How Did Christianity Influence The Development Of The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages was a time dominated by religion and the Catholic church. Paganism gradually began to be overtaken by Catholicism and Christianity. The churches influence began to work its way into nearly all the topics of the day, including Philosophy. As the teachings of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers were translated, the medieval church began to “Christianize” these philosophical teachings. This new Christianized philosophy would become known as Scholasticism, or scholastic theology: the study of philosophy and theology. Scholasticism characterized medieval philosophy and eventually produced a split among philosophers of the day; between those who believed philosophy and theology could exist together and those who believed they needed
As universitas began to arise, Pope Gregory IX issued a warning to theologians in Paris, instructing them that their teachings on theology were to remain “pure of worldly learning”. However, Boethius, a roman philosopher who is described as the “first of the scholastic theologians”, had already translated much of Aristotle’s work and by the eleventh and twelfth centuries, much of what philosophers knew of Aristotle, had come from him. While the Pope had instructed Theologians to stay away from worldly learning, he had said nothing about the other Faculties within the universitas. So, on March 19, 1255 Aristotelianism was officially adopted by the University of Paris’ Arts Faculty. Philosophers of the Middle ages began studying the Aristotelian philosophy and since the Pope had commanded theologians to steer clear of these secular teachings, they became naïve to the topics. As the thirteenth century began to progress, many began to doubt the theologians of the day simply because they could not comment on or refute any of these new scientific or philosophical discoveries. It became ever more apparent that Christian theologians needed to incorporate the new Aristotelianism sciences and philosophies in their teachings . While many theologians realized these new works needed to be incorporated, most were unsure as to how they should go about integrating these works. Some theologians attempted to reject these Aristotelian teachings, others such as Saint Thomas Aquinas chose to accept these new ideas and even use them to further scholastic theological ideas. St. Thomas Aquinas was an important thinker in the thirteenth century. He served as Preacher General of his order, taught at the papal court and was a regent master of theology at the University of Paris.