The Medievals

In what is quite probably my favorite class this semester, Renaissance and Reformation History, we've been talking about whether or not the current system of three historical periods (ancient, medieval, modern) appropriately classify the behavior and thoughts of humanity. This system regards the Renaissance as the beginning of the modern age.

The difference between the medieval mindset and the modern mindset used to be a favorite topic for pondering for me, and this class is re-opening those paths of thought. Today in class, Dr. Wessley mentioned that there were almost no autobiographies written during the Middle Ages. The last autobiography to come out of the ancient world was St. Augustine's. There followed a 700 blank space for all intents and purposes, according to this professor. It wasn't until the Renaissance that autobiography in the form of memoirs, journals, and the like were really revived.

Music and art demonstrate the same phenomenon; they almost never have a known composer or creator. "Anonymous" is the name most commonly found. What does this mean? I believe that in the Middle Ages, man was more concerned with God than with himself, with Heaven rather than with earth. I know that generalizations are dangerous, and that every age has its exceptions, but I really believe that the Middle Ages understood man completely differently. Man was here for a short time to glorify God and save his soul.

The Renaissance men and women, in general, were humanists: interested in human achievements and glories. If this is the case, then of course there will journals and memoirs and biographies and known composers and famed artists. The emphasis is on what man is doing rather than in how what man is doing goes on to give glory to God. It's an incomplete philosophy.

To get back to my original point about the different periods of history, I think that the three eras of history are well divided. The ancients were primarily pre-Christian and very infant Christian. The medievals participated in the fruits of a society where the Church held the most sway. The moderns focused (and continue to focus) on man rather than on anything higher. I can't help wondering if it is truly possible to return to a medieval scoeity, in the sense that as a whole, society would be more concerned with God than with man. It would require a complete 180 in the way that people think; that's difficult to achieve.