Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians: Finding Authentic Faith in a Forgotten Age With C. S. Lewis
Written by Chris R. Armstrong
Narrated by Jon Gauger
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Many Christians today tend to view the story of medieval faith as a cautionary tale. Too often, they dismiss the Middle Ages as a period of corruption and decay in the church. They seem to assume that the church apostatized from true Christianity after it gained cultural influence in the time of Constantine and that the faith was only later recovered by the sixteenth-century Reformers or even the eighteenth-century revivalists. As a result, the riches and wisdom of the medieval period have remained largely inaccessible to modern Protestants. Church historian Chris Armstrong helps readers see beyond modern caricatures of the medieval church to the animating Christian spirit of that age. He believes today's church could learn a number of lessons from medieval faith, such as how the gospel speaks to ordinary, embodied human life in this world. Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians explores key ideas, figures, and movements from the Middle Ages in conversation with C. S. Lewis and other thinkers, helping contemporary Christians discover authentic faith and renewal in a forgotten age.
Chris R. Armstrong
Chris R. Armstrong (PhD, Duke University) is the founding director of Opus: The Art of Work, an institute on faith and vocation at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, where he also serves as a faculty member in biblical and theological studies. He formerly served as professor of church history at Bethel Seminary and was founding director of the Bethel Work with Purpose initiative. Armstrong is senior editor of Christian History and is the author of Patron Saints for Postmoderns.
Related to Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians
Related audiobooks
Patristics: Explore the Timeless Wisdom of the Church Fathers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Eastern Orthodox Church: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When the Church Was Young: Voices of the Early Fathers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The First 500 Years: The Fathers, Councils, and Doctrines of the Early Church Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Orthodox Christian Church: History, Beliefs, and Practices Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Secular Age: Ten Years of Reading and Applying Charles Taylor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Escape From Reason Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great Medieval Mystics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Strangest Way: Walking the Christian Path Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Medieval Christianity: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mere Fundamentalism: The Apostles' Creed and the Romance of Orthodoxy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Plato to Christ: How Platonic Thought Shaped the Christian Faith Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Roots of Western Civilization: The Ancient World: From Gilgamesh to Augustine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Augustine to Chesterton and Beyond: Great Spiritual Autobiographies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5C.S. Lewis: Christology and Cosmology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Orthodoxy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gilbert & Jack Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nostalgia: Going Home in a Homeless World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-changing Wisdom of History's Greatest Poem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everlasting Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Oxford Inklings: Lewis, Tolkien and Their Circle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Retrieving Augustine's Doctrine of Creation: Ancient Wisdom for Current Controversy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thomas Aquinas: Understand the Universal Teacher's Greatest Ideas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Christianity For You
Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mere Christianity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Enoch Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holy Bible in Audio - King James Version: The Complete Old & New Testament Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love and Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership 25th Anniversary: Follow Them and People Will Follow You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries: When To Say Yes, How to Say No Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Return of the Gods Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5More Than a Carpenter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 5 Love Languages Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: Third Edition with Bonus Content, New Reflections Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Little Book of Letting Go Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cost of Discipleship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Divorce Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries in Marriage: Understanding the Choices That Make or Break Loving Relationships Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians
21 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As a Medievalist with a strong academic interest in Medieval Philosophy this book appealed to me. I did have reservations about the subtitle and subject as a Protestant (I know a strange mixture- Protestant and Medievalist), but I strive for a better understanding of my period, so I requested this book from Netgalley and then acquired the Audio edition for listening to 'on the go'.
In some ways, I did now know what to expect. Perhaps a misguided 'Emergent Church' pastor gushing over prayer Labyrinths and meditation whilst just hijacking some quotes from Lewis to back up some seriously dodgy theology and dubious practices.
Instead, I was for the most part quite pleasantly surprised. The book provides a comprehensive overview of Medieval Intellectual and religious tradition, covering everything from the growth of the Universities, to the medieval notion of charity which went hand in hand with the establishment of Hospitals and institutional medical care.
On the way it challenges many deeply held myths and misconceptions about the period. The notion that Medieval people were backwards and ignorant, that science and learning were in terminal decline, that the Middle Ages were all about violence and torture- and even the notion that they believed in a 'works based gospel'.
Personally, I really go in for anything that challenges such ideas, as I firmly believe the Middle Ages has been vilified and badly misrepresented. Some of the usual suspects responsible for a lot of the misinformation today were Humanist scholars and writers of the Enlightenment era- as well as sadly some Protestant theologians.
C.S.Lewis is set up as our guide for the exploration of the time- for not only his works, but his whole worldview and mind-set was steeped in the Medieval. Lewis described himself as a 'Dinosaur' who spoke the language of classical and Medieval Learning. Well if he was a 'dinosaur' then he was a frightfully good and useful one, in the opinion of this Medievalist.
I particularly appreciated the quotations from Lewis and his fellows such as G.K.Chesterton about needing an 'intimate knowledge of the past- so set against the present' and as a foil to Chronological snobbery- to assuming that everything 'current' and 'modern' is good, and everything 'old' or 'Medieval' is bad.
More importantly, these men believed that a person could not be a proper scholar of the Middle- Ages until they thoroughly immersed themselves and 'imaginatively indwells the mind-set of the period, complete with its thoughts, feelings, circumstances and characters'. To not only be a scholar but also an 'experiencer' and ’re-enactor' of the age.
I found myself not only agreeing with, but also being inspired by such insights. I believe such an approach is vitally important to study of the Medieval (or any) time period. I am always saying 'Don't judge the past by modern standards, or expect it to measure up to it', but Lewis said it first and better.
I confess I had the person who condemned me for this approach and tried to force me to judge historical figures according to her values and modern modes of behaviour in mind.
The only points that I did not agree with were some of the author's ideas about how to implement medieval traditions and ideas today.
After setting out the intellectual, rational and moral basis of these traditions it seemed strange for a person to favour the modern approach to select a few practices such as lighting candles and centred prayer as 'worship aids', or the worst extremes of the Charismatic movement with its flair for all things ecstatic and frankly weird.
I am very suspicious of such practices as Lectio Devina being incorporated into church practice today. I can understand medieval monks repeating passages from scripture to commit them to memory when they did not have their own copies- but we should not seek after mystical experiences, and particularly those which involve altered states of consciousness.
Nor did I agree that the 'Charismatic movements' of America in the twentieth century represented some kind of Golden Age, or point of reference that we should use medieval mystical practices to return to.
I don't think rolling around in laughing hysterics or imitating animals as we see television videos of people doing at places like the notorious Toronto Airport Church is doing the church any good.
I'm all for not dismissing anything Medieval as bad and unchristian, but I would be mindful about incorporating everything the author recommends into Christian life. Let us instead follow the advice of the Medieval, and use our reason and discernment rather than leaving our brains at the proverbial church door.
I would recommend for anyone who is a fan of C.S.Lewis, and interested in the Intellectual Milieu of the middle Ages. I would also recommend to anyone interested Medieval History who does not understand it, and still believes some of the misconceptions and Hollywood version. It will totally change your thinking.
I received an E-book version of this book from Brazos Press via Netgalley for the purposes of review, and purchased the audiobook of my own volition. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.