Ryan Patrick’s Reviews > Gregory the Great and his World > Status Update

Chapter 12: Inconcussam servare provinciam. Gregory learned to deal carefully with the African church, given its long history of dissent and independent identity, after some early misunderstanding. In the end, he failed to really bring it closer to Rome and it would only be another half century until Africa had fallen under Muslim control.

Chapter 11: In cunctis mundi partibus. In his dealings with the Franks in Gaul, the Visigoths in Spain, and the Anglo-Saxons in England, Gregory tended to view them through an imperial lens - his aim was to support efforts at improving Christian life in these lands, not to forge a counter, papal imperium in the West.

Chapter 10: Ravenna and Rome. Gregory's world was fast becoming one dominated by local powers and factions, which made his attempts to interfere in places like Ravenna, or even Dalmatia, more and more difficult. He tried to play the game, but was not always successful.

Chapter 8: Argus luminosissius. Gregory was a very conscientious landlord, administering a vast array of estates throughout the west, mainly through rectors that he expected to live up to his own high ideals--they were regularly urged to be humane and fair in their dealings--and Gregory used these revenues to fund a wide variety of charitable missions, besides simply running the papal administration in Rome.

Chapter 7: Terra mea. Gregory's loyalties to the emperor and the Empire were sorely tested by their (lack of) attention to the Lombards in Italy: Gregory did everything he could to secure peace and stability, but the emperor neglected Italy (he had other problems in the East) and his vicar, the Exarch, often undermined Gregory's efforts at negotiating a peace.

Chapter 6: Christiana respublica. Gregory had a strong sense of loyalty to the Roman Empire and was more than willing to let the emperor exercise his authority over the Christian community, while expecting him to defend that same community from threats external or internal, which must have been disappointing when he couldn't get imperial support in his attack on the prideful use of the title 'ecumenical patriarch.'

Chapter 5: The Christian Community and Its Neighbors. Gregory is very much a traditionalist, but with a pragmatic streak: use the traditional laws and rules as a basis for community building and regulation, but accommodate where possible to achieve higher goals.

Chapter 4: Approprinquante mundi termino. While Christians throughout the ages have all thought they were living in 'the last days', Gregory has an odd sense of this where he is definitely close to the last days, but thinks they are still a little ways off, and thus it is a time for activity and cultivating holiness, which is what leads to his writing his Dialogues.

Chapter 3: Sapienter indoctus. Gregory was highly educated by the standards of his day, but he was really only interested in using his secular knowledge to help him understand and explain scripture--getting beyond the literal into the allegorical and the moral, especially since, again, the whole purpose of contemplative scripture study was to facilitate the active life of preaching.

Chapter 2: Integritas animi. Desiring to be a monk but called to be a bishop, Gregory developed the view that the contemplative and the active had to be combined: he must use his contemplation to prepare for his preaching and ministry to his flock, which would hopefully raise the community of Christians to new levels of contemplation themselves.