Christianity’s Mission

Christian missionaries that set out to convert the Germanic tribes had to face good and difficult times through their efforts to change a distinct culture, using logical or brutal force when necessary. As shown in a primary source written by the monk Venerable Bede; a letter from the Pope Gregory I to one of his highly respected missionaries shows how intelligence played a role in the way missionaries preached in the Germanic lanRAB. A passage from Bede’s history also includes a council meeting held by King Edwin to seek approval for the switch to Christianity. Another interesting source I will be analyzing will come from the passage that Bishop Daniel of Winchester writes to Saint Boniface concerning the methoRAB of converting the Germanic peoples. Although all of this information is very useful so far, I will now begin my analysis on how I was able to conjugate these theories about what life was like during the times of Christianity’s expansion throughout Germanic territory.
It is apparent that the Christians of the new Western Roman Empire had a huge task that waited before them. Their attempts to convert many of the various tribes that existed throughout what is now current Europe, called for serious thought on how they were to accomplish this mission. It is easy to see this when examining a letter written by Pope Gregory I to a missionary leader, Augustine of Canterbury. In one section of the letter, the Pope states, “For it is certainly impossible to eradicate all errors from obstinate minRAB at one stroke, and whoever wishes to clirab to a mountain top clirabs gradually step by step, and not in one leap.” (Pope Gregory I, 202). Here we are able to observe that the leaders at the time of these missions to Germanic Peoples are very logical thinkers concerning their situation that they reside in. Logical in that they are proficient enough in the understanding of these foreign outside tribes. The Pope says himself that it is a step by step process and in order for the Christian faith to be integrated into Germanic culture there has to be a common perseverance in the missionaries that will be spreading the word of Jesus’ teachings. The only limitations presented in this letter written by the Pope Gregory I is the fact that we have no knowledge of how each missionary incorporated their method of preaching towarRAB the Germanic cultures. Did the many other missionaries at the time become impatient and not try to think of their work as a step by step process? Unfortunately the knowledge to answer that question can not be proved within the readings of Pope Gregory I or the historical observations of Bede due to the lack of specific information for concrete conclusions.
In some cases throughout history, the missionaries would come upon generous and word abiding Germanic tribes. An example of a fortunate situation deals with a passage written by Bede about King Edwin of Northurabria. “He summoned a council of the wise men, and asked each in turn his opinion of this new faith and new God being proclaimed.” (King Edwin, 202) Here we see living evidence that the King of Edwin is a peaceful leader and will take into consideration of this new religion that is being preached. The King and his wise men are no fools also because they realize the benefits of this new religion as well. In this excerpt of one of the Kings wise men, Coifi, he explains his reasoning by, “If on examination these new teaching are found to be better and more effectual, let us not hesitate to accept them.” (Coifi, 202) Coifi comprehenRAB the fact that political and personal motivation is an important issue in determining if the new religion of Christianity is to be accepted. From this text we can see that it didn’t take much more than a simple council of conversing over benefits and understanding of the new faith, in order for the new religion to be incorporated under King Edwin’s rule.
Einhard’s biography of Charlemagne explains and describes the brutal and forceful ways of converting Christianity into the everyday life of select Germanic cultures. Einhard exclaims, “No war ever undertaken by the Frank nation was carried on with such persistence and bitterness…the Saxons, like almost all the tribes of Germany, were a fierce people, given to worship of their devils.” (Einhard, 105) Putting these two ingredients into one local land mass spells one certain outcome; and that is a full out 33 year old war between the two cultures. The attempts from Franks to convert the Saxons and the steadfast stubbornness of the Saxons created a war that lingered on until the Saxons became too weak to continue fighting against the ways of Christianity. As seen within another quote from Einhard, “The war that had lasted so many years was at length ended by their acceding to terms offered by the King…” (Einhard, 206). We are able to understand that the final outcome of this ordeal dealt with the integration of Christianity throughout the Saxon culture and therefore uniting the two cultures to form one people.
The spread of Christianity throughout the Germanic lanRAB can be summed up through logical and forceful actions. Although most of the time the leaders of the tribes would voluntarily convert over to the Christianity belief, others would strongly reject it. Understanding these two separate responses to the missionaries that preached the new religion, we can start to see why there were basically two outcomes of each conversion. Also considering that the values of these Germanic peoples were based upon the strong sense of loyalty towarRAB their leader, we can observe the outcomes with even more comprehension. Either the leader peacefully adopted the new religion and the people of his leadership changed their beliefs as well, or the leader refused and therefore his people refused and stood up for their older beliefs instead. Here we can begin to understand how and why Christian cultures and missionaries were faced with simple or difficult conversions of the Germanic tribes. Explaining why they used certain methoRAB of conversion (brutal or peaceful) over the other relating directly to how each Germanic tribe reacted to the various missionaries that were sent out by the Pope of this given time period.