In the Middle Ages, Christianity had a great influence on the people of the time. As Christians, people had many goals and spiritual truths to recognize, including attaining the kingdom of heaven and praising Jesus as the one and only King. To get to heaven, they believed it was important to know the teachings of Jesus and pray to God. Additionally, they believed that following Christ's teachings and applying them in daily life would help them achieve these goals and learn these truths. Based on these actions, artists and thinkers shaped their art and politics to fit these roles. The artist who created the reliquary of Sainte-Foy intended to persuade spectators to pray while the artist who created the doors of Saint-Michel church intended to teach spectators about Scripture . In his writings The City of God, Augustine explains how Christianity leads to peace in a state, the goal of many medieval thinkers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Pilgrimages were very important in the Middle Ages. There were many purposes for making a pilgrimage, including obeying a promise made, making amends, and most importantly, deepening one's faith. Being closer to God in this life meant being closer to Him in the next. Many Christians traveled great distances to gather and pray. Pilgrims traveled to biblical sites such as Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem; however, Christians found themselves unable to travel to the Holy Land safely due to the start of the Crusades. As a result, medieval people began to create shrines and churches so that they could safely make pilgrimages to Europe. A famous shrine was the relic of Sainte Foy located in the Sainte Foy church in Conques, France. The relic is dedicated to Saint Foy, an influential religious figure known for her refusal to sacrifice to pagan gods. Sainte Foy was and still is a great example of how Christians should follow their faith. As Jesus told the apostles: “You will be hated by all because of me, but whoever stands firm with me until the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22). Pilgrims prayed to Saint Foy to find the strength to follow their faith. The relic was useful in focusing people's prayers on this goal of Christianity. It is interesting to note that the statue does not resemble the maiden of Sainte Foy. This is because the statue was originally a Roman sculpture. The practice of taking ancient Roman art and transforming it into the medieval style was very common; pieces made in this way are known as spolia. The Spolia were created in order to establish a slight link with the Roman Empire; however, this was seen as a weak attempt to try to imitate the Romans and received the derogatory term "novel". Furthermore, the statue is very ostentatious; it is gold and jewel encrusted. An issue arose as to whether or not the statue functioned as a link to prayer due to its extreme nature. The garish appearance of the Relic of Sainte Foy is not a singular case. Many people were very concerned that the relics walked the line between a means of worship and idolatry. Saint Bernard asked: “What is this gold worth in the sanctuary? It was hard for some to believe that the pilgrims were only migrating to pray and not look at the glittering statues. Saint Bernard exclaimed that fanciful relics onlydistracting worshipers from their prayers which are the exact opposite of what they are supposed to do. Saint Bernard furthered his argument by asserting that relics were used to generate tourism revenue for churches rather than to provide a religious experience for pilgrims. Although education was not completely obsolete in the Middle Ages, it was generally centered on monasteries and not commoners. . For this reason, many people did not have access to the Bible. Artists used it as an opportunity to create art that made the Scriptures more accessible to the public. A number of these pieces depicted biblical stories; this was very useful in teaching Christianity to uneducated people. Saint Gregory the Great, in his letter to Mgr Sérénus of Marseille, affirmed that “what Scripture is to the educated, images are to the ignorant”. In a society dedicated to Christianity, it was essential to spread the word of God by any means possible. These works lead to a much broader understanding of Christian doctrine, which enhances people's spirituality. The bronze doors of St. Michael's Church are an example of art used to teach. The Old Testament stories are told in descending order on the left side and the New Testament is told in ascending order on the right side; this represents the fall and rise of man respectively. Each panel is associated with its opposite counterpart. For example, Eve tempting Adam is associated with the Crucifixion; sin is rewarded with salvation. The doors can lead to a comprehensive understanding of how God saves humanity through Jesus Christ, an essential theological concept of Christianity. Besides art, politics in the Middle Ages was largely influenced by Christianity. Most thinkers of the time were trying to create peace within their society. Peace has an important connection to Christianity because it is “the peace of God which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). Saint Augustine discusses the considerable impact of Christianity on the Roman Empire in The City of God. While most of his contemporaries believed that Christianity had ruined Rome, Augustine claimed that Rome's fall was due to its immoral actions. Augustine's purpose in writing The City of God was to provide Christians with a reason why God had allowed a pagan empire to flourish for so long. According to Augustine, Rome had set up its state to succeed, even if it was imperfect. Christian doctrine says that the only way to find pure happiness is to love God above all else, even above yourself. Rather than turning inward, the Roman people focused on the love of a higher power: the glory of Rome. The imperfection was the lack of God, but God allowed the continuation of their empire because they turned outward; The Romans had the good idea of ​​devoting all their work to something greater than themselves, even if it wasn't God. The Romans believed that everyone did their part to glorify Rome because “order is the distribution which assigns equal and unequal things, each to its place” (Augustine, page 4). The system described was Augustine's way of creating peace in society; everyone had to do their part to glorify God. Augustine also explains how Christianity shows that politics is undesirable. Politics creates false virtue. The politics of justice only aims to prevent people from doing bad things, but does not push them to do good and noble things. Augustine reflects on this idea about politics by asking himself "what is his occupation if not waging a perpetual war against the.