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Some in this forum have claimed the term "Dark Ages" was used to describe a time when "true" christianity was lost, partly because the RCC kept the Bible away from the laity. This may be the explanation of protestant, mainly fundy sects, "christians" but secular, objective historians do not share that view.
According to them, the term "Dark Ages" was used because of a number of reasons:
1.) We know little about this time
2.) there was no central civilizing authority or common nationhood, like during the Roman Empire, so..
3.)Europe was full of fractured, isolated tribes that would frequently battle each other and this led to feudalism
4.) and intellectual development, like literature, was stunted
And finally, many modern historians in the past considered it "dark" because they were acrimonious to any form of faith, considering religion "backwards" and "dark," and the Middle Ages was seen as a time of great faith, full of religous ferver by many and when christianity, thanks to the RCC, spread acoss Europe.
Except for the atheists, religion-hating historians, the secular, objective ones do not say that they call it the "Dark Ages" because of the dominance of the RCC, indeed, many do not even use the term anymore.:
The Dark Ages as a term has undergone many evolutions; its definition depends on who is defining it. Indeed, modern historians no longer use the term because of its negative connotation. Generally, the Dark Ages referred to the period of time ushered in by the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This took place when the last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by Odoacer, a barbarian. AD 476 was the time of this event.
Initially, this era took on the term “dark” by later onlookers; this was due to the backward ways and practices that seemed to prevail during this time. Future historians used the term “dark” simply to denote the fact that little was known about this period; there was a paucity of written history. Recent discoveries have apparently altered this perception as many new facts about this time have been uncovered.
Quote:
The Dark Ages – The State of the Church
The Dark Ages was a period of religious struggle. Orthodox Christians and Catholics viewed the era from opposing perspectives. Orthodox Christians regarded this time as a period of Catholic corruption; they repudiated the ways of the Catholic Church with its papal doctrines and hierarchy. Orthodox Christians strove to recreate a pure Christianity, void of these “dark” Catholic ways. Catholics did not view this era as “dark.” Catholics viewed this period as a harmonious, productive religious era. The Dark Ages were also the years of vast Muslim conquests. Along with other nomads and horse and camel warriors, the Muslims rode through the fallen empire, wreaking havoc and seeding intellectual and social heresy in their wake. Muslim conquests prevailed until the time of the Crusades. This age old conflict between Christianity and Islam remains until this day.
The Dark Ages – Faith vs. Enlightenment
The Dark Ages were a tumultuous time. Roving horse-bound invaders charged the country sides. Religious conflicts arose; Muslims conquered lands. Scarcity of sound literature and cultural achievements marked these years; barbarous practices prevailed.
Despite the religious conflicts, the period of the Dark Ages was seen as an age of faith. Men and women sought after God; some through the staid rituals of the Catholic Church, others in more Orthodox forms of worship. Intellectuals view religion in any form as, itself, a type of “darkness.” These thinkers assert that those who followed religious beliefs lied to themselves, creating a false reality. They were dominated by emotions, not fact. Religion was seen as contrary to rationality and reason, thus the move towards enlightenment -- a move away from “darkness.” Science and reason gained ascendancy, progressing steadily during and after the Reformation and Age of Enlightenment.
Beginning with the decline of the Roman Empire, this course discusses German, Muslim, Viking and Magyar invasions, the development of Catholicism in Western Europe and of Eastern Orthodoxy in the Byzantine Empire, the Arabic contribution to mathematics, science, and philsophy and the institutions of feudalism and manorialism. The course concludes with the economic, demographic and urban revival which began around 1000 AD.
Syllabus
Course Description
The course will begin with the structure and the decline of the Roman Empire, the triumph of Christianity and the incursions of the barbarian peoples into the Roman Empire, which brought the Western Empire to an end. It will deal with the survival and revival of Greek learning in the Eastern Mediterranean (Syria and Egypt) and its transmission to Ireland’s monastic culture and its dissemination to the kingdoms Western Britain (Wales and Cornwall) of Anglo-Saxon England, where it took root and was passed on to Continental Europe, where it made a material contribution to the Carolingian Renaissance, and to the revival of Christian art and literary culture in Western Europe. It is no longer conventional or at all correct therefore to refer to the period between the end of the Western Roman Empire and the revival of learning in the 11th century as ‘The Dark Ages’. The spread of Christianity served its purpose by civilizing the barbarian peoples and in ensuring the survival of the remnants of Graeco-Roman culture. Course Objectives
The effects of the Moslem, Viking and Magyar onslaughts on Europe will be examined, the origins of feudalism and the rise of Islamic culture in Al Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula), which in turn brought about the revival of Greek learning in Southern and NW Europe.
Some in this forum have claimed the term "Dark Ages" was used to describe a time when "true" christianity was lost, partly because the RCC kept the Bible away from the laity. This may be the explanation of protestant, mainly fundy sects, "christians" but secular, objective historians do not share that view.
According to them, the term "Dark Ages" was used because of a number of reasons:
1.) We know little about this time
2.) there was no central civilizing authority or common nationhood, like during the Roman Empire, so..
3.)Europe was full of fractured, isolated tribes that would frequently battle each other and this led to feudalism
4.) and intellectual development, like literature, was stunted
And finally, many modern historians in the past considered it "dark" because they were acrimonious to any form of faith, considering religion "backwards" and "dark," and the Middle Ages was seen as a time of great faith, full of religous ferver by many and when christianity, thanks to the RCC, spread acoss Europe.
