Historia ya Kanisa — Sehemu ya 5: Ukristo wa Zama za KatiChurch History — Unit 5: Medieval Christianity

Sehemu ya 4 ilimalizika na Augustino akifariki mwaka 430 wakati Wavandali walipokuwa wameuzingira mji wa Hipo. Sehemu ya 5 inaichukua hadithi hiyo na kuiendeleza kwa miaka mia nane — kupitia kuanguka kwa mfumo wa kisiasa wa Kirumi, kuinuka kwa Uislamu, ujenzi wa polepole wa ustaarabu mpya wa Kikristo juu ya magofu ya milki, kutengana kwa Mashariki na Magharibi, Vita vya Msalaba, vuguvugu kuu za matengenezo ya Zama za Kati, na kuinuka kwa teolojia ya kiskolastiki. Kufikia mwaka 1300 kanisa litakuwa limezaa makanisa makuu (makathedrali), vyuo vikuu, hospitali, na kitabu cha Akwino, Summa Theologica. Kufikia mwaka 1300 pia litakuwa limejilimbikizia maovu na mikanganyiko inayozaa dhoruba ya Sehemu ya 6.Unit 4 ended with Augustine dying in 430 as the Vandals besieged Hippo. Unit 5 picks up the story and carries it eight hundred years — through the collapse of the Roman political order, the rise of Islam, the slow building of a new Christian civilization on the rubble of the empire, the parting of East and West, the Crusades, the great medieval reform movements, and the rise of scholastic theology. By the year 1300 the church will have produced cathedrals, universities, hospitals, and Aquinas's Summa Theologica. By 1300 she will also have accumulated the corruptions and contradictions that produce the storm of Unit 6.

Miaka mia nane ni mingi mno kwa sehemu moja. Tutasafiri juu kama ndege na kusimama tu kwenye alama kuu za njia: Gregori Mkuu (upapa wa Zama za Kati), kuinuka kwa Uislamu, Karolo Mkuu (Charlemagne), Mfarakano Mkuu wa mwaka 1054, Vita vya Msalaba, matengenezo ya kimonasteri, na teolojia ya kiskolastiki. Na chini ya yote hayo, kuna uzi ambao bado hatujautaja waziwazi — uzi wa kanisa linaloteseka. Konstantino alikomesha mateso ya Kirumi mwaka 313, lakini mateso ya watu wa Mungu hayakuishia kwa Konstantino. Yalihama. Yalibadilika sura. Yalivuka mipaka. Lakini hayakukoma kamwe. Kuanzia Waviking hadi Wamongolia, hadi tauni, hadi uzoefu mrefu na wa namna nyingi wa makanisa ya kale ya mashariki chini ya utawala wa Kiislamu — wakati mwingine ukiwa na uvumilivu halisi na kubadilishana maarifa, wakati mwingine ukiwa na vizuizi na mateso makali, na kamwe makanisa hayo hayakufutwa kabisa — karne za Zama za Kati zimejaa waumini waliotembea mahali pale pale ambapo Petro alisema waumini wote hutembea: katika nyayo za Bwana anayeteseka.Eight hundred years is too much for one unit. We will move at altitude and stop only at landmarks. Gregory the Great (the medieval papacy), the rise of Islam, Charlemagne, the Great Schism of 1054, the Crusades, monastic reforms, and scholastic theology. And underneath all of it, a thread we have not yet named explicitly — the thread of the suffering church. Constantine ended the Roman persecution in 313, but the suffering of God's people did not end with Constantine. It moved. It changed shape. It crossed borders. But it never stopped. From Vikings to Mongols to plagues to the long, varied experience of the ancient eastern churches under Islamic rule — sometimes marked by real toleration and intellectual exchange, sometimes by restriction and severe persecution, and never simply erased — the medieval centuries are full of believers who walked exactly where Peter said all believers walk: in the footsteps of a suffering Lord.

Papa mkuu wa kwanza wa Zama za Kati alikuwa Gregori I, anayeitwa Gregori Mkuu, aliyeshika kiti cha askofu wa Roma kuanzia mwaka 590 hadi 604. Alizaliwa katika familia ya Kirumi ya watu mashuhuri, akauza mali yake, akaanzisha monasteri saba, akawa mtawa wa Kibenedikto, na akachaguliwa kuwa papa bila kupenda akiwa na umri wa miaka hamsini.The first great medieval pope was Gregory I, called Gregory the Great, who held the see of Rome from 590 to 604. He was born into a noble Roman family, sold his property, founded seven monasteries, became a Benedictine monk, and was reluctantly elected pope at fifty.

Roma aliyoirithi Gregori ilikuwa mji ulioharibika. Milki ya Magharibi ilikuwa imetoweka kwa karne moja. Tauni, njaa, na mashambulizi ya Walombardi yalikuwa yamepunguza sana wakazi wake. Gregori, karibu bila kukusudia, alijikuta akiongoza si kanisa tu bali pia mji — akijadiliana na Walombardi, akiwalisha maskini, akipanga misaada, akitoa aina ya serikali thabiti ambayo milki haikuweza tena kuitoa. Sasa askofu wa Roma angekuwa si tu kiongozi wa kiroho wa kanisa la Magharibi bali pia bwana wa kidunia mwenye majukumu ya kisiasa. Upapa wa Zama za Kati ulikuwa ukizaliwa.The Rome Gregory inherited was a ruined city. The Western Empire had been gone for a century. Plague, famine, and Lombard invasions had emptied the population. Gregory, almost by default, found himself running not just the church but the city — negotiating with the Lombards, feeding the poor, organizing relief, providing the kind of stable government the empire could no longer supply. The bishop of Rome would now be not just the spiritual head of the Western church but a temporal lord with political responsibilities. The medieval papacy was being born.

