The Renaissance and Christian Humanism

The high Middle Ages from the year 1,000 to 1,300 was a period of unprecedented prosperity, religious reform, and educational expansion.

The population had grown steadily with increased crop yields coming from technological innovation, improved farming practices, and cultivation of marginal lands. This agricultural stability and population growth supported an expanding economyderived from the Greek term, oikonomia, for “steward” or “household management,” is a term used to describe a plan of salvation through Christ and is not to be confused with the current usage of this word.. In Eastern Orthodox theology,... more and trade. Prosperity helped stabilize the political arena, with the nobility becoming secure and entrenched in their domains. The Churcha term translated from the Greek word “Ecclesia” which means an assembly called together and is sometime translated as a congregation. A church is an organized group of believers who adhere to a set of core beliefs. The Church in... more became the center of medieval life at all levels and embarked on a massive construction campaign, building numerous impressive cathedrals. At the same time, the Churcha term translated from the Greek word “Ecclesia” which means an assembly called together and is sometime translated as a congregation. A church is an organized group of believers who adhere to a set of core beliefs. The Church in... more facilitated the creation of universities which were often tied to increased scholastic and doctrinal endeavors.

This all came to a screeching halt with the devastation of famine, plague, and political unrest that is commonly referred to as the fourteenth-century Crisis. This calamity, however, set the stage for the revolution of ideas that changed the world forever, the RenaissanceThe term derived from the Latin word meaning “reborn” that refers to the European cultural movement from the 14th to the 17th centuries that sought to advance learning through the recovery of classical texts and ideas and saw great advances... more and humanismWas a movement during the Renaissance to recover and teach the ancient Greek and Roman classics, language, literature, rhetoric, poetry, and history to instill virtue and good government and influenced a concurrent movement within Christianity to reform of the Church... more.1

It all began with a change of weather. The medieval warm period (900–1300) came to an end in 1315, resulting in six consecutive years of harsh winters, and sporadic cold years thereafter, causing crop failures in the marginal lands which had been cultivated over the years to support the growing European population. Starving peasants ate their seed reserves to live, leading to even further famine. The land could no longer support the increased population in Europe because of this seismic change in weather patterns. But that was just the beginning.

In 1346, a ship from Crimea arrived in Sicily with tiny passengers that would kill half of Europe. Fleas. Rats on the ship had fleas that carried the bacteria causing bubonic plague: a horrendous, painful disease causing huge dark lumps on the skin which rapidly spread over the victim’s body, usually leading to death. The population was terrified of catching this mysterious black death. They did not have any biological resistance to the new disease, so it spread rapidly through the populace already weakened by famine. To make matters worse, the bubonic plague was accompanied by the even deadlier pneumonic plague that caused death through slow asphyxiation. This plague was spread through the air by the victims’ extensive coughing and sneezing. Over the next three years, this dual plague spread across Europe. It was endemic, so after it decimated a community, it would lie dormant for a while, only to resurface again a few years later. These waves of death flowing over Europe for a hundred years wreaked havoc on the psyche of the continent. To make matters worse, it primarily killed individuals in their childbearing years, drastically reducing the reproduction rate of the population for a century.

