Introduction

The church fathers of early mediaval times eminent Christian teachers, great bishops and influential theologians. Their scholarly works formed precedent for many years. The earliest church fathers are called the apostolic fathers. Those fathers who wrote in Greek language were called the Greek fathers. They had a great impact of the medieval times. The most important apostolic fathers included Polycarp of Smyrna, clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch. The most important Greek included, the Irenaeus of Lyons, and clement of Alexandria.

The contributions to the development of the Catholic Church

First they contributed to development of the Catholic Church through preaching the gospel of Christ. This was the most typical characteristic of the Roman Catholic Church. The gospel of Christ which was different formed the distinct of the Roman Catholic and differentiated it from other religions. Through their scholarly works they developed the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Clement of Alexandria saw the need of developing a church as union of the body of Christ which as per the teaching of the scriptures. He was the first member of the church to be more than just a name because of the church named the church of Alexandria. He was also one of the most distinguished teachers preaching the gospel doctrines to the people. He played the role of uniting the Greek philosophical traditions with the Christian doctrine. To bring the people to Roman Catholic Church he valued gnosis that the communion of all the people could also be held by the common Christians. He also played a big role in developing of a Christian Platonism (Spielvogel 95-97). The other church father of the ancient times that played a great role in the development of the Catholic Church was the clement of Rome. He called on to the Christians of Corinth to maintain order and harmony which were the essential values that contributed to the development of the Catholic Church. He scholarly works contributed to the development of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.

How evolution of the Roman Catholic Church shaped the middle ages

The Roman Catholic Church had far reaching effects on the people. First and foremost so many people were converted into Christianity from other religions or from paganism. The other effect was strengthening unity among the people. There were many people in agreement in the same religion and in it they became one. The religion also taught values like harmony and peace which people adopted in pursuance of the teachings. The roman catholic church through it teaching lead to a emergency of Christian philosophers who formulated theories about the natural rights of human beings that originated from the god and which no other man was able to take fro the other human being. These theories contributed to the emergency of basic human rights such as the right to life. The Roman Catholic also played agree role in civilization. It was the major source of medical care, schooling and other social services in many Nations in the world. Through its teaching it played a great role in ending in bringing to an end practices such as slavery human sacrifice, polygamy and infanticide. In general Christianity affected the status of women through condemning practices such as infanticide where in some societies female infants were killed. Also through condemning practices such as divorce, polygamy, incest marital infidelity and birth control, the status of women was adversely affected (Spielvogel 203-204). Many social structures in the Roman Empire at the dawn of Christianity regarded the as inferior beings both physically and intellectually. An example is the Athenian woman who was regarded as a child regardless of their age. They were termed as legal property of come men. All this was changed by the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Conclusion

The Roman Catholic Church had very many effects on the ancient societies. These are only but a few major ones.

Citations

Spielvogel. J.(2009) Western Civilization: A Brief History. United States. Cengage Learning