Gregori pia alikuwa mchungaji na mwandishi wa daraja la kwanza. Kitabu chake Kanuni ya Kichungaji (Regula Pastoralis) kilikuwa mwongozo wa huduma ya kichungaji uliosomwa kuliko yote katika kanisa la Magharibi kwa miaka elfu iliyofuata — jinsi ya kusawazisha tafakari na utendaji, jinsi ya kuhubiri kwa aina mbalimbali za wasikilizaji, jinsi ya kuadibisha bila kuponda, jinsi ya kufariji bila kubembeleza. Baadaye Karolo Mkuu aliamuru kila askofu katika milki yake awe na nakala yake.Gregory was also a pastor and writer of the first rank. His Pastoral Rule (Regula Pastoralis) was the most-read manual of pastoral ministry in the Western church for the next thousand years — how to balance contemplation and action, how to preach to different kinds of hearers, how to discipline without crushing, how to comfort without flattering. Charlemagne later required every bishop in his empire to own a copy.

Gregori alijiita servus servorum Dei — "mtumishi wa watumishi wa Mungu." Kila papa baada yake ametumia cheo hicho. Mtu ambaye kwa vitendo ndiye aliyeanzisha upapa wa kisiasa aliupa maelezo ya nafsi yake yaliyochukuliwa kutoka kwenye bakuli ambalo Yesu alitumia kuwaosha wanafunzi miguu. Upapa wa Zama za Kati uliokua baada ya Gregori haukuishi kila mara kulingana na maelezo hayo, lakini cheo hicho kilibaki kama karipio la kudumu kila mara ofisi hiyo iliposahau ilikuwa nini. Gregori pia alimtuma askofu mmisionari Augustino wa Canterbury (si Augustino wa Hipo) kwenda Uingereza mwaka 597. Katika kipindi cha kizazi kimoja Waanglo-Saksoni walikuwa wameongoka.Gregory called himself servus servorum Dei — "servant of the servants of God." Every pope after him has used the title. The man who effectively founded the political papacy gave it a self-description borrowed from the basin where Jesus washed the disciples' feet. The medieval papacy that grew up after Gregory would not always live up to that self-description, but the title remained as a permanent rebuke whenever the office forgot what it was. Gregory also sent missionary bishop Augustine of Canterbury (not Augustine of Hippo) to England in 597. Within a generation the Anglo-Saxons had been converted.

Mwaka 622, mfanyabiashara Mwarabu aitwaye Muhammad alikimbia kutoka Makka kwenda Madina — yaani hijra, tarehe ya msingi ya kalenda ya Kiislamu. Katika kipindi cha miaka ishirini baada ya kifo chake mwaka 632, majeshi ya Kiislamu yalikuwa yameteka Shamu (Siria), Palestina (Yerusalemu ilianguka mwaka 638), Misri, na yalikuwa yakienea kote Afrika Kaskazini. Kufikia mwaka 711 yalivuka kuingia Hispania. Kufikia mwaka 732 yalizuiwa katika Vita vya Tours na kiongozi wa Wafranki, Charles Martel. Ramani ya ulimwengu wa Kikristo ilikuwa imechorwa upya milele.In 622, an Arabian merchant named Muhammad fled from Mecca to Medina — the hijra, the foundation date of the Islamic calendar. Within twenty years of his death in 632, Muslim armies had conquered Syria, Palestine (Jerusalem fell in 638), Egypt, and were sweeping across North Africa. By 711 they crossed into Spain. By 732 they were stopped at the Battle of Tours by the Frankish leader Charles Martel. The map of the Christian world had been redrawn forever.

Hasara zilikuwa kubwa mno. Kanisa la Afrika Kaskazini la Tertuliano, Kiprian, na Augustino kimsingi lilitoweka. Kanisa la Misri la Athanasio na Sirili likapunguzwa kuwa wachache wa Kikopti. Makanisa ya Shamu na Palestina yalipoteza hali yao ya kuwa wengi. Viti vya patriaki vya Aleksandria, Antiokia, na Yerusalemu — vitatu kati ya viti vitano vikuu vya kanisa la kale — viliendelea kuwepo lakini kama wachache chini ya utawala wa Kiislamu. Nchi zilizokuwa chimbuko la Ukristo hazikuwa tena na Wakristo walio wengi. Hazijakuwa na Wakristo walio wengi kwa miaka elfu moja na mia nne. Hata hivyo, "viliendelea kuwepo" ndilo neno sahihi: jumuiya hizi za kale hazikufutwa. Uzoefu wao chini ya utawala wa Kiislamu ulitofautiana sana kati ya karne na maeneo — vipindi vya uvumilivu halisi ambapo wasomi Wakristo walisaidia kutafsiri elimu ya Kigiriki kwa Kiarabu na kutumika katika mahakama za watawala na katika taaluma mbalimbali, sambamba na vipindi vya kodi nzito, vizuizi vya kijamii, na wakati mwingine mateso makali. Makanisa ya Kikopti, ya Kisiria, ya Kiarmenia, na makanisa mengine ya kale yanaendelea kuwepo katika Mashariki ya Kati na Afrika Kaskazini hadi leo, uzi usiokatika unaorudi nyuma hadi zama za mitume.The losses were catastrophic. The North African church of Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine essentially disappeared. The Egyptian church of Athanasius and Cyril was reduced to a Coptic minority. The Syrian and Palestinian churches lost their majority status. The patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem — three of the five great sees of the ancient church — survived but as minorities under Muslim rule. The cradle lands of Christianity were no longer Christian-majority. They have not been Christian-majority for fourteen hundred years. Yet survived is the right word: these ancient communities were not erased. Their experience under Muslim rule varied enormously across the centuries and regions — periods of real toleration in which Christian scholars helped translate Greek learning into Arabic and served in courts and professions, alongside periods of heavy taxation, social restriction, and at times severe persecution. Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, and other ancient churches survive in the Middle East and North Africa to this day, an unbroken thread reaching back to the apostolic age.

