Religion from the Renaissance to the beginning of the Enlightenment
The Renaissance period brought about changes in the cultural and social arrangements of the people living during this era. The Catholic Church was still the major religion during this era. One of the major strengths of the Catholic Church during the beginning of the Renaissance was its ability to hold the norms and traditions of the society. During the Renaissance period, the church was an integral part of the society. It defined what rules and regulations people were to follow and how they lived their lives. The Catholic Church provided an avenue for people to hold onto the cultural and social beliefs they had developed over time (Wolffe 89). In the midst of all the changes that were taking place at the time, it was important to find a way to retain the traditions that the people had followed for so long. Even with the growing opposition to the Catholic Church, people still held onto some of the teachings that had become part of them as taught by the church. In fact, even when people moved away from the Catholic Church, they still carried some of the traditions as defined by the Catholic Church. In addition the Catholic Church also provided a well defined hierarchy in the church. There lineage of the church was well developed and people had become familiar with it. This was a positive aspect since people were familiar with the structure of the Catholic Church.
The Protestant Revolt presented some different views which were the source for change during the Renaissance, moving forward to the Enlightenment. First, the Protestant Revolt presented an avenue where people could relate directly with God as opposed to going through priests. One of the problems that the...
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...involve people from different social and political backgrounds (Smith). However, the Thirty Years War brought about negative consequences to both Catholicism and Protestantism. First and most important, this way claimed millions of people who were affiliated to both sides. This meant that the membership of both sides reduced significantly. Both sides sent out troops most of who died during the war. Civilians were also affected largely by the war with women and children living deplorably as a result of the war. Both Catholics and Protestants experienced the deplorable living conditions during the war (Smith). Food was not enough as agricultural activities were reduced as more people joined the war. In addition, the spread of disease was accelerated by the war leading to many deaths. In general, the Thirty Years War was a setback to both Protestantism and Catholicism.
The periods during the Reformation, Industrial Revolution, and the World at War all experienced religious and church conflicts. During the Renaissance and Reformation (1330 – 1650), the fundamental practices of the church came under fire. The church at this time was the largest and most political body. The pope, himself, was the most recognizable political figure. It was due to this authority that the church and its pope were more interested in political issues and less with the spiritual needs of the people (McGraw-Hill, p. 76). Many of the Roman Catholic Church’s high priests had bought their way into position and had very little religious experience. Often the only members of the community that were literate were the clergy thus adding to their control of the common people.
Roper, H. R.. The crisis of the seventeenth century; religion, the Reformation, and social change. [1st U.S. ed. New York: Harper & Row, 19681967. Print.
The individualism that characterized the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation may still be seen today. Research has shown that modern people, especially in western countries, tend to describe themselves using individualizing characteristics, like their appearance, occupation, or interests. Additionally, the Protestant Church is still influential in society, with hundreds of millions of worshippers: understanding the Protestant mindset, at least at the start of the Protestant Reformation, may help scholars better understand the Renaissance, based on the close link between the two
In the eighteenth century, many people believed that society could not function properly without religion, even though the thought of the time was heavily based off of antireligion. The popular and institutional religion differed greatly in the eighteenth century. Churches still remained to be a big part of everyday life. Parish church kept records of births, deaths, and marriages, provided charity for the poor, supervised whatever primary education there was; and cared for orphans. Catholic and protestant churches were conservative institutions that upheld society’s hierarchical structure, privileged classes and traditions. Protestant religions were considered to be more conservative the wealthy people ran them,
... the religious persecutions that were carried out by the Roman Catholic Church started to subside and the relationship between the Church and the State became a dichotomy.
Proving to be the paramount of the conflict between faith and reason, the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth century challenged each of the traditional values of that age. Europeans were changing, but Europe’s institutions were not keeping pace with that change.1 Throughout that time period, the most influential and conservative institution of Europe, the Roman Catholic Church, was forced into direct confrontation with these changing ideals. The Church continued to insist that it was the only source of truth and that all who lived beyond its bounds were damned; it was painfully apparent to any reasonably educated person, however, that the majority of the world’s population were not Christians.2 In the wake of witch hunts, imperial conquest, and an intellectual revolution, the Roman Catholic Church found itself threatened by change on all fronts.3 The significant role that the Church played during the Enlightenment was ultimately challenged by the populace’s refusal to abide by religious intolerance, the power of the aristocracy and Absolutism, and the rising popularity of champions of reform and print culture, the philosophes, who shared a general opposition to the Roman Catholic Church.
