Medieval Church, the

Abstract The medieval period of church history focuses on the growth, theology, and practice of the church in Europe during the vast period beginning around ad 600 and concluding shortly after ad 1500. But just what exactly makes this period the “middle ages” as implied by the word “medieval”? Is it because it comes between the vast learning of the classical Greek and Roman world and the renewal of classical studies in the Renaissance? Or is it because it comes between the high water mark of Patristic Theology and the renewal of original biblical language studies that marked the humanists of the Reformation Age?