Milki ya Kirumi ya Mashariki (Bizanti), iliyokuwa na kitovu chake Konstantinopoli, iliendelea kushikilia Asia Ndogo na Balkani kwa miaka mingine mia nane, lakini sasa ilikuwa ndogo zaidi, ya Kigiriki zaidi, na iliyozingirwa zaidi. Ukristo wa Magharibi, ukiwa umekatwa kutoka kusini mwa Bahari ya Mediterania, ukazidi kuwa wa Kilatini na kuzidi kuelekezwa kwenye falme za Wafranki zilizoko kaskazini mwa Milima ya Alpi. Kitovu cha uzito wa Ukristo kilihamia kaskazini kwa mara ya kwanza katika historia yake.The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium), centered on Constantinople, held Asia Minor and the Balkans for another eight hundred years, but it was now smaller, more Greek, more besieged. Western Christendom, cut off from the southern Mediterranean, became increasingly Latin and increasingly oriented around the Frankish kingdoms north of the Alps. The center of gravity of Christianity moved north for the first time in its history.

Ufalme wa Wafranki ambao Klovis alikuwa ameubatiza mwaka 496 ulikua katika nguvu kwa karne mbili. Mfalme wake mkuu kuliko wote alikuwa Karolo Mkuu (Charlemagne) (Charles the Great, 768–814). Karolo Mkuu aliunganisha sehemu kubwa ya Ulaya ya Magharibi chini ya utawala mmoja kwa mara ya kwanza tangu kuanguka kwa Roma. Alipigana vita dhidi ya Wasaksoni wapagani huko Ujerumani na Wamori Waislamu huko Hispania. Alifadhili uamsho mkubwa wa kielimu, yaani Mwamko wa Karolingi (Carolingian Renaissance): akiwaleta wasomi kama Mwingereza Alcuin, akianzisha shule za ikulu, akiamuru kunakiliwa kwa uangalifu kwa miswada ya Kilatini (mwandiko ambao bado tunauita Carolingian minuscule ulikuzwa chini ya ufadhili wake). Aliisawazisha liturujia na kuwarekebisha makasisi.The Frankish kingdom that Clovis had baptized in 496 grew in power for two centuries. Its greatest king was Charlemagne (Charles the Great, 768–814). Charlemagne unified most of Western Europe under one rule for the first time since the fall of Rome. He fought wars against the pagan Saxons in Germany and the Muslim Moors in Spain. He sponsored a major intellectual revival, the Carolingian Renaissance: importing scholars like the Englishman Alcuin, founding palace schools, ordering the careful copying of Latin manuscripts (the script we still call Carolingian minuscule was developed under his patronage). He standardized the liturgy and reformed the clergy.

Kilele cha kisiasa kilikuja Siku ya Krismasi mwaka 800, katika Kanisa Kuu la Mtakatifu Petro huko Roma. Papa Leo III alimvika Karolo Mkuu taji kuwa Imperator Romanorum — "Kaisari wa Warumi." Kaisari Mkristo wa Kirumi katika Magharibi, kwa mara ya kwanza tangu mwaka 476. Kuvikwa taji huko kulikuwa tendo la kuanzisha kile ambacho baadaye kingeitwa Milki Takatifu ya Kirumi, muundo wa kisiasa na kidini ambao ungedumu kwa namna fulani hadi mwaka 1806.The high political moment came on Christmas Day in the year 800, in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Imperator Romanorum — "Emperor of the Romans." A Christian Roman emperor in the West, for the first time since 476. The crowning was the founding act of what would later be called the Holy Roman Empire, a political-religious construct that would last in some form until 1806.

Urithi wa Karolo Mkuu ni mchanganyiko. Upande mmoja: kusoma na kuandika kulihifadhiwa, Maandiko yalinakiliwa, monasteri zililindwa, misheni zilianzishwa katika Ulaya ya kipagani, ustaarabu wa Kikristo wa bara zima ulianzishwa upya. Upande mwingine: Wasaksoni walilazimishwa kuongoka chini ya tishio la kuuawa, kiti cha enzi na madhabahu viliingiliana kwa namna ambayo ingeviharibu vyote viwili kwa miaka elfu iliyofuata, na kulikuwa na dhana kwamba nguvu za kisiasa zilikuwa chombo halali cha misheni ya Kikristo. Karolo Mkuu aliwabatiza Wasaksoni kwa ncha ya upanga na akaanzisha vyuo vikuu kwa amri ya kifalme. Ukristo wa Zama za Kati ambao tunakaribia kuupitia umejengwa juu ya nusu zote mbili za kazi yake.Charlemagne's legacy is mixed. On one side: literacy preserved, Scripture copied, monasteries protected, missions launched into pagan Europe, a continental Christian civilization restarted. On the other side: forced conversions of Saxons under threat of execution, the entanglement of throne and altar that would compromise both for the next thousand years, the assumption that political power was a proper instrument of Christian mission. Charlemagne baptized Saxons at sword-point and founded universities by imperial decree. The medieval Christendom we are about to walk through is built on both halves of his work.

