what was the historic Christian life like,?

I can just imagine a Visigoth peasant reading the Bible...
Ok.
Is the truth of what actually happened back then dependent on your imagination?

Eg, I'd like to imagine all the technology we enjoy today actually existed back then, and buried underneath piles of dirt, bricks, etc.... there are extensive caches of all the tech they had, just waiting for us to discover.

That doesn't make it true though...

So why would your imagination define what the reality of it actually is?
 
Many early first generation Christians during the dark ages between ~400 - 800 or so were so because they'd been forced to convert, either due to being conquered or because their chief or king decided to accept Christianity as their new religion. Were these peasants real Christians that had a relationship with god?
Based on what evidence?
 
By that I mean, during the "Dark" Ages until the Renaissance, between the early church before it became a state religion and the Reformation. What was the historic Christian life like?
The Christian religion was made the state religion of the Roman empire in the fourth century.
So, for ~1200 years did most common Christians have a relationship with god based on an understanding of what modern Christians believe a relationship with god must look like? Could it be said that they had a real relationship with god? If not, were they Christians?
Do you know anything at all about the history of your religion?
 
Why not read Augustine, Origen and some of the Christian "fathers" and find out for yourself? My guess is like post 1200 AD believers, they prayed and read the Bible a lot. And hunted and fished and farmed and were wheelwrights and blacksmiths and carpenters and such just like non-believers.
I have a respectful nitpick here.

Virtually nobody before the advent of the Gutenberg press had access to a bible since before that time all books had to be laboriously copied out by hand by scribes. Furthermore, the bible in that time was exclusively written in Latin, which was only understood by the clergy. So Christians at that time could not have read the bible AT ALL. They relied on an eccliastical class (which of course had its own agenda) to tell them about Christianity, which explains why most sects of Christianity are straight up heretical once one takes the trouble to actually read the bible.
 
By that I mean, during the "Dark" Ages until the Renaissance, between the early church before it became a state religion and the Reformation. What was the historic Christian life like? Specifically, what was their walk and faith like? I don't mean that of monks and priests, but of the common folk who were largely illiterate, had little education, and largely based their faith and beliefs according to what they were told by their priests.

The common and poor were rarely written about, but do we have manuscripts discussing people's daily faith? What do they say?

I ask because the Reformation touts how it not only reformed the faith, but also put the word in people's hands. They could read it for themselves.

We are told scripturally and by pastors that god wants to have a relationship with us.

I read somewhere recently that many early/medieval Christians would pray by saying Psalms. The rosary was invented in the 13th century.

Prayer is part of how we're supposed to have a relationship with god.

So, for ~1200 years did most common Christians have a relationship with god based on an understanding of what modern Christians believe a relationship with god must look like? Could it be said that they had a real relationship with god? If not, were they Christians?
Something like A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years might be useful to you, but I'm unsure whether it covers folk Christian belief in the period you have in mind. In any case, I'd avoid concepts like 'the historic Christian life': is there a contemporary Christian life?
 
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