We live in a culture where any appeal to Christian values is increasingly subjected to ridicule and contempt. This is most marked when any reference to Christian or Catholic viewpoints are dismissed out of hand. Not so long ago, any pronouncements by the Church and its leaders were given maximum consideration.
All this has changed. We have now reached a stage when one is advised not to strengthen any argument in the public arena with reference to one’s Catholic beliefs and credentials. This is due to the fact that we now live in an environment virulently hostile to anything associated with Christian values.
Any person who takes a stand defending tradition is accused of being stuck in the mindset of the Middle Ages. Labelling an opponent as medieval is accepted as the ultimate vilification. The reasons behind this are obvious, as the Middle Ages in Europe referred to a time in history when the Catholic Church had predominance, coming into its own after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
That people hostile to the Catholic faith accept and promote this nonsense might be understandable as it justifies their campaign to weaken and eliminate Christian values from the public arena.
However, contrary to accepted public opinion, the Middle Ages was a historical era of unprecedented flourishing. Thankfully, there is an increasing outpouring of scholarly studies that debunk the widely accepted fake history of that period. So much so, that a recent publication referring to that era is titled The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe by American academics Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry.
The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe, by Matthew Gabriele and David M. PerryOver the years, the myth of the darkness of the Middle Ages has been dispelled by numerous outstanding historians such as the Templeton Prize winner Fr Stanley Jaki (1924-2009), a Hungarian Benedictine monk who was a theologian, physicist and historian.
As referred to by another historian, Rodney Stark, “the most fundamental key to the rise of Western civilisation in the Middle Ages was the dedication of so many brilliant minds to the pursuit of knowledge underpinned by the Christian commitment to the sophisticated, highly rational discipline of theology”.
This paved the way to the founding of universities, novel institutions dedicated to seeking out the truth in all things. This was facilitated by the universal use of Latin, thus enabling leading scholars to get to know and communicate with each other with relative ease, thus accelerating advances in all fields of knowledge. Also, many of the outstanding scientists of the time were monastics. All this puts the lie to the false assumption that the Church was obscurantist and opposed to reason and scientific endeavour.
All this puts the lie to the false assumption that the Church was obscurantist and opposed to reason and scientific endeavour
In fact, the opposite is true. The stunning advances in all spheres of knowledge and culture such as music, art, architecture, literature, medicine, astronomy and science in the West during the era of the Middle Ages was thanks to the extraordinary faith in reason and progress rooted in Christianity.
The current situation underscores the importance of a sound education. I believe that knowledge, especially knowledge of that chapter of our history, would help in stemming the tide of ignorance and of animosity levelled at the Church.
It would also reveal the incredible contribution bequeathed to humanity by our unfairly maligned Christian heritage.