This collapse in the population caused economic, social and political upheaval throughout Europe. With upward of 60 percent of the population wiped out in three years, the demand for food and goods collapsed at the same time the shortage of labor led to demands for higher wages from the surviving peasants, causing inflation. Some governments countered by freezing wages, leading to peasant revolts. The loss of profits from economic activity across the board created a depression which affected the nobility’s lifestyle, leading them to compete for the few government positions which were still lucrative. Bloody civil wars broke out, including the famous War of the RosesThe War of the Roses refers to the bloody three-decade war fighting over the throne of England from 1455 to 1487. Two arms of the royal House of Plantagenet claimed the right to rule England. A red rose was the... more in England. However, advancements in weaponry made warfare much more expensive. Bullets from the new firearms, and arrows from powerful crossbows and longbows, pierced the armor designed to protect knights from swords. With the effectiveness of armored knights compromised, the need for sheer number of soldiers increased. The local lords, however, needed laborers to support their farms, leading to the need to hire mercenaries. Kings then demanded the nobles contribute more money to pay for the expensive weaponry and mercenaries, but the nobles were generally struggling with their own financial problems, leading to a breakdown of the ancient feudal system that had maintained order. During this same time, the credibility of the Churcha term translated from the Greek word “Ecclesia” which means an assembly called together and is sometime translated as a congregation. A church is an organized group of believers who adhere to a set of core beliefs. The Church in... more was damaged by the papal disputes previously discussed, referred to as the Babylon Captivity and the Great Schismrefers to the period between A.D. 1378 and 1417 when multiple individuals claimed to be the rightful pope, which ended with the Council of Constance. more. The social order of the European continent was in disarray. Doom and gloom ruled the day.2

There was one bright spot that bucked this pessimistic state of the world, northern Italy and Florence in particular. There, some intellectuals resolved to create a whole new world order out of the dying old system. They referred to this revival as the RenaissanceThe term derived from the Latin word meaning “reborn” that refers to the European cultural movement from the 14th to the 17th centuries that sought to advance learning through the recovery of classical texts and ideas and saw great advances... more (rebirth). They looked back to the golden age of Greek and Roman antiquity to find the keys to recreating an ethical, educated, and prosperous society. They labeled the period after the fall of Rome as the Middle Ages, which they viewed as a period of corruption and decline that brought on the disarray in the world surrounding them. They viewed the problem as systemic, requiring a clean break from erroneous traditions and a rebirth of classical antiquity.

Why did this revolutionary spark take hold in Florence and gradually spread until it eventually caught fire throughout Europe? The population in northern Italy was concentrated in several large cities while the rest of Europe was predominately rural. These cities prospered because of a concentration of wealth in the urban centers from centuries of trade with the Middle East. This urban environment resembled the ancient Greco-Roman world more than it did in the rest of Europe, thus naturally inviting its leaders to look to the past for solutions to their current problems. In addition, these northern Italian cities had gained their independence from the Holy Roman Empire(A.D. 962) The Holy Roman Empire emerges in the Germanic areas and Northern Italy with Otto I assuming the imperial crown descended from Charlemagne. more in the Twelfth century and were separate, independent republics referred to as communes. Unlike the rest of Europe, Florence, like other northern Italian city-states, had expelled its nobility and was run by wealthy citizens called patricians. The city’s political structure was designed to distribute power among the commercial elite. This was done through an elaborate system involving committees from the guilds to avoid any one wealthy family gaining absolute control which led to an engaged citizenry. At various times, Milan and Venice each tried to conquer the region, but were thwarted by Florence aligning with the weaker adversary to maintain the balance of power. Florence had become very astute in international politics.

The woolen industry was the foundation of Florence’s economyderived from the Greek term, oikonomia, for “steward” or “household management,” is a term used to describe a plan of salvation through Christ and is not to be confused with the current usage of this word.. In Eastern Orthodox theology,... more. One third of the population worked directly in this industry. It was illegal to conduct any commercial activity unless you were a member of a guild. The industry had seven great merchant guilds run by the wealthy patricians and fourteen minor guilds run by the artisans for each step of the production process. One of the great guilds was a guild for bankers, which played a major role in the city and region. Florence had eighty banks with over three hundred branches abroad which facilitated the import of wool and the export of finished goods. Just prior to the onset of the black plague, two of the largest banks failed when King Edward III of England defaulted on the loans they gave him to help fund England in the Hundred Years WarThe Hundred Years’ War began in 1337 over a dispute over the ownership of land in France known as the Duchy of Aquitaine, and the right to rule France. King Edward III of England invaded France after Philip VI, king... more, creating uncertainty in the large commercial banking industry and constriction of economic activity.

