what Charles Taylor identifies as the three basic bulwarks upholding the medieval Christian “imaginary”—that is, the vision of reality accepted by all orthodox Christians from the early church through the High Middle Ages: The world and everything in it is part of a harmonious whole ordered by God and filled with meaning—and all things are signs pointing to God. Society is grounded in that higher reality. The world is charged with spiritual force. These three pillars had to crumble before
