Protestantism

Renaissance laid the foundation for the protestant reformation through the provision of key ideas such as individualism, humanism, and skepticism, and because it questioned, challenged, and threatened the authority of not only the Catholic Church, but even that of God. The protestant reformation took the ideas put forth by the Renaissance and applied them directly in life through action. Men such as Martin Luther and Calvin both lead the example of living out the ideas of the Renaissance and certainly proved its weight in the existence of the movement through all that they achieved. The Renaissance brought on a new wave of thinking. For the first time in Europe, the thinking revolved around man, not God. The growth of city-states strengthened merchants and guilds. In these city-states, new ideas were introduced into the minds of citizens. One of these ideas was humanism, an un-Christian philosophy which focused on secular values and the dignity of human kind. The Renaissance was also a time for ideological experimentation. The Church lost much of its power during the late Middle Ages. Most people were more interested in the idea of “man” than that of God. There was more of an emphasis on human values than religion, and more interest in what made up the physical world around them than on the metaphysical God who supposedly created it. All of these ideas The start of the protestant reformation was due to the new beliefs about humans as the result of the renaissance such as individualism, that man can shape his own destiny, humanism, that humans are the center of the universe, human potential to have power and create a better society, not God. Skepticism because humans begin questioning attitude and challenge authority and tradition. omnipotence Men such as Martin Luther, a german monk, wrote the 95 theses in which he debates abuse within the Catholic Church. 95 theses could have no been possible without Gutenburg Press, a guild that utilized the revolutionary invention created during the renaissance called the movable type. This allowed ideas to spread quickly and easily because it did not require block printing, which was previously only available to the rich and was less efficient. Calvin thought that material wealth on earth meant salvation. Work is good, it builds character and success.                         The Rebirth of Europe The Renaissance brought on a new wave of thinking. For the first time in Europe, the thinking revolved around man, not God. The growth of city-states strengthened merchants and guilds. In these city-states, new ideas were introduced into the minds of citizens. One of these ideas was humanism, an un-Christian philosophy which focused on secular values and the dignity of human kind. The Renaissance was also a time for ideological experimentation. The Church lost much of its power during the late Middle Ages. Most people were more interested in the idea of “man” than that of God. There was more of an emphasis on human values than religion, and more interest in what made up the physical world around them than on the metaphysical God who supposedly created it.