Getting Medieval

This is from Chris Armstrong, Professor of History at Bethel University in Minnesota.

Surely evangelicals who are sampling these medieval wares would benefit by moving beyond a piecemeal, “consumer” approach to medieval Christianity into a more systematic, in-depth study. Beneath the surface of now-trendy medieval practices, and amidst that era's wrong turnings and corruptions, lies a rich vein of spiritual, intellectual, and practical resources. I can think of at least nine facets of medieval faith and life that we can stand to learn from today:

1. their willingness to engage in spiritual disciplines,
2. their theologically grounded devotional and even "mystical" practices,
3. their high valuation of tradition handed down in texts,
4. their passionate search for theological knowledge (fides quaerens intellectum—"faith seeking understanding"),
5. their moral seriousness, expressed for example in the lists of "deadly sins" and "cardinal virtues,"
6. their adaptation of classical learning to Christian theology (which paved the way for the birth of modern science and continues to provide a model for Christ-culture engagement today),
7. their deep affection for the doctrines of creation and incarnation, issuing (for example) in many profoundly spiritual treasures of Western art and literature,
8. their high valuation on eternity over temporal life, and the "art of dying well" (ars moriendi) that developed from this commitment, and
9. their insistence on works of charity (fides caritate formata—"faith formed by love").