The black plague hit Florence before it had recovered from its banking collapse, creating greater upheaval. Florence lost forty thousand people (40 percent of the population) the first year of the plague and half of its foreign and domestic market. Like the rest of the known world, Florence was thrust into a deep depression. The wealthy patricians were hesitant to invest in commercial activities because of the increased risk involved. However, they still had money to invest, partially because it was inherited wealth that had accumulated over centuries. The plague decimated the population indiscriminately, so this wealth became concentrated in the hands of fewer heirs, creating a richer per capita upper class looking for safer investments in which to place their money. They turned to art and antiquities, providing the capital needed to fuel the RenaissanceThe term derived from the Latin word meaning “reborn” that refers to the European cultural movement from the 14th to the 17th centuries that sought to advance learning through the recovery of classical texts and ideas and saw great advances... more. In addition to the sense of security afforded by investing in collectables instead of risky business ventures, they had the added benefit of enjoying the beauty of their investments immediately, which was of increased value when death seemed to lurk behind every door.3

The individual behind this new worldview which created the RenaissanceThe term derived from the Latin word meaning “reborn” that refers to the European cultural movement from the 14th to the 17th centuries that sought to advance learning through the recovery of classical texts and ideas and saw great advances... more was Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374). He was the personDerived from the Latin term persona and the Greek term prosopon. It is a technical term in Christian theology for the concept that the Trinity consist of three separate persons united as one essence with one of the persons (the... more who coined the terms Middle Ages and RenaissanceThe term derived from the Latin word meaning “reborn” that refers to the European cultural movement from the 14th to the 17th centuries that sought to advance learning through the recovery of classical texts and ideas and saw great advances... more. He inspired his peers to look beyond the medieval scholastic approach to education and instead to seek learning from the classical Greco-Roman era. He complained that scholasticismRefers to the rational approach to theology that dominated Roman Catholic ideas in the High and Late Middle Ages that developed in the universities in contrast with the more devotional form of theology found in the monasteries during the early... more was impractical and did not lead to the development of the ethical citizenry needed to elevate society out of the depth of their current misery and despair. He felt that everyone should be taught how to live a good life as opposed to relegating education to the study of logic and esoteric ideas by the elite. He took exception to the Aristotelean idea of his day that because humans were rational beings, all that was needed for them to live ethical lives was to know the good. He held a less optimistic view of humanity and felt that the human will was corrupt and needed more than knowledge and logic to reform it. He stressed that the focus of education should be changing the human will to live an ethical life, and this was best achieved through a study of classical Latin rhetoric.

Petrarch wrote a satirical book attacking scholasticismRefers to the rational approach to theology that dominated Roman Catholic ideas in the High and Late Middle Ages that developed in the universities in contrast with the more devotional form of theology found in the monasteries during the early... more by pointing out how their writings were foolish, impractical and inelegant. He demonstrated how their Latin had become corrupted over time and had lost much of its beauty and clarityis a term derived from the Latin word for “bright” that refers to a glorified resurrected bodies ability to shine with glorious light emanating from their souls. See also agility, impassibility, and subtlety for other qualities of resurrected beings. See... more. He stressed the need to study history, literature and poetry in the original Latin in order to appreciate its beauty and its ability to inspire the human mind and soul. This turn to their roots and search for beauty resonated with the populace who were starving for something glorious to lift their spirits out of the dreary hopelessness brought on by the black death. Petrarch understood this perfectly because of his own touch with death as a survivor of the plague. He inspired Florence and, in turn, the world to live for the glory of God, to strive for excellence, and not simply wait to die. This new optimism sparked a revolution in artistic expression unparalleled in human history, giving rise to masters such as Michelangelo(A.D. 1508) Pope Julius II commissions Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. more, Leonardo, Donatello and many others. Petrarch reminded the medieval world what it meant to be human. Thus, a new worldview emerged: a quest for excellence through living a well-educated and well-rounded-life called humanismWas a movement during the Renaissance to recover and teach the ancient Greek and Roman classics, language, literature, rhetoric, poetry, and history to instill virtue and good government and influenced a concurrent movement within Christianity to reform of the Church... more. Petrarch personified what has become known as a RenaissanceThe term derived from the Latin word meaning “reborn” that refers to the European cultural movement from the 14th to the 17th centuries that sought to advance learning through the recovery of classical texts and ideas and saw great advances... more man.4

