The Role of Religion in Civilization between 1450 and 1750

The Role of Religion in Civilization between 1450 and 1750

Over the years, historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists have established a strong correlation between religion and civilization (Casanova 67). While religion focuses on the significance of the spiritual aspect and eternal life, civilization concentrates on establishing the socio-cultural elements of human life. In other words, the spread of Christianity between the 13^th and 18^th centuries was largely responsible for the experiences and events that took place in most aspects of the society, including politics, culture, and economics (Casanova 67). In essence, religion was fundamental in stimulating new social interactions, new organizations, and institutions, new doctrinal and philosophical works, new literature as well as new art. This paper delves into examining how religion influenced civilization in Europe and Africa between 1450 and 1750.

Europe

European society focused on extracting the message of Jesus Christ, an aspect that hastened an ethical and spiritual regeneration. During 1450-1750, there was only one church-the Roman Catholic Church across Europe. Before the emergence of the protestant reformation church in the 16^th century, the Roman Catholic Church was powerful and influential throughout Western Europe, both spiritually and politically (Irvin 9). Specifically, the church had a significant territorial rule in Italy, which was commonly referred to as the Papal States. Through their intellectual ecclesiastical leadership style, the clergy in the Roman Catholic Church clergy claimed both spiritual and political (temporal) power. Popes made political enemies and allies, commanded the military in addition to waging war (Irvin 17). As a result of the popes’ focus on political issues, the selling of church offices (Simony), corruption, and nepotism became prevalent.

Despite several efforts to reform the Church by Jan Hus and John Wyclif during the 1400s, corruption continued to prevail to the extent that the Catholic Doctrine-Catechism collapsed. Subsequently, the rise of Protestant Reformation pioneered by Martin Luther King during the 1500s brought a remarkable transformation of Christianity. This reformation culminated in major changes in civilization, including the political realm (Irvin 21). Before the reformation, the Roman Catholic Church relied on the selling of indulgences as donations and works of charity. The indulgences represented a certification that would reduce the purgatory time, and hence an individual’s soul would enter heaven quickly. Protestant reformists were concerned about how an individual’s getting to heaven was linked to a financial transaction.

Significantly, the spread of Christianity across Europe was pivotal for civilization. The religion offered the forms of thought without which institutions like family, politics, capitalism, education, science, and democracy would have never thrived. The influence of Christianity to civilization stemmed from the perspective of interpersonal relations-how an individual related to others (Irvin 8). In simple terms, religion was fundamental in reinforcing interpersonal relationships within the society whereby people were dependent on each other. Christianity also nurtured dramatic cultural shifts towards establishing a robust relationship between an individual and God, instead of interpersonal social ties.

Africa

In Africa, before the 13^th century, nothing much happened religiously. During the period, Europeans came to Africa as missionaries with the primary objective of converting Africans to Christianity (Clarke 125). Before the coming of Europeans, the indigenous African spirituality informed most facets of traditional African society, including economics, politics, art, family structures, health, marriage, and even death (Guelke and Jeanne 162). Spirituality and religion in traditional African society were not established through doctrines. Instead, they relied on ancestors to bestow good fortune and provide them with advice (Irvin 15). Nonetheless, despite its role in socio-cultural development during the time, the indigenous traditional African spirituality did not have a significant influence on the continent’s civilization.

The introduction of Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa came with the Portuguese during the 15^th century, with the Dutch forming the Reform Church in 1652 across the Southern region. Christian was pivotal for Africa’s civilization during the period, especially in destabilizing the status quo (Clarke 137). This brought new opportunities to Africans, including literacy and educations. The missionaries established schools and hospitals as mechanisms of improving the standards of living as well as to spur the conversion of Africans to Christianity. Apart from the establishment of social services to care for the welfare needs, Missionaries, particularly those from the Roman Catholic church, constructed ecclesiastical structures like monasteries and grand cathedrals (Headley, 2017). Moreover, Christianity also transformed art through their distinctive art and architecture aspects that characterized the churches with the dominance of the use of the Romanesque style.

In conclusion, although the importance of religion, particularly Christianity, is underestimated in the modern cultural sphere, the spread of Christianity around the world including Europe and Africa played a vital role in establishing new institutions like capitalism, marriage, and democracy in addition to restructuring the politics in Africa and Europe.