Ukristo ulikuwa umekua ukiwa na vitovu viwili vya kitamaduni. Mashariki inayozungumza Kigiriki — Konstantinopoli, Antiokia, Aleksandria, Yerusalemu — ilizaa mabishano makuu ya kitheolojia ya zama za Mababa wa Kanisa. Magharibi inayozungumza Kilatini — Roma, Afrika Kaskazini, Hispania, Galia — ilizaa Augustino, Jeromu, na upapa wa mwanzo wa Zama za Kati. Kwa miaka elfu moja walikuwa kanisa moja.Christianity had grown up with two cultural centers. The Greek-speaking East — Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem — produced the great theological controversies of the patristic era. The Latin-speaking West — Rome, North Africa, Spain, Gaul — produced Augustine, Jerome, and the early medieval papacy. For a thousand years they had been one church.

Kutengana kulianza muda mrefu kabla ya mwaka 1054. Mashariki na Magharibi walitumia liturujia tofauti, lugha tofauti, mikate tofauti katika Ekaristi (Wagiriki mkate uliotiwa chachu, Walatini mkate usiotiwa chachu), na kanuni tofauti kuhusu ndoa za makasisi. Jambo lenye matokeo makubwa kuliko yote, walitofautiana kuhusu kutoka kwa Roho Mtakatifu. Kanuni ya Imani ya asili ya Nikea-Konstantinopoli ya mwaka 381 ilisema Roho "hutoka kwa Baba." Makanisa ya Magharibi yaliongeza "na kwa Mwana" — kwa Kilatini, filioque. Mashariki iliona nyongeza hiyo kuwa kosa kitheolojia na isiyo halali kwa utaratibu.The drift began long before 1054. East and West used different liturgies, different languages, different breads in the Eucharist (Greek leavened, Latin unleavened), different rules for clergy marriage. Most consequentially, they disagreed about the procession of the Holy Spirit. The original Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 said the Spirit "proceeds from the Father." Western churches added "and the Son" — in Latin, filioque. The East considered the addition theologically wrong and procedurally illegitimate.

Mvutano uliokuwa ukiongezeka ulifikia kilele juu ya suala la mamlaka ya papa. Askofu wa Roma alidai ukuu juu ya maaskofu wote wa Kikristo. Patriaki wa Konstantinopoli aliitambua Roma kuwa wa kwanza miongoni mwa walio sawa lakini alikataa mamlaka yake juu ya kanisa lote. Mnamo Julai 1054 ujumbe wa papa ukiongozwa na Kardinali Humbert uliingia katika Hagia Sophia huko Konstantinopoli wakati wa liturujia takatifu, ukaweka hati ya kipapa (bulla) ya kutengwa na kanisa juu ya madhabahu, kisha ukatoka nje. Patriaki Mikaeli Kerularios naye akawatenga wajumbe hao na kanisa. Magharibi ya Kilatini na Mashariki ya Kigiriki zimetengana rasmi tangu wakati huo. Hukumu hizo za kutengana na kanisa za pande zote mbili hatimaye ziliondolewa mwaka 1965 na Papa Paulo VI na Patriaki Athenagoras, lakini kutengana kwa kimuundo bado kunaendelea. Nusu hizi mbili za kanisa la kale hazijaadhimisha Ekaristi pamoja kwa miaka mia tisa sabini na mbili.The growing tension came to a head over papal authority. The bishop of Rome claimed primacy over all Christian bishops. The patriarch of Constantinople recognized Rome as first among equals but rejected universal jurisdiction. In July 1054 a papal delegation led by Cardinal Humbert marched into the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople during the divine liturgy, laid a bull of excommunication on the altar, and walked out. The patriarch Michael Cerularius excommunicated the legates in turn. The Latin West and the Greek East have been formally separated ever since. The mutual excommunications were finally lifted in 1965 by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, but the structural separation remains. The two halves of the ancient church have not celebrated the Eucharist together for nine hundred and seventy-two years.

Mwaka 1095 katika Mtaguso wa Clermont kusini mwa Ufaransa, Papa Urbano II alihubiri hotuba iliyoanzisha karne mbili za hija ya kijeshi kwenda Nchi Takatifu. Kaisari wa Bizanti alikuwa ameomba msaada wa Magharibi dhidi ya Waturuki Waseljuki. Urbano alijibu kwa maono makubwa zaidi na hatari zaidi: msafara mkubwa wa wapiganaji Wakristo wa Magharibi ili kuyakomboa mahali patakatifu pa Palestina kutoka kwa utawala wa Kiislamu. Umati ulipaza sauti kujibu "Deus vult!" — "Mungu anataka hivyo!" — na Vita vya Kwanza vya Msalaba vikazaliwa.In 1095 at the Council of Clermont in southern France, Pope Urban II preached a sermon that launched two centuries of armed pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The Byzantine emperor had asked Western help against the Seljuk Turks. Urban responded with a vision both larger and more dangerous: a great expedition of Western Christian warriors to recover the holy places of Palestine from Muslim rule. The crowd shouted back "Deus vult!" — "God wills it!" — and the First Crusade was born.

Vita vya Kwanza vya Msalaba (1095–1099) kwa kweli vilifanikiwa. Majeshi ya Wanavita vya Msalaba yalivuka Asia Ndogo, yakateka Antiokia, na mnamo Julai 1099 yakaiteka Yerusalemu yenyewe, yakiwachinja wakazi wa mji huo Waislamu na Wayahudi katika mauaji ambayo yameyaumiza mahusiano ya Wakristo na Waislamu tangu wakati huo. Mfululizo wa dola za Wanavita vya Msalaba ulianzishwa kando ya pwani ya mashariki ya Bahari ya Mediterania. Zilidumu vipande vipande hadi kuanguka kwa Akko (Acre) mwaka 1291, karibu karne mbili.The First Crusade (1095–1099) actually succeeded. Crusader armies crossed Asia Minor, captured Antioch, and in July 1099 took Jerusalem itself, slaughtering the city's Muslim and Jewish inhabitants in a massacre that has scarred Christian-Muslim relations ever since. A series of Crusader states was established along the eastern Mediterranean coast. They lasted in fragments until the fall of Acre in 1291, almost two centuries.

The eight or so subsequent Crusades were less successful and increasingly compromised. The Second Crusade (1147–1149), preached by Bernard of Clairvaux, failed. The Third Crusade (1189–1192), led by Richard the Lionheart, recovered some coastal cities but not Jerusalem. The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) sacked Constantinople — the capital of the Eastern Christian empire it was supposed to be helping. Eastern Christianity has never forgiven that betrayal. The Children's Crusade of 1212 ended in disaster, with most of the children either dying or being sold into slavery in Egyptian ports. By 1291 the Crusader states were gone and the Holy Land was permanently in Muslim hands.

Mkristo wa leo anapaswa kuvionaje Vita vya Msalaba? Angalau mambo matatu. Kwanza, Vita vya Msalaba vinawakilisha kosa la kuchanganya ufalme wa Kristo na nguvu za dunia, lenye mizizi mirefu katika Ukristo wa Zama za Kati: dhana kwamba ufalme wa Kristo husonga mbele kwa upanga. Kanisa la kwanza halikuwahi kudhani hivyo. Kanisa la baada ya Konstantino lilizidi kudhani hivyo. Kufikia wakati wa Urbano II, hija ya kijeshi ilikuwa ikihubiriwa kama tendo la toba lenye kustahili thawabu. Kuchanganya huko si injili; ni dhana ya kitamaduni ambayo Wakristo waliipokea kwa urahisi mno. Pili, Vita vya Msalaba vilileta madhara halisi: mauaji ya Yerusalemu mwaka 1099, uporaji wa Konstantinopoli mwaka 1204, mauaji ya halaiki ya Wayahudi yaliyochochewa na baadhi ya waliokuwa wakiandikisha wapiganaji wa Vita vya Msalaba katika eneo la Rhine. Hizi ni dhambi za kanisa, si ushindi. Tatu, Vita vya Msalaba vilileta mema fulani yasiyokusudiwa: viliamsha upya mawasiliano na elimu ya Kigiriki na ya Kiarabu, vilifungua njia za biashara zilizochochea Zama za Mwamko (Renaissance) zilizofuata, na viliwalazimisha Wakristo wa Magharibi kutambua kwamba Ukristo ulikuwa mkubwa kuliko Ukristo wa Kilatini. Lakini hesabu ya kimaadili ni hasi kwa kiasi kikubwa. Mchungaji anayejifunza Vita vya Msalaba kwa uaminifu atahubiri "Ufalme wangu sio wa ulimwengu huu" (Yohana 18:36) kwa usadikisho thabiti zaidi.What should the modern Christian make of the Crusades? Three things at least. First, the Crusades represent a category confusion that runs deep in medieval Christendom: the assumption that Christ's kingdom advances by the sword. The early church had never thought so. The post-Constantinian church increasingly did. By the time of Urban II, military pilgrimage was being preached as a meritorious act of penance. The category confusion is not the gospel; it is a cultural assumption Christians too readily absorbed. Second, the Crusades did real harm: the slaughter at Jerusalem in 1099, the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Jewish pogroms preached up by some Crusade recruiters in the Rhineland. These are sins of the church, not victories. Third, the Crusades did some unintended good: revived contact with Greek and Arab learning, opened trade routes that fueled the later Renaissance, and forced Western Christians to recognize that Christianity was bigger than Latin Christendom. But the moral ledger is heavily negative. The pastor who studies the Crusades faithfully will preach "my kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36) with sharper conviction.

Kanisa la Zama za Kati mara kwa mara lilizaa vuguvugu za matengenezo ya ndani lilipopotoka mbali na maadili yake mwenyewe. Mawimbi matatu ya matengenezo yanajitokeza.The medieval church repeatedly produced movements of internal reform when she drifted from her own ideals. Three reform waves stand out.

Cluny ilikuwa monasteri ya Kibenedikto iliyoanzishwa mwaka 910 huko Burgundi. Waanzilishi wake walisisitiza kuifuata kwa ukali kanuni ya Benedikto, kuwa huru kutoka kwa udhibiti wa walei wa mahali hapo, na kuwajibika moja kwa moja kwa papa peke yake. Cluny ikawa kichwa cha mtandao wa monasteri zilizorekebishwa ambazo hatimaye zilifikia maelfu. Wanamatengenezo wa Cluny walisafisha maovu ya makasisi, walipiga vita desturi ya kuuza nyadhifa za kanisa (usimonia) na makasisi kuoa, na wakazaa mmoja wa mapapa wenye nguvu kuliko wote wa Zama za Kati: Gregori VII (Hildebrand), papa kuanzia 1073 hadi 1085, ambaye katika Mzozo wa Kuwasimika Maaskofu (Investiture Controversy) alimlazimisha Kaisari Henri IV kungoja siku tatu bila viatu katika theluji huko Canossa ili apate kuondolewa adhabu ya kutengwa.Cluny was a Benedictine monastery founded in 910 in Burgundy. Its founders insisted on a strict observance of the Benedictine rule, on freedom from local lay control, and on direct accountability only to the pope. Cluny became the head of a network of reformed monasteries that eventually numbered in the thousands. The Cluniac reformers cleaned up clerical corruption, fought against the practice of selling church offices (simony) and against married clergy, and produced one of the most powerful popes of the Middle Ages: Gregory VII (Hildebrand), pope from 1073 to 1085, who in the Investiture Controversy forced Emperor Henry IV to wait three days barefoot in the snow at Canossa for absolution.

Wasistersia (Cistercians), walioanzishwa mwaka 1098, walikuwa matengenezo makali zaidi ya Kibenedikto. Walitaka kazi ya mikono, makanisa madogo yasiyo na pambo, liturujia sahili, na maeneo ya mbali. Mshiriki wao maarufu kuliko wote alikuwa Bernardo wa Clairvaux (1090–1153), mmoja wa wahubiri na waandishi wa kiroho wenye ushawishi mkubwa zaidi wa Zama za Kati. Bernardo alihubiri Vita vya Pili vya Msalaba, alipatanisha mabishano ya kipapa, aliwashauri wafalme, na aliandika mahubiri juu ya Wimbo Ulio Bora ambayo bado yanachapishwa. Aliunganisha uchaji wa upole unaomlenga Kristo na nia ngumu kama chuma. Baadaye Luther alisema Bernardo alikuwa mtu bora kuliko wote wa Zama za Kati za Kikatoliki, yule ambaye mahubiri yake angeweza kuyapendekeza kwa furaha zaidi.The Cistercians, founded in 1098, were a still stricter Benedictine reform. They wanted manual labor, simple chapels, plain liturgy, and remote locations. Their most famous member was Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), one of the most influential preachers and spiritual writers of the Middle Ages. Bernard preached the Second Crusade, mediated papal disputes, advised kings, and wrote sermons on the Song of Songs that are still in print. He combined a tender Christ-centered piety with a steel will. Luther later said Bernard was the best man of the Catholic Middle Ages, the one whose sermons he could most cheerfully recommend.

Ndugu waombaji (friars) walikuwa matengenezo ya karne ya kumi na tatu ya sura tofauti kabisa. Fransisko wa Asizi (takriban 1182–1226), mwana wa mfanyabiashara tajiri wa nguo wa Kiitalia, alisikia Mathayo 10 ikisomwa kanisani asubuhi moja na akaipokea kama amri yake binafsi: acha kila kitu, usichukue kitu kwa safari, hubiri ufalme na kuwaponya wagonjwa. Alivua nguo zote katika uwanja wa mji, akamrudishia baba yake aliyekasirika nguo zake zote, na akaanza maisha ya umaskini wa kitume kihalisi. Wafuasi wake — Wafransisko — hawakuwa watawa waliojifungia ndani ya nyumba za kitawa bali wahubiri wasafiri walioomba chakula chao na kuipeleka injili mijini na masokoni. Karibu wakati huo huo Mhispania Dominiko (takriban 1170–1221) alianzisha Wadominiko (Shirika la Wahubiri), shirika sambamba la ndugu waombaji lililolenga hasa kuhubiri dhidi ya uzushi. Mashirika yote mawili yaliunganisha umaskini, kuhubiri, elimu, na kujitiisha moja kwa moja kwa papa. Yote mawili yalizaa majitu ya kitheolojia — Wafransisko waliipa kanisa Bonaventura, Wadominiko wakampa Akwino. Ndugu waombaji waliamsha upya mahubiri kwa watu wa kawaida katika kanisa la Magharibi lililokuwa limezidi kuyaacha mahubiri yadhoofike. Wao ni watangulizi wa Zama za Kati wa kurejeshwa kwa mahubiri ambako kungefikia kilele katika Matengenezo ya Kanisa ya Sehemu ya 7.The friars were a thirteenth-century reform of an entirely different shape. Francis of Assisi (c. 1182–1226), the son of a wealthy Italian cloth merchant, heard Matthew 10 read in church one morning and took it as a personal command: leave everything, take nothing for the journey, preach the kingdom and heal the sick. He stripped naked in the town square, returned all his clothes to his furious father, and began a life of literal apostolic poverty. His followers — the Franciscans — were not cloistered monks but wandering preachers who begged their bread and brought the gospel into the towns and markets. Around the same time the Spaniard Dominic (c. 1170–1221) founded the Dominicans (the Order of Preachers), a parallel mendicant order specifically focused on preaching against heresy. Both orders combined poverty, preaching, education, and direct submission to the pope. Both produced theological giants — the Franciscans gave the church Bonaventure, the Dominicans gave her Aquinas. The friars revived popular preaching in a Western church that had increasingly let the sermon slide. They are the medieval forerunners of the recovery of preaching that would peak in the Reformation of Unit 7.

Karne zile zile zilizozaa ndugu waombaji pia zilizaa vyuo vikuu vya Zama za Kati — Bologna, Paris, Oxford, Cambridge. Vyuo vikuu hivyo vipya viliupa Ukristo wa Magharibi aina ya umakini wa kielimu ambao haukuwepo tangu zama za Mababa wa Kanisa. Teolojia iliyofanywa ndani yake inaitwa ya kiskolastiki, kutoka neno la Kilatini schola, yaani shule. Watu wawili wanajitokeza.The same centuries that produced the friars also produced the medieval universities — Bologna, Paris, Oxford, Cambridge. The new universities gave Western Christianity a kind of intellectual seriousness that had not existed since the patristic era. The theology done in them is called scholastic, from the Latin schola, the school. Two figures stand out.

Anselmo wa Canterbury (1033–1109) alikuwa mtawa wa Kibenedikto aliyezaliwa Italia ambaye alikuja kuwa Askofu Mkuu wa Canterbury. Aliipa kanisa kanuni maarufu ya "imani inayotafuta kuelewa" (fides quaerens intellectum) — teolojia si mashaka yanayojaribu kujishawishi yenyewe kuamini, bali ni tumaini linalojaribu kuelewa kile ambacho tayari linakitumainia. Kitabu chake Proslogion kina hoja ya kiontolojia juu ya kuwepo kwa Mungu (hoja inayojadiliwa na kubishaniwa kuliko zote katika falsafa tangu wakati huo). Kitabu chake Cur Deus Homo ("Kwa Nini Mungu Alifanyika Mwanadamu") kiliipa kanisa nadharia ya upatanisho ya kuridhisha haki (satisfaction theory): ni Mungu peke yake angeweza kuridhisha kile ambacho haki ya Mungu ilidai, na ni mwanadamu peke yake angeweza kulipa kile ambacho wanadamu walidaiwa, kwa hiyo Mpatanishi alipaswa kuwa Mungu-mwanadamu, Yesu Kristo. Mfumo huu wa kuridhisha haki baadaye ungeunda teolojia ya Wanamatengenezo ya uwakilishi wa kubeba adhabu (penal substitution).Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) was an Italian-born Benedictine monk who became Archbishop of Canterbury. He gave the church the famous formula "faith seeking understanding" (fides quaerens intellectum) — theology is not skepticism trying to talk itself into belief, but trust trying to understand what it already trusts. His Proslogion contains the ontological argument for God's existence (the most discussed and disputed argument in philosophy ever since). His Cur Deus Homo ("Why God Became Man") gave the church the satisfaction theory of the atonement: only God could satisfy what God's justice required, and only a man could pay what humanity owed, so the Mediator had to be the God-man Jesus Christ. The satisfaction framework would later shape the Reformers' penal substitution theology.

Thoma wa Akwino (Thomas Aquinas) (1225–1274) ndiye mwanatheolojia mkubwa kuliko wote wa Zama za Kati. Akiwa kijana mtukufu wa Kiitalia, alitekwa nyara na familia yake ili kumzuia asijiunge na shirika jipya la Wadominiko; alitoroka, akavaa vazi la kitawa, akasoma Paris, na akayatoa maisha yake kwa kazi kubwa ya kuunganisha teolojia yote kwa mpangilio mmoja. Kitabu chake Summa Theologica, kilichoandikwa kwa ajili ya wanaoanza (kwa maneno yake mwenyewe), kina takriban maneno milioni tatu na nusu na ni mojawapo ya mafanikio makuu kabisa ya akili ya Magharibi. Akwino aliibatiza falsafa ya Aristotle kwa matumizi ya Kikristo, alitetea upatanifu wa imani na akili, alieleza Njia Tano maarufu za kuhojia kuwepo kwa Mungu, na akatoa teolojia ya kimfumo ya neema, sakramenti, fadhila, na sheria ambayo imeunda teolojia ya Kanisa Katoliki la Roma tangu wakati huo. Alifariki akiwa na umri wa miaka arobaini na tisa akiwa njiani kwenda kwenye mtaguso, baada ya kumwambia katibu wake kwamba kila kitu alichokuwa ameandika kilionekana kwake "kama majani makavu" ukilinganisha na kile alichokuwa ameona katika maono miezi michache kabla.Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) is the towering theologian of the Middle Ages. A young Italian noble, he was kidnapped by his family to keep him from joining the new Dominican order; he escaped, took the habit, studied at Paris, and devoted his life to massive theological synthesis. His Summa Theologica, written for beginners (his words), runs to about three and a half million words and is one of the supreme intellectual achievements of the Western mind. Aquinas baptized the philosophy of Aristotle for Christian use, defended the harmony of faith and reason, articulated the famous Five Ways of arguing for God's existence, and produced a systematic theology of grace, sacraments, virtues, and law that has shaped Roman Catholic theology ever since. He died at forty-nine on his way to a council, after telling his secretary that everything he had written seemed to him "like straw" compared to what he had seen in a vision a few months earlier.

Nguvu na udhaifu wa uskolastiki vyote viwili vina mizizi mirefu. Nguvu: uliufundisha Ukristo wa Magharibi kufikiri kwa nidhamu, kutofautisha mambo kwa uangalifu, na kujenga hoja kwa umakini. Udhaifu: polepole uliruhusu jukwaa la kifalsafa kufunika usahili wa injili, na kufikia mwishoni mwa Zama za Kati ulikuwa umezaa mfumo ambamo kuhesabiwa haki kwa neema kwa njia ya imani kulifukiwa chini ya usahihi wa kitaalamu. Wanamatengenezo wa Sehemu ya 7 wataupinga uskolastiki hata huku wakirithi baadhi ya vifaa vyake.Scholasticism's strengths and weaknesses both run deep. Strength: it taught Western Christianity to think with discipline, to distinguish carefully, to argue rigorously. Weakness: it gradually let philosophical scaffolding obscure the simplicity of the gospel, and by the late Middle Ages had produced a system in which justification by grace through faith was buried under technical precision. The Reformers of Unit 7 will react against scholasticism even while inheriting some of its tools.

Kwanza, Ahadi ya Mathayo 16:18 ni kubwa kuliko hali ya karne yoyote moja. Kanisa la Zama za Kati liliona nusu yake ya kale ya mashariki ikitoweka chini ya Uislamu, monasteri zake zikiungua chini ya Waviking, jumuiya zake zikifa kwa tauni, na misheni zake za Mashariki zikiangamia chini ya Wamongolia. Hakuna hata moja ya hasara hizi iliyoivunja Ahadi. Zilichora upya ramani yake. Mchungaji anayepima afya ya kanisa kwa vichwa vya habari vya karne yake mwenyewe bado hajajifunza kile ambacho 1 Petro na Mathayo 16 vilikuwa vikijaribu kufundisha.First, the Promise of Matthew 16:18 is bigger than any one century's circumstances. The medieval church watched her ancient eastern half disappear under Islam, her monasteries burn under Vikings, her communities die under plague, and her Eastern missions perish under Mongols. None of these losses broke the Promise. They redrew its map. The pastor who measures the church's health by his own century's headlines has not yet learned what 1 Peter and Matthew 16 were trying to teach.

Pili, mateso si kushindwa. Makanisa ya Kikopti, ya Kisiria, na ya Kiarmenia yaliyostahimili karne kumi na nne za hali ya dhimmi si hadithi za kanisa likishindwa. Ni hadithi za kanisa likifananishwa na Bwana wake. Wakristo wa Marekani, ambao wamejua karne tatu za usalama usio wa kawaida, watakua katika ufahamu wa kibiblia zaidi kuhusu kanisa watakapoanza kuyaona mateso kuwa hali ya kawaida ya Mkristo badala ya jambo la pekee.Second, suffering is not failure. The Coptic, Syriac, and Armenian churches enduring fourteen centuries of dhimmi status are not stories of the church losing. They are stories of the church being conformed to her Lord. American Christians, who have known three centuries of unusual safety, will grow into a more biblical understanding of the church when they begin to see suffering as the Christian norm rather than the Christian exception.

Tatu, kanisa hujirekebisha linapobaki chini ya Neno. Cluny ilirekebisha utawa wa uvivu. Wasistersia walirekebisha utawa wa kitajiri. Fransisko alirekebisha utawa wa kujilimbikizia mali. Ndugu waombaji walirekebisha mimbari zilizonyamaza. Anselmo na Akwino walirekebisha imani isiyofikiri. Matengenezo ya Kanisa ya Sehemu ya 7 yatarekebisha kila kitu ambacho wao hawakurekebisha. Uwezo wa kanisa kujirekebisha si uvumbuzi wa Matengenezo ya Kanisa; umekuwa ukifanya kazi katika kila karne tangu Pentekoste. Mchungaji, tarajia Mungu aendelee kulirekebisha kanisa lako pia.Third, the church corrects herself when she stays under the Word. Cluny corrected lazy monasticism. The Cistercians corrected wealthy monasticism. Francis corrected acquisitive monasticism. The friars corrected silent pulpits. Anselm and Aquinas corrected unthinking faith. The Reformation of Unit 7 will correct everything they did not. The church's capacity for self-correction is not a Reformation invention; it has been operating in every century since Pentecost. Pastor, expect God to keep correcting your church too.

Nne, jihadhari na upanga. Vita vya Msalaba ndilo onyo kuu la Zama za Kati. Kanisa linapochukua nguvu za kidunia kama chombo cha misheni, linaihatarisha injili na kuudhuru ushuhuda wake. "Ufalme wangu sio wa ulimwengu huu" (Yohana 18:36). Hali yako ya kisiasa iwe ya namna gani, usiliache kanisa lichanganye silaha zake na zile za ulimwengu.Fourth, beware the sword. The Crusades are the great medieval warning. When the church takes up worldly power as a tool of mission, she compromises the gospel and harms her witness. "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). Whatever your political moment looks like, do not let the church confuse her weapons with the world's.

Kufikia mwaka 1300 Ukristo wa Magharibi wa Zama za Kati ulikuwa umefikia kilele chake cha juu kabisa. Akwino alikuwa amemaliza Summa na kwenda nyumbani kwa Bwana. Kanisa Kuu la Notre Dame de Paris lilikuwa limekamilika. Ndugu waombaji walikuwa wakihubiri katika kila uwanja wa soko. Mapapa walikuwa katika kilele cha nguvu zao za kisiasa. Bonifasi VIII angetoa hati ya kipapa Unam Sanctam mwaka 1302 ikitangaza kwamba kujitiisha kwa papa kulikuwa lazima kwa wokovu wa kila mwanadamu.By 1300 the medieval Christian West had reached its high water mark. Aquinas had finished the Summa and gone home. Notre Dame de Paris was finished. The friars were preaching in every market square. The popes were at the height of their political power. Boniface VIII would issue the bull Unam Sanctam in 1302 declaring that submission to the pope was necessary for every human being's salvation.

Na kisha zikaja nyufa. Bonifasi mwenyewe alishambuliwa na kudhalilishwa na mawakala wa mfalme wa Ufaransa mwaka uliofuata na akafa kwa mshtuko. Upapa ulihamia Avignon chini ya udhibiti wa Ufaransa kwa miaka sabini. Kifo Cheusi kilipiga. Vita vya Miaka Mia viliiharibu Ufaransa. Kufikia mwaka 1378 kulikuwa na mapapa wawili kwa wakati mmoja, kisha watatu. Wanamatengenezo kama Wycliffe na Hus walianza kuita watu warudi kwenye Maandiko. Muunganiko wa Zama za Kati ulikuwa karibu kusambaratika. Faulu mtihani huu, nasi tutakutana na dhoruba za mwishoni mwa Zama za Kati katika Sehemu ya 6 — dhoruba zitakazozaa Matengenezo ya Kanisa.And then the cracks. Boniface himself was attacked and humiliated by agents of the French king the next year and died of the shock. The papacy moved to Avignon under French control for seventy years. The Black Death struck. The Hundred Years' War devastated France. By 1378 there were two popes simultaneously, then three. Reformers like Wycliffe and Hus began calling for return to Scripture. The medieval synthesis was about to come apart. Pass this examination, and we will meet the storms of the late Middle Ages in Unit 6 — the storms that will produce the Reformation.