Church History, Part 3

The Medieval Church A.D. 1000 - 1500

The period between 1000 and 1500 is known as "The High Middle Ages" and was one of the richest times in all history for creative theological thinking. Great scholars, attached to the growing European universities, were hammering out refinements of basic Christian doctrines that dealt with questions Christians of all times ask. It was an era not only of rich theology, but of powerful preaching and evangelistic outreach; it was also a time when great leaders tried to focus people's attention on true Christian discipleship. Often our view of the Middle Ages is of corruption and power politics at the papal level, and that element was present, but this series of studies attempts to emphasize the positive accomplishments of great men of God in this time of the flowering of the Christian Medieval civilization.

Lesson Titles

1. The Rise of the Papal Monarchy: Gregory VII and his Colleagues
2. The Struggle of Two Universals: German Empire and Papal Monarchy
3. The Crusades: The Odyssey of Faith
4. Return of Spain to the Christian Fold (The Reconquista)
5. Salvation Theology and Medieval Theologians
6. England’s Own Struggle: Archbishops of Canterbury vs. Ambitious Kings
7. Story of Two Opposites: Francis of Assisi and Dominic of Spain
8. Bernard of Clairvaux and the Cistercians
9. Medieval Church Architecture
10. Thomas Aquinas and the Thomistic Synthesis
11. Downfall of the Papal Monarchy
12. Prelude to the Reformation: Humanism, Mysticism, and Heresy