Chapter 1: What historical context is essential for understanding the rise of the Papacy?
In the sixth century, the Roman Empire began to lose some of its influence.
As some in the West felt, well, the empire seems to be disappearing. There seems to be a decentralization of civilization occurring. There does seem to be a loss of some of the old Roman structures of society. Where can we look for continuity? Who will provide assurance that things are continuing? And it was to the papacy that they looked.
Studying history helps to inform our understanding of the present. As King Solomon noted, there is nothing new under the sun. This is the Thursday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham. In order to understand the influence of the Roman Catholic Church and the Papacy, we need to see it in its historical context.
Today, Ligonier's Chairman W. Robert Godfrey takes us to the Middle Ages, when the Papacy first began to rise in power. Here's Dr. Godfrey.
In our first lecture, we were looking at the sort of backgrounds of the Middle Ages, the character, the broad character of the Middle Ages. We tried to set the stage for what we're going to look at in our period that I'm calling the warm-up.
In this lecture, I want to look at two really critically foundational figures for the development of the early Middle Ages, and indeed, in a sense, the whole Middle Ages, one an emperor and one a pope. And that's sort of appropriate because much of the tension throughout the history of the Middle Ages is tension between pope and emperor.
The emperor is a fellow we already probably talked about a little bit at the end of the ancient church course, Emperor Justinian. Emperor Justinian reigned from 527 to 565.
So he had a relatively long reign, a quite important reign, a reign conducted almost entirely from Byzantium, from Constantinople in the east, and a reign that set the stage for the eastern empire as it would develop and prosper and struggle in the centuries to come.
When people talk about the East and about the movement from the ancient Roman period into what's called the Byzantine period, Justinian is often seen as the transitional period, as the point of change. But he's also quite important for our understanding of the beginnings of medieval history in the West. Justinian came to the throne as a Christian and as a relatively militant Christian.
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Chapter 2: Who were the pivotal figures in the early Middle Ages?
area, not really feeling that the Byzantine presence was their people coming back to rescue them, but really foreigners now there. And so some say this is where the Western Empire really ended. This is when the division between East and West became palpable with Justinian's control of parts of Italy. He never was able to control absolutely all of it.
But he managed to reestablish a Byzantine presence or an Eastern Roman presence in Italy that lasted down to the middle of the eighth century. So there's long history, long shadows to these things. So Justinian is a sort of point at which the East reaches a measure of separation from the West, not an absolute separation.
There could be a lot of contact, a lot of back and forth, so much so that when Charlemagne was crowned emperor in 800, Charlemagne sent to the Eastern emperor and said, will you ratify my election? Will you approve my election? And the emperor said, yes, ratify this election. So there was this ongoing sense we want to have some measure of connection back and forth.
Well, if Justinian marks the point at which there is a break between East and West, then Pope Gregory I marks the point at which the papacy begins to emerge as an increasingly independent authority in the West. I say begins to emerge because nothing is as simple as we would all like it to be.
There continued to be connections between East and West, but with the emergence of Gregory, known to history as Gregory the Great, Gregory I, as Pope, we begin to see the Pope becoming an increasingly independent operator in the West. The Pope beginning to be, in the early centuries of the Middle Ages, the strongest independent figure in the West, a rallying point
for many in the West, the papacy becoming an institution of continuity of history. So as some in the West felt, well, the empire seems to be disappearing. There seems to be a decentralization of civilization occurring.
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Chapter 3: How did Emperor Justinian influence the early church and society?
There does seem to be a loss of some of the old Roman structures of society. Where can we look for continuity? Who will provide assurance that things are continuing? and it was to the papacy that they looked. The papacy, the bishop of Rome, had been around in the ancient church.
The bishop of Rome had been recognized as a leading church authority in the ancient church period, and so in an age of some anxiety, people were able to look to the bishop of Rome as a point of continuity, as a point of security as a civilizing as well as Christianizing presence in the West.
And Gregory became a key foundational example of that because of his own talent and because of his own opportunities in the days in which he lived. He was born in 540, so he and Justinian overlapped a little bit. He was born actually to quite a rich family in Rome, ancient, influential family in Rome.
He was involved for a time in the city life, in the political life of the city, and then felt that he wanted to take his Christianity more seriously. He was raised in a Christian home. and he gave away the family fortune. He joined a monastery and devoted himself to the ascetic ideal of Christianity that was becoming more and more popular in his day.
He was sent for a time as a representative of the Pope to the Byzantine court. So these connections continue, and was then in 590, so at about the age of 50, he was elected Bishop of Rome. He took the office very reluctantly. He didn't want to be bishop of Rome. He wanted to pursue somewhat less public life.
He wanted to be able to join the monastery and not be drawn into the active life, but the church was insistent. And so in 590, he became bishop of Rome or pope, and he died 14 years later in 604. Fourteen years, not a really long period, but he was, through the power of his intellect and personality, really able to make a profound impression on the life of the church.
Now, you remember the title Pope was not unique to the bishop of Rome. Some of you may have seen that the head of the Coptic church, Shenouda III, just died, and he's called the pope of the Coptic church. Pope really comes from the Latin papa, meaning father.
So it's not an inherently really dignified title, although in the West it has become exclusively applied to one bishop, but it has not historically belonged to that one bishop alone. So Gregory becomes a very important figure, so important in fact, that the Western church looks back to him as one of the four great doctors of the church.
He is still listed as one of the four great doctors of the church. These doctors were Jerome, the great translator of the Bible, Augustine, the great theologian of salvation, Ambrose, the great preacher in Milan, and Gregory. And when you go back and read their works, one is tempted to say there were actually three great doctors of the church.
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Chapter 4: What was the significance of the Monophysite heresy during Justinian's reign?
But you see, it's grace that's achieved through a measure of cooperation. It's a grace that's never stable or secure.
And this is the foundation that Gregory began to lay for the church, a foundation of a stress on grace, but of a kind of Christianity that is a constant struggle, a constant worry, a constant effort in hopes that you'll die in grace and be saved, but never with an assurance in this life that that's true.
So we come to the end of this lecture having seen these two great figures, emperor and pope, both beginning to lay their stamp on the foundations of the Middle Ages and begin to create the development of the kind of society and the kind of church that we'll see in the Middle Ages.
That was W. Robert Godfrey, the chairman of Ligonier Ministries, and you're listening to Renewing Your Mind. Thanks for joining us. You know, one thing I so appreciate about Dr. Godfrey is he teaches church history always with an eye toward the gospel. How does it relate to the gospel? And how do we gain a better understanding and appreciation of who our God is?
Today's message is from his second volume in his monumental study series covering all of church history. This volume considers the hopes, challenges, triumphs, and tragedies of Christianity during the Middle Ages. But we'll send you the complete six-volume collection, 73 messages in total, and unlock digital access as well
when you give a donation at renewingyourmind.org, or when you call us at 800-435-4343. Church history is our family history, and looking back so often helps us as we look forward. So visit renewingyourmind.org, or use the link in the podcast show notes, and you'll have a valuable resource for personal study, for your homeschool, or for an extended small group study.
And if you live outside of the U.S. and Canada, digital access to all 73 messages is waiting for you at renewingyourmind.org slash global. Tomorrow, we'll continue the study of church history as Dr. Godfrey explores some of the theologies that came out of the Middle Ages and gives us perspective on many of the faith traditions we see today. That'll be Friday here on Renewing Your Mind.
Thank you.
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