The Roots of Medieval Religion and Philosophy. Traditionally, medieval Christianity is said to have begun in about the year 313, when Roman Emperor Constantine I extended legal tolerance to the Christian Church. From this beginning, the Christian religious tradition grew to inspire and permeate all aspects of medieval European culture, including its philosophy and religion, by the ninth century. Although the Eastern and Western Christian Churches had essentially separated by this time, all Christians in western Europe were theoretically united in devotion to one Church, and by the tenth century this Church had spread into northern and central Europe. Indeed, medieval European civilization may be described as the most complete and coherent attempt in history to realize a Christian society. For much of the Middle Ages this western Church was relatively unconcerned with complex doctrinal questions. Instead it focused on proclaiming that, in Christ, a new way of relating...