Beginnings
The term "Renaissance" literally means rebirth. The
Renaissance took place in Europe between 1350 and 1700. This was a
time period in which Western Europeans "rediscovered" much of
the art, architecture, philosophy, legal principles, and other
advancements of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The Crusades, which
ended just before the Renaissance started, actually helped to ignite the
Renaissance. Many of the Crusaders, who made their way to the holy
land to regain Jerusalem from the Muslims, passed through the Byzantine empire and came into contact with this
Greek and Roman knowledge that had been preserved there. Also, the
Crusaders came into contact with Muslim culture, which was much more
advanced than anything that the Europeans were doing. As a result,
the Crusaders brought this "new-found" knowledge back to
Europe upon their return from their journeys and this helped to ignite
the "rebirth" of Western Europe. |
Humanism
The Renaissance was not only a time of great art and architectural
achievement, by people like Da Vinci and Michelangelo, but it was also a
time for questioning the established way of thinking. The
established way of thinking at the time was greatly influenced by the Catholic
Church and as a result the questioning attitude of people like the
humanists came into conflict with accepted Church teachings.
Humanism entails two important characteristics, both of which greatly
influenced reform of the Church and scientific advancement:
- A questioning attitude
- The idea that heaven was important but that time on earth
should be enjoyed and used to accomplish great things - value of the
human existence for its own sake
These two ways of thinking greatly influenced scientific advancement,
new forms of art, and religious controversy. |
Protestant Reformation & Martin Luther
Because the humanists went about questioning everything under
creation, conflict with the Catholic Church soon followed and resulted
in another split in the Christian faith. Martin Luther played a
very significant role in bringing about the Protestant
Reformation. Luther wrote down all of his criticisms of the Church
and nailed them to the door of the church at Wittenberg, in the Holy
Roman Empire. Luther had 95 criticisms of the Church and called
his document the "95 Theses". The ideas contained
in Luther's 95 Theses quickly spread due to the use of the printing
press and thus became a "mass media" event. The chart
below explains Luther's ideas and their impact:
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What did Luther believe was wrong with the Church?
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What were Luther's Ideas?
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What were the Effects of the Protestant Reformation?
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 | The Church's practice of selling indulgences, or the forgiveness
of sin, was wrong and were not the way to attain salvation
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| The practice of simony was wrong (the selling of Church offices) |
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| The way to obtain God's grace/salvation was simply through faith
and the reading of the Bible, not through good deeds
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| Church practices should be simplified - fancy ceremonies &
robes were unnecessary |
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| More division of the Christian religion into many different
Protestant sects, like Lutheranism, Calvinism, Puritanism, Anglican,
which all broke away from Roman Catholicism and the power of the
pope
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| Henry VIII of England forms his own protestant church, the
Anglican Church
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| The Counter-Reformation and the Inquisition begin to seek out heretics |
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