Western Civilization: The Middle Ages And The Age Of Renaissance

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Throughout Western Civilization we have examined reforms in government, society, and philosophy, but one factor that did not rise to prominence until the Western world was well developed was religion. In ancient times, religion was correlated a lot with morality, ethics and virtues, aspects that could also be linked to the philosophical teachings of Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. In Greek culture, gods were an enormous part of their society as well as with the Roman gods, however, they were not seen as pleasant. It was not until Christianity began to take off that people began to truly wonder about “Who is God?” and “What is the church?”. The three most well-known debates surfaced from the Renaissance, or the age of rebirth, the Reformation, …show more content…

( Section 1: The Middle Ages and the Age of Renaissance). The Renaissance was a time period that took former knowledge, ideas and thoughts and challenged them through means of education, art and philosophy. Taking effect mostly in Italy, this era was full of new thoughts, interests and scientific discoveries, however, none of this new found knowledge focused heavily on the church. “As humanists, Renaissance scholars tended to be more secular, meaning they focused on the daily life of the world rather than on theology and the church. They were interested in a broad range of knowledge rather than focus on spiritual or religious concerns” ( Section 1: The Middle Ages and the Age of Renaissance). Because the Renaissance was not completely centered around theology, a lot of their principles regarding the church were made up on their own or studied through means of art, literature and/or philosophy. The Renaissance did address some issues with the church but rather raise objections to God, Enlightenment thinkers challenged the Roman Catholic church’s authority. These thinkers were firm believers in corporate church and reading …show more content…

Nonetheless, the Reformation did make people inquire, “How is a person saved?” ("Section 10: The Reformation and the Renaissance”). Enlightenment thinkers most like would have rationalized this answers and the Catholic Church most likely would turn to the Catholic Church for interpretation. The Reformation, much like the Renaissance believed in individualism and asking its people to look within themselves to find answers. Erasmus and Luther did both believe in humans being self reliant, but they did always agree. A big difference between the Reformation and the Renaissance would be that “humanists, believed that people were essentially neutral moral agents filled with as much potential for good as evil. Luther believed humans were morally evil creatures of habit, predisposed to act sinfully because of their fallen nature”(Section 9: Humanist Critics). Even though these two time periods had a lot of similarities, the varying views on human nature is what set apart the Reformation and the Renaissance era. Reformationists understand salvation to be obtained through faith and not moral character like the Renaissance thinkers believed it to be. Because of people like Luther who believed human nature was inherently evil, the need to answer “Who is God?” and “What is the church?” were more prevalent as Luther stated that the Bible was the answer

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