Religious Movements and the Papal Power.
During the early stages of Christianity, all religious movements were aimed at establishing and practicing Christianity as a legal religion. However, after 313 CE, Christianity had become a legal religion and more importantly, it had become the religion of the state. Therefore, the religious leaders were experiencing considerable amount of power.
In the first few hundred years after Christianity became a legal religion, the common religious movement was monasticism, a good example is Simeon Stylites. Monasticism required the monks to be in a secluded place, away from the temptations of the city. The monastic reform movement established monasteries with the Benedictine rule. The Benedictine monasteries were free from influence of aristocratic families. Moreover, as a result of the Benedictine
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Scholasticism emphasized on respect to authority, and also on reasoning and questioning.
The earliest known person to practice Scholasticism was Anselm of Canterbury. Anselm developed different proofs to establish the doctrine of the Christian religion as true. He wrote about the existence of God and that God is the greatest thing to be conceived. Anselm was an influential scholastic writer, however, Abelard was the one who gave scholasticism its popularity.
Peter Abelard was an influential philosopher and teacher in Paris. He was son of a nobleman who sought knowledge instead of leadership. He left Brittany for Paris, where he became the master in cathedral school. Abelard’s different way of teaching attracted many young people to Paris. Moreover, many intellectuals considered Paris to be a center of education; if a person wanted to get the best education they went to Paris. As a result, Abelard was able to develop very loyal pupils while he was in