Then, let's take a look with me from the perspective of Christian culture!
The Renaissance from the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 to the14-15th century is called the Middle Ages, and the European civilization in this period is called the Christian civilization or belief era because of its obvious religious color. The vitality of the Germans and the mysticism of Christianity have become the strongest voices of the times. The combination of barbarian tribal culture and Christianity creates a strange mixture of chivalrous and martial spirit and Christian concept of atonement for suffering, which implies the tragic theme of how primitive vitality competes with asceticism. Just like Don Quixote who fought against the windmill written by humanists, Western Europeans have been unable to get rid of the profound contradiction between spirit and body for a whole thousand years. They are painfully and helplessly struggling with everything around them, including themselves.
The political system in medieval Europe was a very imperfect feudal system, which was politically fragmented and there was almost no security and order in society. Through the layers of fiefs, the knights formed the relationship between lords and vassals; The collapse of the Roman Empire and the invasion of barbarians seriously damaged the productivity of Europe, and the economy stagnated for a long time and developed very slowly. Perennial wars make local lords become local protectors and exploiters; The system of fiefdoms and manors established for the needs of war is turning military organizations into basic units for people to carry out agricultural production.
Under such circumstances, Europeans in the Middle Ages lived in an insecure society for a long time, and their spirits inevitably moved towards pessimism and nothingness, which laid the foundation for the prevalence of religion. Soon, every detail of social structure, painting, music, architecture, national character, and lifestyle has taken on a Christian color. With the construction of churches and monasteries, the pursuit of knowledge has turned into the study of knowledge on the other side, which is actually only a reflection of the value and way of thinking of disorderly social reality. Rather, in the face of painful disasters, Westerners in the Middle Ages tried to find a spiritual way out of suffering by religiousizing life.
One of the core of Christian theory is the idea of redemption, which holds that the kingdom of God will eventually come and Christians will eventually be saved. The church redeemed people through priesthood and sacred ceremonies. The concept of salvation is manifested in the unity of God's justice and God's love. The concept of redemption is related to the concept of suffering in the world and the concept that people have original sin, thus awakening people's guilt and good deeds. In this way, Christians have produced new life force and life emotion through the experience of salvation, thus getting rid of instinctive selfish desires and entering the maintenance of all divine goodness. Fundamentally speaking, redemption means that people should know God's grace through the consciousness of suffering and guilt, let God guide themselves, and finally return to God to get rid of suffering and sin.
Christianity has played a great role in the inheritance of European civilization. The first element of constructing Western civilization in the Middle Ages was classical Greek culture, and the Greeks advocated individuality and idealism. The second basic component is Roman culture, which is the culture of sword. It emphasizes rationality, utility and practicality, so the system and law have been fully displayed in the Roman Empire. The third basic component is Germanic culture, which has strong vitality. Its barbaric tradition, localism and tradition of emphasizing consanguinity played a very key role in the formation of feudal system in medieval Europe.
The link between these three cultures is the fourth element: Christian culture, which combines ancient ethics and teachings and gradually develops into a universal spiritual link that transcends individuals, families and even countries. It is expected that through missionary work, the Greek culture that emphasizes individuality, the Roman culture that emphasizes country, legion and law, and the Germanic culture that emphasizes consanguinity and family will be combined to form the characteristics of the times of Christian civilization. In 800 AD, when Charlemagne prayed in the church, the Pope crowned him and called him the Emperor of Rome. This day is considered as the birth day of European civilization.