Age of Faith [antikvár]

Introduction thousand medieval years were not solely an "age of faith/' nor is faith a uniquely medieval phenomenon. But the cathedrals were the most impressive monuments of that era; its greatest poem was a description of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise; crusades were the only collective enterprises which temporarily rallied all nations; there were heretics and infidels but agnosticism was nonexistent or cowed into silence; the clergy was more numerous and influential in poHtics, economics, philosophy and other intellectual pursuits than it has ever been since. There is nothing wrong with the traditional formula of an "age of faith/' provided we remember that the Middle Ages were many other things as well. There is something in medieval history for every curiosity. Those of us who are fascinated by the growth of national cultures and their contribution to the composite pattern of Western civilization cannot fail to notice that Europe was born in the Middle Ages. Greco-Roman civilization had its origins on the southernmost European shore of the Mediterranean and spread all around that sea; North Africa and Asia Minor were more essential parts of it than England; Scotland, Scandinavia, Poland were outside the pale. The word of Christ, coming from Palestine, added prestige to the Asiatic provinces of the Roman Empire. At the opening of the Middle Ages, however, the Germans overthrew the Roman barrier which had been cutting Europe in two. Soon a number of missionaries, soldiers and merchants began to fan out toward