Pre-Modern Faith: Manipulative Yet Necessary

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recognized this human nature and instead of looking to exploit it, they looked to embrace it initially to expand their power to previously uncharted regions of Europe. Through the power of prayer, they brought together tens to even hundreds of thousands of people across Europe. This power was so great that it caused the Catholic Church to expand its’ thinking regarding the organization of gatherings.

Churches were in no way, shape, or form a new concept. The idea of gathering people formally to praise God had been done by man since he first became self-aware enough to look to a higher being. It was how the Church looked to gather people that was abstractly different.

“Light-brilliant but immaterial-offered the perfect analogy to God’s spiritual being. Like the spirit of God, the beauty of light was reflected in precious gems and golden reliquaries. Light could even symbolize the mystic incarnation of Christ…” (Bishop, 160)

The Middle Ages had brought about the idea of church being a time for worship, but also a time to achieve divine equilibrium. Traditional churches before this point had been enclosed; rather dark buildings where congregation could take place, while simultaneously radiating the ambience of punishment and uneasiness. Gothic Style, however, brought the idea of exposing the common people to large amounts of light as if they themselves were feeling the healing and redeeming power of God. Light, like God, had always been the symbol of good, as it still is considered to be today. Walking alone is never as enjoyable at night as it may be during the day. The same could be said of church during the Dark Ages, when little light was shed during worship making it truly dark. Medieval times brought an end to the darkness, and began to shine the divine spirit of light on the people who worshipped it as such.

So powerful was the influence of light of the Catholic following that the Church opted to invest large amounts of money into the restoration and reconstruction of older churches as well as the commissioning of new churches. These funds, although taken from the Catholic followers as a tax, were directly given back, not in the form of a monetary refund, but rather in the form of a higher spiritual meaning when worshipping God in his house. Such a boom of spiritual realization and an even greater following was created by these voluminous churches that what was once a religious belief that consumed the people of Europe had now become an enticing way of life that showed promise and elevation in one’s physical and spiritual well-being. No longer was religion a raised hand waiting to come down and smite one on the face, but rather it had become an outreached hand, willing and wanting to help guide people to a higher sense of spiritual development.

It is evident today that it is indeed true that religious beliefs and religious faith during the Middle Ages were a force that overwhelmed and possessed the lives of most of Western Europe. Latter points in Medieval times show that religion had shifted from the dictating role that it once had, to the powerfully giving and inspiring role that it was to become. However, because of such persistent religious practice during a time following a void of human creativity and progression, both the people of Western Europe as well as its infrastructure were able to expand to great heights. The Middle Ages closed the door on the darkness and rather than trying to become the light that is the future, it opened the door with such light so that the future could come swiftly and elegantly.

Works Cited

Brooks, Geraldine. Year of Wonders. New York: The Penguin Company , 2002. Print

Bishop, Philip. Adventures in the Human Spirit. 5th. New Jersey : Pearson , 2007. Print.