“The Huns at the Battle of Chalons,” published in 1875 in A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times, Volume I by A. De Neuville | Image source
TL;DR:
After the decline of the Western Roman Empire, Christianity spread among many Germanic peoples and, somewhat later, among Slavic peoples. Two cultural factors help explain this development: tribal conversion dynamics and cultural disintegration and renewal. This northward expansion of the gospel marked a transformative era in European history. Missionaries such as Boniface and Patrick played pivotal roles, followed later by Cyril and Methodius.
“The Huns at the Battle of Chalons,” published in 1875 in A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times, Volume I by A. De Neuville | Image source
A key period of church history as the gospel moved northward
In Romans 1:14, the Apostle Paul expresses his obligation to both Greeks and non-Greeks. The King James Version uses “Barbarians” for the Greek term referring broadly to people who did not speak Greek or participate in Greek culture. Other English translations use terms such as “non-Greeks” and “foreigners.” Warriors and migrants from the north increasingly entered the weakening Western Roman Empire. The deposition of Emperor Romulus Augustulus in AD 476 is traditionally regarded as marking its end.
It is fascinating to see that, among the peoples of central and northern Europe, the religion of the people to the south whom they had conquered became — in a relatively short period of time — the religion of the conquerors themselves. One might think that the opposite would have happened, that the Christianity of the Roman Empire would have given way to the gods of the conquering Germanic and Slavic tribes. Why, during the period from approximately AD 400 to 800, would the northern victor adopt the religion of the vanquished south?
Some keys to understanding the evangelization of the Germanic and Slavic peoples—among those whom Greek and Roman writers broadly labeled “barbarians”— can be found in their culture. At least two cultural factors helped the acceptance of Christianity by those peoples living to the north of the borders of the sphere of Graeco-Roman culture:
The culture of central and northern Europe was tribal in nature. When a tribal chief or key elder adopted Christianity, mass conversions within that tribe often followed. Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette noted that, traditionally, religion among the barbarians "had been a community affair."1 So it was that when a Germanic tribe became Christian, it often did so en masse. Although such group conversions may not have reflected an equally deep personal commitment by every individual, they help us understand how Christianity spread among these peoples during the fifth through eighth centuries.
Latourette asserts that as the barbarians militarily overran most of the Roman Empire, their own ways of life and cultures, “including their religions,”2 began disintegrating upon contact with what remained of Graeco-Roman civilization. Christianity therefore did not always find itself in direct competition with religious beliefs embedded in a stable culture. Rather, Christianity entered societies in which older religious and cultural structures were being disrupted.
Some earlier anthropologists described this encounter as contact between a “higher” and a “lower” culture. Those labels are now generally regarded as overly simplistic. Nevertheless, contact with the urban, literate, and institutionally complex Greco-Roman world disrupted many traditional Germanic social and religious structures.
In this situation, Christianity may have made rapid advances because it served as a positive force in spurring cultural advances. Latourette says, "As it won over the barbarian invaders from the north, Christianity became a major stimulus in stirring them to produce an advanced civilization."3 This quotation reflects Latourette's terminology. Christianity may therefore have gained relatively rapid acceptance partly because its institutions contributed to education, literacy, social organization, and cultural rebuilding.
1 Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity (New York: Harper and Row, 1975), p. 404.
2 Ibid., p. 270.
3 Ibid.
— Howard Culbertson, hculbert@snu.edu
From AD 400 to 800, the evangelization of Germanic peoples marked a key chapter in the spread of Christianity in Europe. The evangelization of Slavic peoples continued beyond AD 800.
Missionaries such as Boniface played important roles in evangelizing Germanic peoples, organizing churches, and strengthening Christian institutions. They encountered linguistic and cultural barriers as well as resistance from adherents of traditional religions. Despite these obstacles, the Christian faith gradually gained ground among Germanic peoples, influencing their social norms and political structures.
In the ninth century, the Byzantine Empire played an important role in the evangelization of Slavic peoples, particularly through Cyril and Methodius. They created the Glagolitic alphabet and translated biblical and liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic. Their disciples later helped develop and disseminate the Cyrillic alphabet.
Patrick played a noteworthy role in the evangelization of Ireland, and Irish and other Celtic Christian communities later helped spread Christianity in parts of Europe. Their missionaries established monasteries that became centers of evangelism, learning, and scholarship.
These missionaries sometimes adapted their methods to local customs and traditions, helping communicate the Christian message across cultural boundaries.
After the evangelization of the Germanic peoples, the gospel began moving into Scandinavia. [ More ]
