Cathedrals, Crusades, and Controversy | The Medieval Church at Its Height (Ep. 7)

Stand inside a great medieval cathedral and look up. Stone rises higher than seems possible, and light falls through colored glass like something from heaven. These buildings took a century to raise, and the people who began them knew they would never see them finished. This was the medieval church at the peak of its power, able to reach the heights of beauty and holiness, and the depths of violence and greed, often at the very same time. This is Episode 7 of The Church Through the Ages, a cinematic documentary series tracing the full 2,000-year story of the Christian Church. In this episode we explore the age of soaring cathedrals and great universities, the Crusades told honestly, and the corruption and sale of indulgences that set the stage for the storm to come. In this episode: How the church became the framework of all of life in medieval Europe The great cathedrals and the birth of the first universities Thomas Aquinas and the union of faith and reason Pope Urban the Second, the call to Crusade, and "God wills it" The Crusades told without sanitizing, including their brutality and lasting wounds How power and wealth drew corruption into the church The sale of indulgences, and the single book at the center of the coming storm