Change and movement are always the result of tension between competing forces, whether it involves physics, societies or religious institutions. Religions perpetually deal with tension between intelligence, emotion and authority. This tension is accentuated when there is dramatic change such as that brought on by the RenaissanceThe term derived from the Latin word meaning “reborn” that refers to the European cultural movement from the 14th to the 17th centuries that sought to advance learning through the recovery of classical texts and ideas and saw great advances... more. The story of two dynamic individuals in Florence during the fifteenth century demonstrates how this tension played out in real life and provides us with a lens through which to view Christian history thereafter. These individuals were Giovanni Pico(A.D. 1463–1494) Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was an Italian philosopher during the Italian Renaissance. He famously drafted 900 theses on religion, philosophy, science, and other topics, and published them with an invitation to all comers to publicly debate the propositions. more della Mirandola (1463–1494) and Girolamo Savonarola(A.D. 1452–1498) Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar in Florence who fought against clerical corruption, tyrannical rule, and oppression of the poor. He was briefly successful in expelling the Medici from Florence and leading the republic, until he drew the... more (1452–1498).

One would be hard pressed to find a better example of someone who caught Petrarch’s vision of humanismWas a movement during the Renaissance to recover and teach the ancient Greek and Roman classics, language, literature, rhetoric, poetry, and history to instill virtue and good government and influenced a concurrent movement within Christianity to reform of the Church... more during the RenaissanceThe term derived from the Latin word meaning “reborn” that refers to the European cultural movement from the 14th to the 17th centuries that sought to advance learning through the recovery of classical texts and ideas and saw great advances... more than Giovanni Pico(A.D. 1463–1494) Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was an Italian philosopher during the Italian Renaissance. He famously drafted 900 theses on religion, philosophy, science, and other topics, and published them with an invitation to all comers to publicly debate the propositions. more della Mirandola (hereafter, “Pico(A.D. 1463–1494) Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was an Italian philosopher during the Italian Renaissance. He famously drafted 900 theses on religion, philosophy, science, and other topics, and published them with an invitation to all comers to publicly debate the propositions. more”). He was a tall, striking young man from an aristocratic family who had mastered several ancient languages by his twenties. He was driven by a quest for excellence and the search for truth and wisdom. He wrote, “Let some holy ambition invade our soul, so, dissatisfied with mediocrity, we shall eagerly desire the highest things, and shall toil with all our strength to obtain them, since we may if we wish.”5

By age twenty-three, he had assembled truths from all the known world’s philosophers and religions into his list of 900 Theses. Many of these ideas were new to Western Europe because he was the first personDerived from the Latin term persona and the Greek term prosopon. It is a technical term in Christian theology for the concept that the Trinity consist of three separate persons united as one essence with one of the persons (the... more to translate them into Latin. He also proposed holding a great international council where the top intellectuals from around the world could meet to discuss these ideas. When he published his Theses, he also published a companion work titled Oration on the Dignity of Man, in which he championed Petrarch’s ideas. He argued that of all God’s creatures, only humans have free will and the power to improve themselves. Accordingly, it was God’s desire that learning be our primary life endeavor.6

