The Pope crowned the Emperor
Christianity is an indispensable and important factor in Western civilization. Since the collapse of the Roman Empire, the relationship between the church and the government has been up and down. Why is this happening? Why should believers who aspire to the other world control secular power, and how did the king respond?
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > what Christianity means for Europe</h1>
Westerners generally believe in Christianity, and religious piety is a part of their lives. What is unimaginable to The Orientals is that Christianity has a huge shaping effect on the secular world in the West. Harvard Professor Berman wrote in His book Law and Revolution: "The Western world is more like a product of a design according to the law, and such a design began with a Christian revolution." ”
The importance of Christianity to the Western world cannot be explained in one sentence or two. In the feudal era, the lords and priests were the most prominent ruling class in Europe, and like the emperors and ministers in the imperial society, the political ideals of the lords and the church certainly determined the course of European history.
Faith was originally a matter of heaven, but it had to be fulfilled through personal action in real life. Believers are both members of a religious group in a parish and part of a manor or city. In medieval European lands, most people classified themselves as "children of God" before seeing themselves as "earthly passers-by." Therefore, the importance of faith to European society lies in the fact that, in addition to the political power of the king, Christianity subdivides the secular politics of Europe into two parts: "secular and sacred".
Stills from the movie "The Birth of the Pope"
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, the cooperation between the church and the royal power in classical times</h1>
There are many books in the Old Testament of the Bible that describe the "church-state relations" of the State of Israel. We can see from this that in an era when tribal rules played a major role, the power of the state of Israel came from both the king who led the army to fight and the prophet who managed and assisted the king. The "entanglement" of theocracy and political power has since taken root.
In fact, by the time of the fall of the Roman Empire, Christianity had accelerated in the empire with the support of its rulers. Within the social system of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Church formed a fairly complex system of power. From archbishops to priests to the grass-roots members of the church, such a strictly organized system was admired by the official church of the empire. Its purpose was to comply with the "rules" prescribed by the Imperial Government.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > 3. Papal Revolution: A New Definition of The Power Relations between The Secular and The European Community</h1>
After the fall of the Empire, this tradition of "obedience of the Church to executive orders" was inherited by the Germanic royals. We all know the story of Charlemagne's baptism and conversion, as if this story implied to people that if you did not have a relationship with Christianity, you would not be able to find a better "spiritual weapon" to make the world obey. But we may forget that after Charlemagne and the Pope performed the "ordination ceremony" as agreed, he transgressed the power of the Pope and personally granted his son the scepter of royal power.
In the social environment of the time, the Church was often forced by circumstances to make the necessary compromises to these barbarian kings. For example, the clergy had to accept a series of bad habits that the king did not tolerate, such as drinking, bigamy, and idolatry. Politically, the clergy also reluctantly accepted some "submission" to secular power because they desperately wanted to gain the protection of the king's army, such as standing behind the king instead of side by side when attending events.
However, it was not until the end of the 11th century that Pope Gregory VII finally appeared who looked forward to restoring the "glory of the age of Israel" for the church. Gregory VII was a powerful figure in the Papacy who successfully used the "right of exorcism" from the Church to punish Henry IV, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Under his impetus, the European churches gradually began to improve on the Bible and the "ideal state" described by the apostles and saints.
Gregory ordered the divorced clergy to divorce and verified the property under the jurisdiction of the various parishes. He advocated reorganizing discipline within the church in order to transform the church into an organization "detached from the world." His most important demand was to emphasize that the authority of the chief professor within the Church should be "returned to the Church." That is, he sought to challenge the church-state relationship that had existed in Western European societies for hundreds of years. Through his efforts, the Church finally broke away from secular jurisdiction and became an independent source of social power.
Henry IV led the family to apologize to Pope Gregory
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fourth, the Reformation was a suppression of ecclesiastical power</h1>
Some say that the Reformation was another revival of Christianity. Because the Reformed reformed the old and "outdated" classical dogma into a Protestant religion adapted to the new society, Christianity could continue to revitalize it. It is accurate to see the Reformation as a revival of Christianity, but it was a crackdown on the church.
Reform leaders such as Martin Luther and Calvin succeeded in forging alliances with secular regimes. For they want to express not only their dissatisfaction with dogmatism, but also their protest against the Holy See and the canons that have been perpetuated for centuries. Thus, the balance of power between the church and secular regimes was upset by the Reformation.
Calvin
Christianity regained the recognition of the majority of believers in this struggle and reform. Dissatisfaction with the church led directly to the conversion of large numbers of Catholics to Protestantism, and the emerging industrialists and small capitalists preferred egalitarian Protestantism. At the same time as cities and industry and commerce gradually developed, people's aversion to absolute ecclesiastical power led to the decline of ecclesiastical power and the rise of absolute royal power. Of course, once the pursuit of freedom is put into action, the absolute monarchy will fall to the end like the Catholic Church lost power in the spiritual world of Europe.
The Reformation ushered in the decline of ecclesiastical power
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Wen Shijun said</h1>
For thousands of years, the relationship between church and state has been accompanied by struggles. In today's secular society, church-state relations seem to be increasingly undervalued. Because we have long dedicated our trust in the Pope, the "spokesman of God," to freedom and reason, and the realism that accompanies it.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > resources</h1>
Berman: Law and Revolution, China Encyclopedia Press, 1993.
Hou Jianxin, "Religious Factors in the Formation of European Civilization", Issues in History Teaching, No. 4, 2013.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Porcelain Country Garbage Dump)
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