Comparison Of The Dark Ages Compared To The Middle Ages

The Dark Ages is a period in time which traditionally is similar to the Middle Ages. Many events happened during this period such as the fall of Rome and the creation of the Christian Church. Christianity began with the writing of the followers of Jesus, and the message of Christianity spread quickly throughout Rome during the Dark Ages. Eventually, the Church found more structure and leadership and became a stronger influence. The Church heavily taught morals and charity and overall spread messages of peace and love. Specifically, the Church held very intriguing beliefs regarding poverty. Christianity found the poor to be especially blessed and found deep meaning in being poor-like, but it can also be seen that their beliefs did not correlate
Mollat claimed that “Bishops were personally responsible for showing mercy to the unfortunate and for exhorting clerics and laymen alike to display their charity…The bishop was the ‘father of the poor’ and the bishop’s residence became synonymous with the poorhouse.” This further emphasizes how paramount the poor were to the church due to their pure state of life as well as their need for justice. This ideology can also be seen in Monasticism. In The Rule of Saint Benedict, Saint Benedict explained that “to love God with your whole heart, whole soul, and whole strength…Then…Give relief to the poor, clothe the naked…nor abandon charity…” Also, in The Rule of Saint Benedict, Monks were expected to donate used clothes to the poor. Saint Benedict continues to strengthen the resolve the Church had in helping the poor. On the other hand, the Church also valued the poor highly because of their purity in God’s
In Good News to the Poor: The Challenge of the Poor in the History of the Church by Julio De Santa Ana, Saint Paul in a letter to Timothy is quoted as saying “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Through this claim, Saint Paul also supported the idea that riches should be put aside because it is strongly attributed with evil. However, later, Saint Paul contradicts this idea in a subtle way. Saint Paul stated “They are to be good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous, thus laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed.” In this, Saint Paul is advising the rich to be saturated in good deeds, so that they can lay a strong foundation for the future. Through his advice, Saint Paul is implying that those who have money have a strong influence in society, and that money may not be the root of all evil, although he does not explicitly say this, Saint Paul shows strong belief that the rich can better the future. As shown by Saint Augustine and Saint Benedict, the church highly valued the followers who were willing to put everything aside, including personal belongings and wants, and to live off only the necessities of life in order to remove the additional weight temptation and want had in them. Becoming poor in a sense was the necessary path that needed to be taken for others to soar above everyone else. However, through Saint Paul’s direct attack on money but