Except for the atheists, religion-hating historians, the secular, objective ones do not say that they call it the "Dark Ages" because of the dominance of the RCC, indeed, many do not even use the term anymore.:
Quote:
The Dark Ages as a term has undergone many evolutions; its definition depends on who is defining it. Indeed, modern historians no longer use the term because of its negative connotation. Generally, the Dark Ages referred to the period of time ushered in by the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This took place when the last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by Odoacer, a barbarian. AD 476 was the time of this event.
Initially, this era took on the term “dark” by later onlookers; this was due to the backward ways and practices that seemed to prevail during this time. Future historians used the term “dark” simply to denote the fact that little was known about this period; there was a paucity of written history. Recent discoveries have apparently altered this perception as many new facts about this time have been uncovered.
Quote: The Dark Ages – The State of the Church
The Dark Ages was a period of religious struggle. Orthodox Christians and Catholics viewed the era from opposing perspectives. Orthodox Christians regarded this time as a period of Catholic corruption; they repudiated the ways of the Catholic Church with its papal doctrines and hierarchy. Orthodox Christians strove to recreate a pure Christianity, void of these “dark” Catholic ways. Catholics did not view this era as “dark.” Catholics viewed this period as a harmonious, productive religious era. The Dark Ages were also the years of vast Muslim conquests. Along with other nomads and horse and camel warriors, the Muslims rode through the fallen empire, wreaking havoc and seeding intellectual and social heresy in their wake. Muslim conquests prevailed until the time of the Crusades. This age old conflict between Christianity and Islam remains until this day.
The Dark Ages – Faith vs. Enlightenment
The Dark Ages were a tumultuous time. Roving horse-bound invaders charged the country sides. Religious conflicts arose; Muslims conquered lands. Scarcity of sound literature and cultural achievements marked these years; barbarous practices prevailed.
Despite the religious conflicts, the period of the Dark Ages was seen as an age of faith. Men and women sought after God; some through the staid rituals of the Catholic Church, others in more Orthodox forms of worship. Intellectuals view religion in any form as, itself, a type of “darkness.” These thinkers assert that those who followed religious beliefs lied to themselves, creating a false reality. They were dominated by emotions, not fact. Religion was seen as contrary to rationality and reason, thus the move towards enlightenment -- a move away from “darkness.” Science and reason gained ascendancy, progressing steadily during and after the Reformation and Age of Enlightenment.
Beginning with the decline of the Roman Empire, this course discusses German, Muslim, Viking and Magyar invasions, the development of Catholicism in Western Europe and of Eastern Orthodoxy in the Byzantine Empire, the Arabic contribution to mathematics, science, and philsophy and the institutions of feudalism and manorialism. The course concludes with the economic, demographic and urban revival which began around 1000 AD.
Syllabus
Course Description
The course will begin with the structure and the decline of the Roman Empire, the triumph of Christianity and the incursions of the barbarian peoples into the Roman Empire, which brought the Western Empire to an end. It will deal with the survival and revival of Greek learning in the Eastern Mediterranean (Syria and Egypt) and its transmission to Ireland’s monastic culture and its dissemination to the kingdoms Western Britain (Wales and Cornwall) of Anglo-Saxon England, where it took root and was passed on to Continental Europe, where it made a material contribution to the Carolingian Renaissance, and to the revival of Christian art and literary culture in Western Europe. It is no longer conventional or at all correct therefore to refer to the period between the end of the Western Roman Empire and the revival of learning in the 11th century as ‘The Dark Ages’. The spread of Christianity served its purpose by civilizing the barbarian peoples and in ensuring the survival of the remnants of Graeco-Roman culture.
Course Objectives
The effects of the Moslem, Viking and Magyar onslaughts on Europe will be examined, the origins of feudalism and the rise of Islamic culture in Al Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula), which in turn brought about the revival of Greek learning in Southern and NW Europe.
Historians once called the 500 years after the fall of the Roman Empire "the Dark Ages." Scholars had few surviving documents of the time, which kept them "in the dark" about keg events.
Today, however, new studies and discoveries are telling us much more about the period. Historians now consider it a time of momentous, long-lasting changes. Warrior kingsWarrior Kings is a real-time strategy video game, developed by Black Cactus and published by Microïds in 2002. The game, set in a fantasy medieval world, focuses on the concepts of pagan tribalism, renaissance enlightenment, and imperialist theocracy. of Europe were battling over territory, carving new borders. Meanwhile, a new faith--Christianity--was spreading. Many long-suffering peasants saw it as a pathway to salvation after their hard lives.
There are more..much more. All non-religious sites...all do not equate the actions of the RCC with the term "The Dark Ages"!!
That fundy claim is really laughable. But then again some of them think that the Pope is the anti-Christ, Catholics are Satanists and the sign of the cross draws the shape of an inverted cross.
I believe now that the period formerly called the Dark Ages is now referred to as the "Age of Saxons and Vikings".
The Dark Ages were really not so dark at all. That was merely wishful thinking by secularists and anti-Westerns who wished to redefine the term from its original 14th century meanings (a time about which we knew very little).
Blaming the RCC for the Dark Ages (as if there was something that needed to be blamed on someone) is silly anyway. Referring to the original premise of the term, how could we KNOW what the RCC did during this time if there was nothing known about the period. But, in truth, the church was the glue and the cement that held the West together during this time of fragmentation. What learning there was going on was going on with the stewardship of the church. And, at any rate, the RCC was not yet the organization that it would become later in the history of Europe. The church was as divided as the rest of the society.
we are always in both dark and light ages. we will always be in the dark about many things. Even with our modern technology.
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