His thirst for knowledge, however, did not sit well with the popeThe Roman Catholic bishop of Rome who is regarded as the successor of the chief apostle, Peter, and as the Vicar of Christ is the holder of the Apostolic See and head of Christ’s church on earth. more (Alexander VI(A.D. 1 Jan 1431–8 Aug 1503) Born Roderic Borgia and became pope on August 11, 1492. Considered one of the most corrupt popes for nepotism and fathering several children through his several mistresses, yet referred by some Catholics for increasing... more), because Pico(A.D. 1463–1494) Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was an Italian philosopher during the Italian Renaissance. He famously drafted 900 theses on religion, philosophy, science, and other topics, and published them with an invitation to all comers to publicly debate the propositions. more promoted the audacious notion that even though Christianity contained a lot of truth, it did not have a monopoly on it. When Pico(A.D. 1463–1494) Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was an Italian philosopher during the Italian Renaissance. He famously drafted 900 theses on religion, philosophy, science, and other topics, and published them with an invitation to all comers to publicly debate the propositions. more was only twenty-four years old, the popeThe Roman Catholic bishop of Rome who is regarded as the successor of the chief apostle, Peter, and as the Vicar of Christ is the holder of the Apostolic See and head of Christ’s church on earth. more assembled a commission to investigate Pico’s Theses, and not surprisingly, they found some of them to be heretical. Pico(A.D. 1463–1494) Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was an Italian philosopher during the Italian Renaissance. He famously drafted 900 theses on religion, philosophy, science, and other topics, and published them with an invitation to all comers to publicly debate the propositions. more fled to Florence, where he was highly respected. While there, he convinced his friend, Girolamo Savonarola(A.D. 1452–1498) Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar in Florence who fought against clerical corruption, tyrannical rule, and oppression of the poor. He was briefly successful in expelling the Medici from Florence and leading the republic, until he drew the... more, to join him.7

Savonarola(A.D. 1452–1498) Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar in Florence who fought against clerical corruption, tyrannical rule, and oppression of the poor. He was briefly successful in expelling the Medici from Florence and leading the republic, until he drew the... more was a short Dominican friar, known for his dynamic, uncompromising, fiery preaching. As previously mentioned, one of the prime aims of the Dominican order was to stamp out heresyComes from a Greek term meaning “sect,” and was used by the early Church theologians to identify doctrines that they rejected as not orthodox. The term does not refer to unbelief but ideas held by some baptized Christian that was... more and sinful activity, and Savonarola(A.D. 1452–1498) Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar in Florence who fought against clerical corruption, tyrannical rule, and oppression of the poor. He was briefly successful in expelling the Medici from Florence and leading the republic, until he drew the... more took this mission to heart. He wrote a letter to the kings of Europe denouncing Pope Alexander VI(A.D. 1 Jan 1431–8 Aug 1503) Born Roderic Borgia and became pope on August 11, 1492. Considered one of the most corrupt popes for nepotism and fathering several children through his several mistresses, yet referred by some Catholics for increasing... more as “an illegal vicar of ChristDerived from a Greek term meaning anointed and is equivalent to the word “messiah” from Hebrew roots. The anointing references the act of installing a new king similar to the modern custom of crowning a king, so the term “Christ”... more,” guilty of simonyThe practice of buying a church office with its benefice (source of income) which was widely practiced in the Middle Ages. more (selling church offices), who “led an immoral life and was an unbeliever.”8 This popeThe Roman Catholic bishop of Rome who is regarded as the successor of the chief apostle, Peter, and as the Vicar of Christ is the holder of the Apostolic See and head of Christ’s church on earth. more was infamous for his many mistresses, illegitimate children and VaticanAn independent city-state within the broader city of Rome. Vatican City is ruled by the Pope, the Catholic Bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church. more parties, to which he invited as many prostitutes as he did priests.9

Savonarola(A.D. 1452–1498) Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar in Florence who fought against clerical corruption, tyrannical rule, and oppression of the poor. He was briefly successful in expelling the Medici from Florence and leading the republic, until he drew the... more became very popular in Florence, preaching to crowds of fifteen thousand people. In 1494, the French king Charles VIII invaded northern Italy and conquered Florence, which had been ruled by the Medici family for thirty years. When the French withdrew, Savonarola(A.D. 1452–1498) Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar in Florence who fought against clerical corruption, tyrannical rule, and oppression of the poor. He was briefly successful in expelling the Medici from Florence and leading the republic, until he drew the... more filled the political power vacuum. He convinced much of the public that he was a prophet, called by God to prepare them for the imminent advent of the apocalypse. He envisioned a great city council consisting of members from the lower classes, instead of the elites, who would serve for life. Most importantly, the populace needed to demonstrate to God that they could rule themselves by mastering their own moral conduct rising above the worldly affluence that surrounded them. He would work his audiences up into a frenzy and convince them to throw their treasured belongings—jewels, artworks, furs and books—into his “bonfire of the vanities.”10

