Middle Ages- Catholic Church

The Middle Ages was a time of rebirth for the Church. The Church had a growing amount of power, and used this power to get messages sent to its followers. One important message created an ever-growing distance between believes and nonbelievers of the Church. Throughout the Middle Ages there have been inconsistencies with the doctrines and actions of the Church. There is one constant within the Church, throughout the Middle Ages the Church has opposed outsiders and has mistreated those outsiders from the Church. St. Augustine, a Christian, observed the chaos around him as the Vandals sacked Rome in 410. The sack of Rome is the marker of the end of the old Roman Empire. The people of Rome felt their old gods were punishing them for converting to Christianity. St. Augustine, though, offered a different argument, an argument which instead described earthly happiness and success as something for pagans, while believers of God would have eternal happiness in the city of God. He describes, “Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; and the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self” (The City of God). This argument gives Christians hope, for since they have lost their way of life in the sack, they have reassurance that they will have happiness in the end if they continue to love God. Pagans, on the other hand, who are “living according to man, have sought for profit to their own bodies...” (The City of God) are beginning to be looked down upon. Nonbelievers are beginning to be looked down upon, and the tide begins to turn in the Church’s favor. Beowulf gives insight into the mixture of Pagan, Christian, and Germanic beliefs and combines the previous mentioned into one story about the adventures of Beowulf as he defeats his opponents. One of these opponents is Grendel. There can be parallels drawn between Grendel, the antagonist, and pagans in general: