Why do you think the time in history when the church had the most control is referred to as "the dark ages"

Question

Seems to me, progress, reason, and intelligent thought were suppressed as much as possible by the church at this time in history.....

Wouldn't it seem better to embrace free thinking...and not go back to the dark ages?

Answer 1

The dark ages were called the dark ages because the church had every philosopher piss-scared that if they started thinking out loud, they would be called a heratic and burned.

Answer 2

Your main question is a fine one -- why was it called that? and where was it called that?

That time was called the Dark Ages only in Western Europe. In the Eastern Roman Empire, there was no period of darkness comparable to the one in the West. We can say, if we wanted to, that the "Church" was in stronger control in the prosperous and strong East than in the West, simply because regular government had greatly weakened in the West after the barbarian invasions, so really nobody was "in control" in the way they were in the East.

So -- in the East, Christian empire, fought off the barbarians, no Dark Ages; In the West, Christian churches and monasteries, but the civil governments weren't able to fight off the barbarians, Dark Ages.

Well, how did civilization survive through the Dark Ages in the West? One important factor, perhaps the most important factor, was that the Church guarded and reproduced books and kept learning alive. I recommend to you an excellent video series called "Civilisation," by Kenneth Clark. The relevant episode is called "By the Skin of Our Teeth." Kenneth Clark says for example that after Roman authority collapsed in Britain and the barbarians swept in, that the residents of Britain said that the stone ruins were of buildings built by an ancient race of giants; they themselves were unable to build anything except small buildings of wood.

The question of exactly when and why and how the western Roman Empire declined and fell is quite complex. I provide a link to a wikipedia article in the sources section below.

So, it seems that Western Europe in the Dark Ages was *not* the time that the church "had the most control;" and it seems that the Church guarded and nurtured learning when the civil society around it collapsed, so that when civil society recovered, learning and inquiry could resume. (Of course Western Europe was also able to get some documents from the Byzantine Empire and from the Arabs; but the primary way in which intellectual civilization made it through the Dark Ages in Western Europe was because of the church.)

Your secondary questions depended on the assumptions of your main question -- I am saying those assumptions are mistaken. So I won't answer your secondary questions.

You've asked a good question, and if you follow it up in various sources you will learn a great deal.

Answer 3

You're twisting history.

The Dark Ages came about after the fall of the Roman Empire, and the collapse of the infrastructure that they had created. Individual local kingdoms sprung up throughout former Roman territories and neighboring areas, and that eventually gave rise to Feudalism, in time. The Church, while imperfect, actually preserved a lot of the knowledge that would have otherwise been lost; most of the only literate people during those times were monks. Religious music, art, and writing led eventually to people pursuing those things for themselves, for non-religious reasons.

To negate the importance of the Church during this time is to be deliberately ignorant of history. The church may have done bad things, too, but denying any good influences it had is just twisting the facts.

Answer 4

Read a book about Human rights.
Then tell me that Christian thoughts on the dignity of the poor. The rights of the individual and the affect that the growth OF Christians, in Europe didn't create a world, where YOU have freedom of speech, liberty, and religion or no religion.
Without Christianity there would be NO Bill of rights
One event led to the next to the next. You might have problem with Christians But YOU owe your freedom to them
NO intelligent student of western history would say otherwise.

Answer 5

It might be that the Dark Ages were so named because they immediately preceded the Enlightenment. (That's pure speculation on my part.)

During the age of religion, everyone was a solipsist and imagined their own subjective perceptual experience was the basis of reality. Since the beginning of the scientific revolution, it has become well known that the physical realm is the only legitimate basis of reality. What we think or perceive is totally irrelevant to objective (physical) reality.

I certainly agree that free thinking is preferable to the ecclesiastical tyranny of the Dark Ages.

Answer 6

Well, what exact period (years please) do you refer to as the "The Dark Ages"?

Many people refer to the time after the interglacial prime, when the little Ice Age hit Europe as the Dark Ages. Crops were blighted, and the weather turned miserable. Famine and famine related diseases wiped out a huge percentage of Europe. Wars were waged to garner the few resources that remained. It had little to do with education or religious thought control. It was a bad time to be Human and European.

Answer 7

Indeed, people are easier to control if you limit their understanding. The same is true today.....it is not easy to stay outside of the box.

But, better to be free, than contained in a human created box of culture, society or thought.

Answer 8

The church you speak of is the RCC. Things changed after 1611 AD when the real truth became common knowledge.