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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1996-03 > 0826513058


From: Jared Olar <>
Subject: Re: DARK AGES:
Date: Sun, 10 Mar 1996 20:57:38 -0600
In-Reply-To: <4hhb5p$imb$2@mhade.production.compuserve.com>


On Tue, 5 Mar 1996, James Howell wrote:

> Actually, the dark ages terminology stems not from the lack of written
> records (although there definitely is a lack), rather from the fact that
> there was very little church activity during that period with the Bible
> being "locked up" with the clergy and not readily available. Thus the
> term "dark" (as in lack of light) ages.
>
> James W. Howell
> snail: 3828 Proctor Lane; Baltimore, MD 21236
> work :
> home :
>
I think this explanation is more along the line of a Protestant folk
etymology--i.e., before the 'Reformation' Europe was spiritually
unenlightened. In fact, we must not forget that during those centuries
once branded as Dark Ages, literacy was not very widespread. Remember
that this is long before printing made books easy to produce and easy to
obtain.
But illiteracy did not prevent dissenters from forming sects and
religious movements of their own. It is a sorry myth that the Middle Ages
were a long era of religious inactivity in Europe. Within the Orthodox
Churches (East and West) were numerous reform movements--monasticisms of
various sorts, mysticisms, etc. But general lack of Bible-access did not
prevent schisms and dissenting groups from forming (the Cathars, Waldenses,
Lollards, Bogomiles, Paulicians, Patarenes, Passigines, Albigenses,
etc.). True, these dissenters were usually small and persecuted,
oftentimes eradicated by the Inquisitions, but Orthodox monopoly of the
Bible was not proof against dissent.
Anyway, with illiteracy so common, and the Bible inaccessible to
most persons EVEN IN THE VERNACULAR (not just the Latin Vulgate), religious
teachers used other methods to convey their doctrines. Consider the
architecture, sculpture, and paintings of Medieval church buldings. Consider
also the elaborate ritual 'drama' known as the Mass. Dissenters taught their
illiterate followers through rote memorisation or music, for example.
Let's rid ourselves of that silly Protestant bias, that spiritual
illumination was not possible until the 'Reformation.' In my opinion,
the Protestants have been just as ready to thwart their converts'
spiritual growth as the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox have done.

Jared Olar

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