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Augustine In The Middle Ages

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Augustine In The Middle Ages
In the later fourth century and early fifth century, the Western Roman Empire fell into rapid decline. Signs of decline included incursions by many of the Northern Kingdoms, also known as “barbarians,” including Vandals, Goths, Saxons, Angles, and Gauls. The actual fall of Rome is recorded in history by the Visigoths in 410 A.D. While the fall of the empire included looting and the loss of writings and items of antiquity, most notably the invaders were looking to settle in the conquered lands and enjoy the benefits of civilization.
The decline of the empire included significant ramifications for the medieval church and Christianity. A notable ramification included conquering invaders bringing with them Paganism and Arianism. For example, in …show more content…
The papacy provided structure and leadership for the church. The pope is also known as the bishop of Rome, which provided a central location that is still evident today in the Roman Catholic Church. Leo the Great is referred to as the first pope. The pope recognized with the most influence during this time was Gregory. He was a contemporary of Augustine and is considered first and foremost a religious leader who preached to the faithful. Gregory’s writings did nothing to contradict the great teachers of the early church, especially those of Augustine. To this end, Gregory affirmed speculations of Augustine as he developed the doctrine of …show more content…
However, in 1054 A.D., the fault lines of these two braches broke. Issues that led to this break included the fundamental Christological question of how divinity and humanity are joined in Jesus Christ. The two sides in this debate included the Alexandrines who stressed the divinity of Jesus the teacher, while the Antiochenes emphasized Jesus, the savior of human beings must be fully human. Nestorius was the individual spearheading the Antiochenes position that in Jesus there were two natures and two persons, one divine and one human. On the other side, Bishop Cyril, used maneuvering to garner support from the west including emperors Valentinian III and Theodosius II, which resulted in the eventual outcome of the Alexandrines position and the exile of
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