This being so, when the good and the wicked suffer alike, the identity of their sufferings does not mean that there is no difference between them. Though the sufferings are the same, the sufferers remain different...Thus the wicked, under pressure of affliction, execrate God and blaspheme; the good, in the same affliction, offer up prayers and praises. This shows that what matters in the nature of the sufferer, not the nature of the suffering. Stir a cesspit, and a foul stench arises, stir a perfume, and a delightful fragrance ascends. But the movement is identical.
St Augustine - City of God, Book 1, Chapter 8.
For the Art, Ideology & Doctrine (400-1000) subject, I have to comb through ancient manuscripts and literature from the early medieval period. This subject is not a study of theology per se; it just happens that Christian art, literature and mores pervaded the medieval period when it filled the vacuum that the Roman Empire left in its wake after its demise.
Like what the lecturers said, there is no avoiding Christianity when examining the medieval period.
Still from Christian point of view, I research this material with Godly reverence that others would normally regard with sheer intellectual detachment.
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