Why do you think Christianity is regarded as the most important of the roman legacies in western cuvilization?

Answer 1

From the time of Constantinus Christianity (or at least the structures of the Church) became the equivalent of a modern totalitarian Single Political Party with the purpose of controlling the ordinary people, and making them acquiescent in the nature of the State - a ferocious military Dictatorship.

Intellectual life abandoned rational thought and literature became concerned solely with the various "heresies" - different versions of the stories the Church required people to believe.

The invading mostly German tribes adopted the structures and beliefs (though in two main variants). Some of them were first taught by "Arians" (followers of bishop Arius); other was were reached by representatives of the main stream and were regarded as Orthodox (right thinking).

The invaders often abandoned their own languages and learned Latin and the various descendants of Latin, such as proto-French. All the civil structures of Rome disappeared - the Governors of provinces and the military structures but the network of local representatives of the Church survived. These were the only literate people in such areas as France and Spain.

The new kingdoms that grew up in the ruins of the empire were headed by illiterate kings. When they needed someone to read and reply to letters they called on the local priests. Soon these became important parts of the new governments. In England the king's chief advisor was the Chancellor, originally the priest in charge of the king's private chapel.

Thus the restoration of government was largely constructed by the priests. Many of these became important people in the new structures of feudalism. Thus when the king in England wanted advice he called a Council of his great men - dukes, earls, barons and also his Abbots and Bishops.

The head of this organisation was nominally the pope in Rome. To some extent he tried to become a substitute for the missing emperor, and also crowned Charlemagne Emperor. Throughout Medieval history the pope and the Holy Roman Emperor disputed who had the right to control Europe.

The real legacy of Rome was the language Latin which continued as the "official" language until the 17th century.

One of the bad effects of the control of Western Europe by the Church was the Crusades. In reality the west had no economic interest in Palestine but the priests persuaded the kings and barons to invade Palestine. The result was 200 years of war whose bad effects are still with us today.

The beliefs of the Church suppressed rational thought, especially science, which had to be conducted in secret until the 17th century. Yes, it was an important legacy, but was it useful or good in its effects?