It's bits and pieces of both. Christianity certainly wasn't the foundation or origin of Europeans by any stretch, but it was pivotal to withstanding early Islam. OTOH if the native religions and philosophies had been organized like Christianity or Islam were, with codified dogma and stuff, they might have had even more success. The conquering was already more or less the same pre-Christianity as it was in colonialism.
Rather, it was the foundation stone of the multiple nation states that came onto the scene after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
As the centuries wore on, Europe was Christendom and Christendom was Europe.
It forged an identity that even when divisions arose, the people still clung too.
Today's modern day cucking of Western civilization has way too many reasons but to blame this solely on the Faith that created what we think of as "Europe" and put it on the path of glory is just plain nonsense.
Naturally it was, Christianity was already the state religion of Rome prior to its collapse. You shouldn't think of Europe as Christendom alone, though. The glories that came after the Renaissance were inspired by the rediscovered glories of pre-Christian Europe. I think the main argument would be Christianity's what helped enable the post-Roman, feudal era divisions, while introducing more divisions of its own (East/West, Protestants). Whereas under normal circumstances it'd just be the same as Greek and Roman expansion, the people not needing to cling to a "secondary" sort of identity because they'd already be coalesced under their Empire and its religion.
But the obvious counter-argument is they'd have ended up just being mass-converted to Islam the same way they were to Christianity
One could argue there would be no Islam had there been no Christianity.
And you forget which part of the Roman Empire collapsed.
The Eastern half which was very much Christian and urban didnt.
The Western half, which was rural and not a centre for Christianity did.
All the ancient sees and cities of the ancient Church are in the Eastern Roman Empire - Rome being the sole exception.
Otherwise, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem and Constantinople are all east.
Also, it's often forgotten that Arianism had spread primarily amongst the Germanic tribes and there was an extreme struggle as Arians had the upper hand over the Carholic Orthodox churches.
Also, the light of the Greco-Roman civilization was kept alive by the Church in Rome, which sent missionaries to the Western lands to Romanise and Latinise the new population - the various Germanic tribes, from the Franks to the Vandals and later the Angles, Saxons and then the Scandinavians
The Renaissance we know about and the one you are referring to was the 3rd one in the West.
The first was the Carolingian Renaissance, the second was the Renaissance of the High Middle Ages and the third one is the Renaissance of the Italian city states and they were finally able to access more Greek learning because of the fall of Constantinople in the East to the Ottomans.
It's bits and pieces of both. Christianity certainly wasn't the foundation or origin of Europeans by any stretch, but it was pivotal to withstanding early Islam. OTOH if the native religions and philosophies had been organized like Christianity or Islam were, with codified dogma and stuff, they might have had even more success. The conquering was already more or less the same pre-Christianity as it was in colonialism.
You misunderstand.
I didn't say Christianity founded Europe.
Rather, it was the foundation stone of the multiple nation states that came onto the scene after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
As the centuries wore on, Europe was Christendom and Christendom was Europe.
It forged an identity that even when divisions arose, the people still clung too.
Today's modern day cucking of Western civilization has way too many reasons but to blame this solely on the Faith that created what we think of as "Europe" and put it on the path of glory is just plain nonsense.
Naturally it was, Christianity was already the state religion of Rome prior to its collapse. You shouldn't think of Europe as Christendom alone, though. The glories that came after the Renaissance were inspired by the rediscovered glories of pre-Christian Europe. I think the main argument would be Christianity's what helped enable the post-Roman, feudal era divisions, while introducing more divisions of its own (East/West, Protestants). Whereas under normal circumstances it'd just be the same as Greek and Roman expansion, the people not needing to cling to a "secondary" sort of identity because they'd already be coalesced under their Empire and its religion.
But the obvious counter-argument is they'd have ended up just being mass-converted to Islam the same way they were to Christianity
One could argue there would be no Islam had there been no Christianity.
And you forget which part of the Roman Empire collapsed.
The Eastern half which was very much Christian and urban didnt.
The Western half, which was rural and not a centre for Christianity did.
All the ancient sees and cities of the ancient Church are in the Eastern Roman Empire - Rome being the sole exception.
Otherwise, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem and Constantinople are all east.
Also, it's often forgotten that Arianism had spread primarily amongst the Germanic tribes and there was an extreme struggle as Arians had the upper hand over the Carholic Orthodox churches.
Also, the light of the Greco-Roman civilization was kept alive by the Church in Rome, which sent missionaries to the Western lands to Romanise and Latinise the new population - the various Germanic tribes, from the Franks to the Vandals and later the Angles, Saxons and then the Scandinavians
The Renaissance we know about and the one you are referring to was the 3rd one in the West.
The first was the Carolingian Renaissance, the second was the Renaissance of the High Middle Ages and the third one is the Renaissance of the Italian city states and they were finally able to access more Greek learning because of the fall of Constantinople in the East to the Ottomans.