Part III Continued: An Age of Accelerating Connections

Part III Continued: An Age of Accelerating Connections

I find the making of Christian Europe extremely fascinating simply based what I always considered to be a rapid expansion. I was always under the impression that the expansion of Christianity globally was rather quick; however I learned that this was not the case regarding the Roman Empire. Although Christianity received state support during the fourth century C.E., it faced many setbacks.  Despite the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Christianity became increasingly popular among England, France, Germany, and Scandinavia. The text explains that the making of Christian Europe was a prolonged and tentative process fill with resistance and many setbacks.  I have a newer version of the text which provides information regarding the “Advice on Dealing with “Pagans”. The church authorities (missionaries, bishops, and the pope) where advocates of compromise and where much less resistant to assimilation than previous religious leaders during that time period. The pope essentially urged tolerance, which I found to be an extremely wise approach. I also found the architecture and ancient art to be extremely revealing in telling a story of what was important to these people during this time. For example, The Ladder of Divine Ascent is a perfect portrayal of the stairway to heaven and the spiritual journey through life. What I particularly like about art and artifacts is that is provides a visual portrayal of a perception during a specific era. Although art can be interpreted differently depending on the individual, it seems much less subject to change than oral traditions, oral stories, or even written words. Take the pastoral nomads for example. Until recently, the history books generally provided an inaccurate depiction of pastoral nomads. “Normally they entered the story only when they were threatening or destroying established civilizations. In presenting a largely negative image of pastoral peoples, historians were reflecting the long-held attitudes of literate elites in the civilizations of Eurasia” (Strayer, 2013, pg. 539).