningful contributions: books, plows, silverware, wind power, glasses, and more. In addition it gave us many spiritual contributions such as Gregorian Chant, Cathedrals, the best Biblical paintings and art, saved Europe and world from Islamic take over via the Crusades, and many of issues still wrestled with in today's churches such as how does one deny themselves and pick up their cross, without becoming a works based gospel and losing sight of Christ? Some of greatest questions and experiments in the faith happened in Middle Ages, and while there was much that fell outside the authority of Scripture and even contradicted it, people were zealous to serve the Trinity, while today people know the Bible and doctrine well and yet their zeal is dead. This is not to say illiteracy and ignorance which gave way to superstition and saint worship was good, but rather it is a shame that while misguided, the Medievalists surpass modernists in their zeal, passion, and dedication to being a Christ follower (Christian). Only Jesus Christ will be able to judge the hearts of those in Middle Ages, and I apologize for having been harsh towards them in my previous post "The Middle Ages: More Mysticism than Christendom." We must be careful not measure and judge people of previous time periods, for their circumstances, knowledge, and understanding was different; and sometimes upon examination of their point of view we discover not only did their viewpoint have some validity and persuasiveness, but it might even in a certain vien of thinking be right.