Education in the Middle Ages
Education in the Middle Ages was directly linked to the church. Medieval scholars designed their own brand of philosophy, interpreting the teachings of Aristotle to agree with their religious beliefs. Their combination of philosophy and theology is known as scholasticism. These scholars, known as Schoolmen, were careful that their reasoning did not contradict the reasoning of the church. Providing rational proof that God exists proved to be quite difficult, considering the lack of educational resources in the early Middle Ages. Education in the Middle Ages had taken a giant step back from the Greek and Roman eras. In the middle ages very few laymen knew how to read or write. In fact even the nobles were uneducated. Priests practically had a monopoly on knowledge. Since the only schools were created to educate priests, the church controlled the curriculum. This made the church the ultimate authority on knowledge of any sort, and had the power to edit classic Greek and Roman writings to fit their needs. The purpose of Scholasticism was to provide explanations for the faith demanded by religion. If the church could demonstrate educated reasoning to back up their teachings
As the end of the Middle Ages grew near, education began to spread beyond the church. As more Laymen became educated, more topics were introduced into the universities. Sciences, such as physics drew the attention of many students. As people's interest moved away from religion toward science and art the universities gradually grew apart from the church. This return of secular learning would eventually be the downfall of the period of Scholasticism as well as the beginning of the Renaissance period of history. The Scholastic period of philosophy was important in history, not only in providing support for Christianity, but also as a gateway to the renaissance era. In the beginning of the Scholastic era there were few educational resources in Medieval Europe. The quest for knowledge of the Schoolmen did much to revive interest in Classical writings of Greece and Rome. Although the acquisition of knowledge did put an end to Scholasticism around the end of the Middle Ages, The philosophy of Thomas Aquinas has been accepted in recent times as the official philosophy of the Catholic Church. Thomas Aquinas became one of the greatest medieval philosophers. He adapted the older
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Approximate Word count = 795
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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