Rebirth and Reform in the West

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Rebirth and Reform in the West

• Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D.
• GSTR 221-O Western Traditions II
• Berea College
• Spring 2004

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PRELUDE TO THE RENAISSANCE

• 1300s plague, disorder, economic recession,
  isolation
• Latin heritage of West well-preserved, but Greek
  sources mostly lost or available only in Arabic
  translation
• 1400s population growth, rise of city-states,
  economic recovery, new exploration
• Renaissance rebirth of Greco-Roman traditions
  among literate urban elites, c. 1350-1550
  (especially in Italy)

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RENAISSANCE THEMES

• Optimism regarding human worth and potential
• Revival of classical Greco-Roman values
• Humanism -- Is there anything more wonderful on
  earth, our marvelous planet, than the miracle of
  man? (Sophocles)
• Naturalism The chief good is life according to
  nature. (Zeno of Citium)
• Skepticism -- The unexamined life is not worth
  living. (Socrates)
• Ideal luomo universale (universal man)
• Maximizes human potential
• Models himself on nature
• Subjects all to critical inquiry

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RENAISSANCE TECHNOLOGY

• Although Europeans use Chinese wood-block
  printing as early as 1100s, metal movable type
  invented in Germany c. 1450
• By 1500, over one thousand printers in business
  throughout Europe, with more than ten million
  copies of books sold
• Approximately half of all books sold are
  religious in nature
• Other popular titles include manuals of grammar
  and law, philosophical treatises, and romances

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GIOVANNI PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA (1463-1494)

• Most famous Renaissance philosopher
• Studies at Platonic Academy in Florence, Italy,
  as well as universities of Ferrara, Bologna,
  Padua, and Paris
• Regards all philosophical and religious
  traditions as containing nuggets of universal
  truth revealed by God
• Strongly influenced by Jewish and occult
  traditions as well as Christianity
• His work declared heretical by Pope Innocent VIII
  in 1486

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THE RENAISSANCE BEYOND ITALY

• In northern Europe, Renaissance manifests itself
  as Northern Humanism
• Like Italian Renaissance thinkers, Northern
  humanists revere Greco-Roman antiquity and
  emphasize intellectual self-cultivation
• Other themes
• Religious and social reform
• Strong concern for morality
• Focus on individual inner life
• Key figures include
• Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)
• Thomas More (1478-1535)

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THE REFORMATION(S)

• By late 1400s, serious questions about doctrinal
  and institutional matters in Western Christian
  (Catholic) Church emerge, including
• Role of human intermediaries in process of
  individual salvation
• Training and accountability of clergy
• Use of local languages in worship and Biblical
  translation
• Various priests and bishops seek to reform, not
  split, the Church
• These reformers become known as Protestants

• Martin Luther (1483-1546) protests
  Church-mediated aids to salvation, insists on
  sola fides (faith alone) and sola scriptura
  (scripture alone)
• Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) protests authority
  of Pope over English Christians, insists on
  worship in English instead of Latin and use of
  English Bible
• Jean Calvin (1509-1564) protests idea that
  humans play an active role in their salvation,
  insists on absolute power of God to save or damn

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THE AFTERMATH OF THE REFORMATION(S)

• 1521 With support of local rulers, Luther
  establishes evangelical (Gospel-based)
  Christian church
• 1521-1688 Religiously-inspired warfare taking
  place somewhere in Europe
• 1555 Peace of Augsburg (Germany) recognizes
  Protestant-Catholic split, allows rulers to
  choose subjects faith
• 1598 Edict of Nantes (France) enforces
  toleration of Protestantism, allows Protestants
  to hold public office

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RENAISSANCE MEN AND/OR REFORMERS

• Many reformers are Renaissance humanists
• Humanists favor reformers focus on inner
  spiritual life, return to ancient texts, etc.
• Other humanists, prizing Christian unity, reject
  new churches
• Still others are suspicious of some reformers
  opposition to visual culture (use of images in
  Christian worship, etc.)
• Most laypeople are either too rural and/or too
  illiterate to participate in these urban,
  literate controversies

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