Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE)

Salvation or Control: The Roman Christian Church vs. Heretics

During the Middle Ages, the Roman Christian Church was at the center of daily life. No matter what title one held, the Church had some sort of rule over you. Members of this Church warned people of the evils that existed and told them how to avoid said evils. The Church was a political powerhouse as well, as the hierarchy of the Church could dictate who could or could not rule in Europe. This power, however, led to Church leaders feeling the need to maintain power. How did the Church assert this power? One way to understand the medieval Roman Christian Church is to look at their treatment of other groups who did not follow traditional Christian customs. When non-traditional Christian groups began to form and attempt to teach Christianity in a different light, the Church saw them as a threat and planned to put an end to these alternative practices and the people who adhered to them. These groups were to be deemed heretical in the eyes of the Church. The heretics were hunted, tortured, and burned at the stake, in order to keep them from gaining any power and in order to “save” the people from their heretical views. In other words, The Church used the idea of heresy to protect the power it had over the lives of European Christians. Leaders in the Roman Christian Church were not concerned with the salvation of their people. Instead, they sought to hunt “heretics,” murdering those who followed different teachings.