Notes for Christendom

Duty - it was their duty to live up to the code of chivalry, also known as the code of honor. Nowadays, we are much more focused upon feelings. You feel this way and so I will act this way as opposed to it is my duty to do this for you. Duty works into every area of your life.

REFORMATION

Family:
They had a genuine respect for women even in their pagan world. The culture is shaped by how they treated the women. This then weaves itself into their daily habits.

Church:
There was a revival for nightly vigils, prayers, fasting, and all-night vigils. These were brought to life again making the church the foundation of the community once again.

Kingdom:
The relations within the civil realm were strengthened. They found their individual Biblical identity. They had common culture, tastes, and values...but each with distinct. This is called Regionalism. There are different communities, each unique, but rooted on the same point: Christianity.

Education:
Discipleship - rigorous training. They were taught to learn discernment, how to know yourself, but most importantly how to actually think. They taught them not only the daily lessons of life and knowledge, but also how to think critically.

Literature:
This kind of a culture is where we get the chivalric stories, and the "buddy" stories. They are expanding your thoughts with romanticism. It was a culture filled with heroics, damsels in distress and chivalry. Novels are very powerful. They easily fill your head with theology whether good or bad without you even realizing it.

Lesson 12 - Feudalism: Rooted in Accountability

Within this time period there was hierarchy which made everyone accountable to the person above or below you.

Emperors expected collected taxes and if they did they could get x, y, or z. There is an over-arching covering of accountability. There was attempted covenantalism. Being responsible for someone is part of the 5th commandment. Honoring your father and mother also means honoring and respecting as well as being accountable to those above you or in authority over you. At the same time, you are in authority to or above someone else making you accountable for them as well.

Feudalism is aimed at covenantal community stacked like intertwined blocks. It wants to connect cultures together with strength and stability, always being rooted in Christianity. The good and true communities will be very obvious, their actions mean something. Think about the code: they did their actions with honesty and duty was thoroughly ingrained in the medieval and feudal mindset. If you had the choice to deal with an honest business man or just any business one, you would be more inclined to trust the honest one. This would lead to a flowering of the honest, accountable, and Christian culture.

In 476, the Goths sacked Rome under the commander Odoacer who then pledged loyalty to Zeno, the Eastern Roman emperor. Neither of the two men thought that Rome fell at that time. They firmly believed that it remained strong and grounded after they sacked it. They saw the beginnings of a new form; a base of unity within diversity. They all had a common faith, heritage, and destiny. After this, they made a confederated republic. Feudalism, no matter how great in accountability and no matter how new a social order, it still had flaws. We are still fallen and every social order, every culture will always have weaknesses.