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Lia Barnes

Ms. Adams

APEH

29 September 2010

The Age of Reformation

The ideals and methods of Renaissance Humanism contributed to the Protestant

Reformation in many ways. In Germany, England, and France, humanism laid the groundwork

for the reformation because the Northern Renaissance was more focused on religion than culture,

as it was in the Italian Renaissance. As a result, both religion and culture played a vital role in

the Reformation. The Renaissance sparked new methods of communication and education, as

well as, new attitudes towards religion, new trends in art and literature, and individualistic ideas

that contributed to the Protestant Reformation.

As new methods of communication and education came to rise, people became more

influential in society. In the mid-fifteenth century, Johann Gutenberg invented a printing press

with movable type. The printing press expanded the demand for books and literature. Books

were now being produced on more topics than just religion. As books were becoming more

diverse and more people were becoming literate, new ideas spread faster than they would have in

earlier times. Humanism also carried over the principle that ideas and learning should be

available to all people, not just the clergy or rulers that used their authority to restrict the learning

of others. A principle aspect of humanist thought involved critiques of the dogmas of medieval

Christianity. Humanists objected to the manner in which the Church controlled what people were
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able to study, controlled what people were able to publish, and limited the sorts of things people

could even discuss amongst each other. Thus, the ideas of humanists established the background

that started the Protestant Reformation against the Roman Catholic Church.

Renaissance Humanism placed more emphasis on man and less on the Church allowing

the individual to think through ideas and determine the meaning of truth rather than to follow the

ideals of the Church and the Pope. As a result, Luther and other reformers believed in their own

ideas when they were confronting some of the corruptions of the Catholic Church. Also, the

Renaissance rediscovered great thinkers of ancient Greece, such as Plato and Aristotle. These

discoveries encouraged new ways of thinking and gave people the ability to go against the

established ideas of the church. In addition, the Renaissance expressed individualism and, with

that, people became independent, self-thinking, and self-reliant while opposing the practices of

the Church. For that reason, there were artists, like Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rafael,

and Donatello, that were able to incorporate mannerism, notable for its intellectual sophistication

and artificial qualities, into their works. Renaissance mannerism allowed artists to affect

intellectual ideas into the minds of the people. With all of the different ways to interpret art,

literature, and individualistic ideas, there was a rise in many different forms of new religious

ideas and practices.

The ideals and methods of Renaissance Humanism contributed a great deal to the

Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformation owed so much to the developments of

Humanism and the work done by humanists to change how people thought. Humanists, like

reformers, were against the practices and structure of the Church. The Protestants were mostly

interested in the teachings of the Bible. The humanists made the translation of the Bible possible
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by sparking the widespread learning and education in the Renaissance. Because of the translation

of the Bible into the vernacular, it was possible for anyone to read it.

In conclusion, the Renaissance sparked new methods of communication and education, as

well as, new attitudes towards religion, new trends in art and literature, and individualistic ideas

that contributed to the Protestant Reformation. Humanist ideas spread throughout Europe and

educated people to give them a sense of individualistic thought. If it was not for these new ideas,

people would not be educated enough to start a reform against the corrupt Catholic Church,

Popes, and unjust rulers.