Christianity In Medieval Ages History

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Recommended: Role of religion in politics

In cultures all over the world, religion has been in existence in many societies and has become intertwined with said societies while maintaining equilibrium between religion and their daily lives. Once religion makes its way into government, the effect and use depends on the person who is in power. As seen in history, especially in Rome, it is important for a society to have a governing power that also incorporates and knows how crucial the part religion plays in order to uphold a successful nation. From Machiavelli’s, Discourses on Livy, the importance of religion is emphasized, but it is noted that Christianity set a precedent in being separate from government causing vulnerabilities in a nation, whereas from St. Augustine’s, City of God, believed that all other religions, other than Christianity, should not be taken into consideration and that passion and unscrupulous ambition are Roman imperfections. These two authors had opposite ideas about how religion should play in the part of government, but only Machiavelli maintained a more realistic point of view ergo religion is vital for the success of a nation, but in Rome’s case, the presence of Christianity led to the downfall of Rome by separating Church and State instead of being one unified body, balancing government and religion.

St. Augustine was a devoted believer of Christianity and could not see any wrong in their principles, but Rome was never the same in strength and unity after Christianity came to power, which means there is some kind of problem. According to St. Augustine there is a City of Man and a City of God, but only the City of God is all mighty because the City of Man is flawed. St. Augustine describes these two cities, “In the one, the princes and the nat...

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...ising the idea that religion is required to have success, Christianity could not mesh with government causing religion to fail. Resultantly, religion and the government must be one or else there will always be a barrier that separates the citizens.

Machiavelli had a much more reasonable idea where religion and government can be one unifying element, whereas Augustine seemed to have too much pride in his religion to see their faults. Rome has always been successful with religion since the model that Numa set, but once Christianity came to power it turns into an entirely new story because Christianity and Rome was not able to merge to work together because their ideals were different. This separation between the Church and the State eventually led to the fall of Rome. Rome will never be the same ever again as long as this rift and the struggle about virtues remain.

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