The growing force of the Renaissance

 The Middle Ages in Europe was an era in which feudalism was common. The worldview of that era was not to question things. It was assumed that church officials spoke for God, therefore they had great authority. The main purpose of life was “to get to heaven”.  Happiness in this life was thought to be irrelevant. Needless to say, questioning and exploration were not a high priority.

 The art of the Middle Ages showed life from a religious perspective. Religious imagery was the focus as images in this world were thought to be less important

 Life was changing. Ideas were coming from different cultures. A new way of doing things was being explored and a merchant class began to emerge. Things were changing. People now believed that:  Life could be changed  Life could be enjoyed As things changed, people looked back and wondered why life didn’t change earlier.

 In the Renaissance, people still believed in God, but the idea of God and religion, started to decline in importance. People were tired of the “restrictive authority” of the church. They began to view human beings as independent and playing a more important role on earth, instead of always being under the rule of religion.

 Humanism is a wide range in perspectives that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, and particularly rational thinking.  Humanism contrasts the idea of appealing to the supernatural (God) as a form of authority. As a result, humanists are somewhat suspicious of absolutes and religion, feeling that the person should have a say in what is right and wrong.

 During the early Renaissance, humanism was in its infant stages. At this time, Humanism was connected with the notion, that not everything had to revolve around the church. Instead, God could be known through personal experience, study of the Bible and Creation as well as the church.  In this sense it could be said that Martin Luther and John Calvin were “Christian humanists.”

 It must be noted that “Humanism” of the Renaissance provides the starting point for the “Humanism” of today.  Later (during the 18th century Enlightenment) Humanism continued to change and increasingly came to mean an interest in human life without recognition of a higher being (God).

Middle Ages (Fundamentalist) Worldview Renaissance (Humanist) Worldview Positives: Negatives:

Secular Humanism (Left) Religious Fundamentalis m (Right)

Francesco Petrarch was born shortly after 1300 in a time and place where very few could read or write and those that did considered it a chore where as Petrarch saw a blessing. His passion to write his thoughts to paper was only overcome by the need to sleep or eat. So great was his desire to write his thoughts and feelings and so difficult was it to find anyone in Europe to match his desire he found himself writing to Cicero, one of the only people he believed really shared his passion. (Cicero was a Roman Poet/Politician that died over 1200 years before Petrarch was born). His writings would go on to influence countless others such as Boccaccio to write his own great works. And centuries later others such as Shakespeare would study his works and copy his sonnets. Petrarch lived through the harshest bouts of the plague and lost nearly everyone he knew to it. His mother and father had died in his early years but his son, his grandson, numerous friends and a woman named Laura for which his writings of her will live on forever, all died as victims of the disease. So great were his writings that royalty treated him, the son of exiled nobles, like a king and in a letter to a friend he even goes as far as to say that he has caused his own plague to spread over Europe, one which has caused people to take up pen and paper and write and read. And so ended the dark ages and the start of Humanism. (