(Christianity) The christian church effected the renaissance by influencing who have the same rights and are equally the same people. G. K. Chesterton said "The renaissance was a resurrection of old things discovered by dead things". In christian light the renaissance scholars tried to discard their christian eyes, and look at thing as purely pagan. A purely secular buisness culture and buisnessmen discarded their christianity when they were in the office, for the first time in christian europe. Martin Luther King Jr, Calvin, and Henry the 8th looked at there futures and what they wanted more than what
The protestant reformation of 16th century had both: immediate and long term effects. Thus, we can see that it was a revolution of understanding the essence of religion, and of what God is. The protestant reformation is said to a religious movement. However, it also influenced the economical, political and social life of people. The most global, short term effect of the reformation was the reevaluation of beliefs, and, as a result, the loss of authority of the Holy Roman Empire. The long term effects were: the emergence of new heretical movements, the declining of papacy, thus the reevaluation of people’s view on the church and life values.
The Reformation was a decisive period in the history not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the entire world. The causes of this tumultuous point in history did not burst on the scene all at once, but slowly gained momentum like a boil that slowly festers through time before it finally bursts open. The Reformation of the Church was inevitable because of the abuses which the Church was suffering during this period. At the time of the Reformation, a segment of the Church had drifted away from its mission to bring Christ and salvation to the world. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church had gradually become weaker because of abusive leadership, philosophical heresy, and a renewal of a form of the Pelagian heresy.
What happens when people start to break away from the entity that bound an entire civilization together for over a thousand years? How does one go from unparalleled devotion to God to the exploration of what man could do? From absolute acceptance to intense scrutiny? Sheeple to independent thinkers? Like all revolutions preceding it, the Protestant Reformation did not happen overnight. Catholics had begun to lose faith in the once infallible Church ever since the Great Schism, when there were two popes, each declaring that the other was the antichrist. Two things in particular can be identified as the final catalyst: a new philosophy and simple disgust. The expanding influence of humanism and the corruption of the Catholic Church led to the Protestant Reformation, which in turn launched the Catholic Reformation and religious warfare.
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is one of the most complex movements in European history since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Reformation truly ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation ended the religious unity of Europe and ushered in 150 years of religious warfare. By the time the conflicts had ended, the political and social geography in the west had fundamentally changed. The Reformation would have been revolutionary enough of itself, but it coincided in time with the opening of the Western Hemisphere to the Europeans and the development of firearms as effective field weapons. It coincided, too, with the spread of Renaissance ideals from Italy and the first stirrings of the Scientific Revolution. Taken together, these developments transformed Europe.
As previously stated, the renaissance was the rebirth of society. What led to this was a decrease in faith because of the great schism, a conflict between two popes, where both said they were the pope. People were starting to take a secular view compared to what the church told them to believe. Society was changing to where individual viewpoints mattered. With politics starting to matter, and a better economy, places were beginning to be city centered, specifically city states, which are urban societies that have taken secular views.
Both the Renaissance and the Reformation helped shape all countries today. The Renaissance helped people focus more about the individual person rather than the social class in which they were born. The Reformation was a building block to more forms of Christianity that are still taught today, such as Protestantism. If we had not had either of them, our religion, politic, and even our writing would be different.
The Roman Catholic Church’s reputation in wealth and power furnished them with the ability to have a major impact over feudal society. Their wealth earned them great power and loyalty from the royals and citizens. Their power was used to restrict not only peasant folk but also nobles and the monarch in following the Catholic faith. This influenced everyone’s daily life and morals. The Church was similar to a government institution where it sustained its own laws and rights. This provided stability to the land as people have benevolent morals with the assistance of religion. Education from the Church has initiated structural learning which made a gradual end to the barbaric era (Dark Ages). The Church’s legacy gained them the medieval reputation from society and this has influenced the reputation of the Church today.
Secularism is a term used to describe a greater focus on reason and science rather than religious matters. Those who practiced the idea of secularism studied the world more incisively through physical experience, and substantial concepts. Secularists thought about ideas more objectively than religiously, which didn’t necessarily conflict with their Christian faith. The Church really did nothing to stop the growth of Secularism, and many Church officials often supported it. Secularism forced the people of the Renaissance to think about why things happen. Before the breakthrough of the idea of Secularism, people just believed what the Church told them without even thinking about why. The Renaissance was a birth of intellectual change and prosperity.