Savonarola(A.D. 1452–1498) Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar in Florence who fought against clerical corruption, tyrannical rule, and oppression of the poor. He was briefly successful in expelling the Medici from Florence and leading the republic, until he drew the... more was a lightning rod. People either loved him or hated him. On one occasion, a group of adversaries broke into the cathedral and smeared feces all over the pulpit, laid the smelly carcass of a donkey on top and hammered in nails from beneath so Savonarola(A.D. 1452–1498) Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar in Florence who fought against clerical corruption, tyrannical rule, and oppression of the poor. He was briefly successful in expelling the Medici from Florence and leading the republic, until he drew the... more would impale his hands when he pounded the pulpit while preaching. In 1497, the popeThe Roman Catholic bishop of Rome who is regarded as the successor of the chief apostle, Peter, and as the Vicar of Christ is the holder of the Apostolic See and head of Christ’s church on earth. more excommunicated Savonarola(A.D. 1452–1498) Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar in Florence who fought against clerical corruption, tyrannical rule, and oppression of the poor. He was briefly successful in expelling the Medici from Florence and leading the republic, until he drew the... more and threatened to excommunicate anyone who supported him. He put the whole city of Florence under an interdictAn order from the Pope that no sacraments including baptism, the Eucharist, Penance, and even Christian burial, could be performed in a particular country. This extreme sanction was used as a political tactic by popes to control kings in the... more preventing them from performing any Churcha term translated from the Greek word “Ecclesia” which means an assembly called together and is sometime translated as a congregation. A church is an organized group of believers who adhere to a set of core beliefs. The Church in... more sacrament more. The tide turned and he was convicted of heresyComes from a Greek term meaning “sect,” and was used by the early Church theologians to identify doctrines that they rejected as not orthodox. The term does not refer to unbelief but ideas held by some baptized Christian that was... more, hanged and burned to ashes, which were thrown into the river so there would be nothing left of him. Pico(A.D. 1463–1494) Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was an Italian philosopher during the Italian Renaissance. He famously drafted 900 theses on religion, philosophy, science, and other topics, and published them with an invitation to all comers to publicly debate the propositions. more had been poisoned earlier with arsenic, probably by one of the Medici family members, because of his support of Savonarola(A.D. 1452–1498) Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar in Florence who fought against clerical corruption, tyrannical rule, and oppression of the poor. He was briefly successful in expelling the Medici from Florence and leading the republic, until he drew the... more.11

It is hard to find two individuals more different: physically, in temperament, and in approach to life. Yet they were united in striving to improve the world and to do God’s bidding. Here we see the fundamentalist preacher and the liberal intellectual working together. They both sought to reform the Churcha term translated from the Greek word “Ecclesia” which means an assembly called together and is sometime translated as a congregation. A church is an organized group of believers who adhere to a set of core beliefs. The Church in... more, one through reason and the other through emotion. But they both met their downfall by challenging the authority of the popeThe Roman Catholic bishop of Rome who is regarded as the successor of the chief apostle, Peter, and as the Vicar of Christ is the holder of the Apostolic See and head of Christ’s church on earth. more. We have seen how the interplay of these three forces—reason, emotion and authority—has shaped Christian history. We will see this dynamic repeat itself as we move forward to the Protestant Reformation(A.D. 1517) The Protestant Reformation begins as Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses, largely in response to the widespread abuses caused by the aggressive commercialization of indulgences. more and into the modern era. Recognizing this pattern will help the student of religious history grasp the essencethe English word generally used for the Greek term ousia, that is also translated as “being” or “substance” and refers to that which makes something what it is such as human nature is the essence of a human being. This... more of what otherwise would appear to be a complicated and confusing story.12

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