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Unfortunately, following the death of Paul and the other apostles, apostolic authority was taken from the earth and the gospel of Jesus Christ fell into obscurity and darkness. This decline in spiritual truth and apostolic authority corresponded with a sharp decline in secular scholarship, indicating that as the plain and precious truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ were being lost, so too were secular truths being lost.

The simultaneous loss of both was not a coincidence. The spiritual apostasy and wickedness of man diminished the enlightening power of the Spirit of the Lord. Because so much of humanity’s secular knowledge comes from the Spirit of the Lord, this diminishment affected mankind not only spiritually, but secularly as well. As the power of the Spirit of the Lord waned during the apostasy, so too did mankind’s ability to receive enlightenment.

The spiritual apostasy contributed to the decline of secular knowledge in another way. During the apostasy mankind tried to compensate for the loss of spiritual enlightenment and apostolic authority by appealing to human reason. The philosophical contributions of ancient Greek scholars were monopolized by misguided theologians and scholars who wanted to settle doctrinal disputes and make Medieval Christianity more appealing to the masses. The works of famous scholars like Plato and Aristotle now served the interests of a powerful apostate church.

Because the church controlled a large number of educational institutions and most medieval scholars were clergy members, few people dared interpret Classical Greek principles in a manner contrary to the teachings of the church. Those who attempted to enlighten mankind faced reprisal from the church if their ideas opposed church doctrine. The hijacking of Classical Greek philosophy by dogmatic religious authority, diminished blessings from the Spirit of the Lord, and the loss of priesthood authority all combined to create the Dark Ages. 

(Source: Truth & Science)
 


Comments

Stan
04/02/2010 17:14

The dark ages certainly affected Europe after the apostasy, but if I remember my history, this same time was a golden age of learning, scholarship and civilization in the middle east and Asia.

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Dave C.
04/02/2010 22:38

Stan,

Yes, that is how I understand it. Unfortunately a religious Islamic backlash against secular learning centuries later eventually pushed the Muslim world into a dark ages as well, a dark ages that it has not yet emerged from. But as you say, for a while the muslim nations were the leaders in learning and science.

Good observation.

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A Reader
04/02/2010 22:53

The concept of the university; the hourglass, sundial, mechanical clock; eyeglasses; horse collar, bit, bridle, stirrups, spurs, horseshoes; cross bow, long bow, siege engines, cannon, chain mail; windmills; ship rudders; the compass; wheelbarrow; mouldboard plows; the broken arch, the ribbed vault, buttresses; water-powered sawmills; skeleton-first hull construction for ships, multiple masted ships and the sails that operated them; the astrolabe; the wisdom to adopt gunpowder, silk, and arabic numerals from the east; artesian wells; use of hops to preserve fermented beverages; oil paint; the blast furnace; the water hammer; the foot-treadle loom; the concept of the quarantine to control contagion; the spinning wheel; Gutenberg's movable-type press. SOAP, for crying out loud.

Those are European medieval inventions and concepts and adaptations and adoptions -- secular ones -- that come to mind off the top of my head.

How sure are you that the loss of spiritual authority resulted in a corresponding cessation of secular development? Just what do you think should have happened in the secular sphere that did not?

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Jeff G link
04/03/2010 13:04

Didn't the dark ages correspond to the decline of the Roman Empire? Indeed, doesn't that seem like a plausible explanation for it, the decline of a centralized government?

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Dave C.
04/03/2010 20:59

A Reader,

I am referring to the Dark ages in a scientific sense; most of the things in your list are technologies. There is a difference between science and technology, although the two overlap. There may have also been a dark ages in technologies - I don't know, I am not a historical technologies expert.
Most historians agree that there was a dark ages where scientific discoveries moved at a snail's pace compared to rapid discoveries during centuries leading up to the dark ages such as in Alexandria and during the classical Greek era.

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Dave C.
04/03/2010 21:46

Jeff,

While the collapse of the Roman empire did not help matters, decline of secular scholarship preceded the Fall of the Roman Empire. For instance, in 50 AD, Seneca, a Roman philosopher and personal assistant to Emperor Nero, observed that things were getting so bad that “the day will yet come when the progress of research through long ages will reveal to sight the mysteries of nature that are now wholly concealed." He also wrote that "The day will yet come when posterity will be amazed that we remained ignorant of things that will to them seem so plain.” He also declared that “far from advance being made toward the discovery of what the older generations left insufficiently investigated, many of their [past] discoveries are being lost."

Despite the efforts of scholars and rulers to promote intellectual work, the world remained in intellectual darkness. In Greek Science after Aristotle, G. E. R. Lloyd offers answers, none of which directly implicates the fall of Rome. He proposed that scholarly work may have waned because of (a) widespread skepticism regarding one’s ability to uncover the causes of natural events, (b)the belief that ancient scholars possessed superior knowledge, (c) the lack of communication and manpower, and (c) the decline of agriculture." “Yet,” as Lloyd points out, “when we attempt to estimate the impact of these and other circumstances on the work of [scholars], we must admit
that we are largely left to guesswork.”

Just some ideas to consider.

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