For centuries, the Catholic Church had been the dominant force in Europe, but during the Renaissance, humanists began to question its teachings and practices.
Renaissance Humanism wanted to bring about a revival in the study of Classical Antiquity. They wanted to bring back Classical learning. And they wanted to reform Christianity.
So, how did renaissance humanists want religion to change?
In this article, we see what Renaissance Humanism was and what aspects of Christianity Renaissance humanists wished to change.
Stay tuned!
What was Renaissance Humanism?
Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings. Humanists believe that human beings have the power to give meaning and shape their own lives and do not, necessarily, have to be dependent on religious faith.
Renaissance Humanism was an intellectual movement that originated in the 14th century and focused on reviving the literature, art, and culture of Classical Antiquity. Renaissance Humanists sought to uncover the wisdom of authors such as Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero. They also sought to free the Church from dogma, rituals, superstition and legalism.
Over time, humanism would go on to challenge the Church’s authority, promote secularism and lead to the Protestant Reformation.
How Did Renaissance Humanists Want to Change Religion? (And Its Impact on Society)
Renaissance Humanists wanted to change religion (Christianity in Europe) and therefore its impact on society, in the following ways:
- Make religion more Humanistic
- Allow salvation through personal faith (rather than good deeds)
- Stop the practice of Indulgences (that led to corruption)
- Introduce education based on Classical Learning (rather than solely on the Bible)
- Reduce emphasis on dogma, rituals, and superstition
- Allow the laity to interpret the Bible by themselves (rather than solely by the Clergy)
Let’s now take a closer look at each of these different ways that Renaissance Humanists wanted to change religion.
#1. Make religion more Humanistic
Making religion more humanistic meant that Renaissance Humanists wanted to limit tradition and the Church’s authority, as well as focus more on individual beliefs.
Since Renaissance Humanism involved bringing back Classical learning, they wanted to free religion from dogma and superstition and introduce more rational thinking as was taught in Classical antiquity.
#2. Allow salvation through personal faith
Renaissance Humanists wanted to break away from the Church’s monopoly on truth and give people more of a choice in what they believed. They wanted to emphasize the idea that salvation could be achieved through the faith of the individual and not solely by good deeds as was taught by the Church.
This was a key tenet of the teachings of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther preached that faith in Jesus Christ was the only path to salvation and eternal life. Doing good deeds on earth (and receiving Indulgences in exchange) was not the right way to salvation.
#3. Stop the practice of Indulgences
Simply put, an Indulgence is a permit that reduces the time spent in purgatory for sins committed on earth. Think of it as a “get out of jail card”. The Catholic Church preached that a sinner (that’s everyone) could receive an Indulgence in return for a specific action. This action could be saying a particular prayer, making a pilgrimage, or doing certain good works.
So even if the intention of the Catholic Church had been good, so that people could atone for their sins by doing good deeds, eventually Indulgences led to corruption. At the time of Martin Luther, the Catholic Church used to accept payments in return for removing sins and reducing time in purgatory. So people could commit crimes and get off the hook by making a payment.
Martin Luther saw this as a corrupt practice and condemned it in his book titled Indulgences. Broadly speaking, Renaissance Humanists were against this practice, and eventually, the selling of Indulgences was made illegal by the Catholic Church.
#4. Introduce education based on Classical Learning (rather than solely on the Bible)
By definition, Renaissance Humanism was a movement that focused on Classical learning and the revival of Greek and Roman culture. As such, Renaissance Humanists wanted to introduce education based on the study of Humanities (rather than solely on the Bible).
They wanted to bring back the ideals of rhetoric, philosophy, history, morality, and poetry as taught in Greek and Roman antiquity. So instead of only focusing on the teachings of the Bible, they wanted people to have a broader understanding and appreciation of culture, literature and philosophy.
The core tenet of humanist thought was that humans could achieve their fullest potential through education, intellectual inquiry, and self-reflection. They rejected the idea of learning only from religious texts, instead taking a more broad-based approach that included secular works and literature.
#5. Reduce emphasis on dogma, rituals, and superstition
Humanists also attempted to make Christianity more reasonable by reducing the emphasis placed on superstition, rituals and dogma, while emphasizing the importance of morality and ethics.
They sought to move away from the Church’s control over faith and instead allow people to make their own judgments on what it meant to be good Christians.
#6. Allow the laity to interpret the Bible by themselves (rather than solely by the Clergy)
Renaissance humanists sought to make religion more accessible, understandable, and relevant. And one way they felt this could be done was to allow the laity (non-clergy) to interpret and understand the bible on their own.
They believed that people should not have to rely solely on the interpretations of priests and scholars. They wanted individuals to be able to form their own opinions based on the teachings of the bible. This was in stark contrast to the Church’s belief that only authorized priests could interpret and understand Scripture.
But understanding the Bible meant understanding Latin. This is why many Renaissance humanists and church reformers started printing the Bible in vernaculars. Martin Luther translated the Bible into the German vernacular. This spurred William Tyndale to start translating the Bible into Early English, the work eventually completed by Myles Coverdale in 1535.
Having the Bible broadly available, thanks to the Printing Revolution, was perhaps one of the most profound ways that the Renaissance impacted the Catholic Church.
Summary
Renaissance Humanists, predominantly, were reformists. They wanted to change the way that religion was practiced and understood.
They wanted to reduce the emphasis placed on dogma, rituals, and superstition; introduce education based on Classical Learning; and allow the laity to interpret and understand the Bible by themselves.
Additionally, they sought to make Christianity more reasonable by emphasizing the importance of morality and ethics. Ultimately, they wanted to make religion more accessible and understandable for all people.