Chapter 13 - Renaissance

Question 1

Define Christian Humanism.

Answer 1

The notion that there is value in the achievements of classical culture and those things are worth studying.

Question 2

Where was Christian Humanism “at home”?

Answer 2

Northern Europe.

Question 3

What did Northern Europeans conclude the purpose of the Renaissance was?

Answer 3

Classical knowledge as a means to further their religious studies and not an end in and of itself.

Question 4

Why was there an impetus to explore the New World?

Answer 4

1) The Renaissance utilizing fostering a culture of discovery.
2) Cutting Out the Middle Man in the Expensive Trade of Oriental Goods.

Question 5

Who was Christopher Columbus?

Answer 5

An Italian sailor who studied the Portuguese Method of Exploration and Navigation and tried to sail to the East Indies (Asia).

Question 6

Who directed the Portuguese sea exploration effort?

Answer 6

Price Henry the Navigator.

Question 7

Who supported Columbus’s effort?

Answer 7

Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain.

Question 8

Why did Italy not want to support Columbus’s effort?

Answer 8

Italy already controlled trade with the Muslims.

Question 9

Why did Portugal not want to support Columbus’s effort?

Answer 9

Portugal already found a way to the East Indies around the horn of Africa.

Question 10

What happened in the wake of Columbus’s return from the New World?

Answer 10

Western European powers sought to establish colonies in the New world.

Question 11

What emerged at the end of the Renaissance in regards to civilization?

Answer 11

A modern form of civilization that is similar, if not the one, in which we currently live.

Question 12

List the changes in civilization that took place and the general category those changes fall under.

Answer 12

1) Economics - Manorialism gave way to Capitalism.
2) Politics - Feudalism gave way to strong central governments.
3) Religion - Roman Catholic unity gave way to Protestant division.
4) Society - The Middle Class became more powerful and wealthy.
5) Education - Learning became secularized and beyond the control of the clergy.
6) Worldview - Other-worldly mindset became replaced by a secular mentality.
7) Truth - Theology was displaced by science and reason.

Question 13

What does the phrase Renaissance mean in the context of this lecture?

Answer 13

A Rebirth of the Classical World, a resurrection of the humanistic worldview.

Question 14

What does the humanistic worldview believe and celebrate?

Answer 14

Human worth, individual ability, and man’s potential.

Question 15

What are the formal dates for the Renaissance?

Answer 15

1350 -1550.

Question 16

Where did the Renaissance start?

Answer 16

The Northern Italy city-states.

Question 17

Why did the Renaissance start in Italy?

Answer 17

1) The Commercial Nature of the City States exposed the people there to ideas from the Byzantine, Arabic, and Greco-Roman cultures.
2) Commercial Wealth created a class that could support full-time artists and scholars. ( A patron class)
3) Italian city-states enjoyed more freedom that European Manors.
4) Roman Catholic Popes tried to win back prestige by spending on art and became generous patrons.

Question 18

Was the Renaissance entirely secular or humanistic?

Answer 18

No it was not. For example, art still possessed religious themes.

Question 19

What two traits or characteristics did the Renaissance nature in Western Europe?

Answer 19

1) Individualism

2) Humanistic Thinking.

Question 20

What did Individualism mean and how did it override Medieval Thinking?

Answer 20

Individualism postulated that upward mobility was possible and that no external restraints should inhibit self-expression and individual desires. This directly contradicted the Medieval perception hat one’s birth and family status determined the trajectory of one’s life.

Question 21

How did Humanistic Thinking evidence itself in Renaissance society?

Answer 21

Men read and understood the Ancient Greek and Roman writers without using a theological screen. No longer did scholastic theologians hold all the answers but Aristotle could and other philosophers could teach modern men how to live well.

Question 22

Was initial Renaissance humanism inherently un-Christian?

Answer 22

No, it simply speculated that there were some things not addressed in Scripture and that in those areas it would be helpful to turn towards philosophers for guidance.

Question 23

Who is called the Father of Humanism?

Answer 23

Petrarch.

Question 24

What cancelled out the Medieval view of man’s sinful nature?

Answer 24

The Renaissance’s construction of men as having unlimited bunds and creative powers.

Question 25

Who invented the term Middle Ages?

Answer 25

Renaissance Humanists.

Question 26

What was the Medieval view of the role of religion in government as opposed to the Renaissance view?

Answer 26

Medieval - political government operated in a religious paradigm and stipulated that actions must be moral and must further the Kingdom of God.
Renaissance - Politics was strictly secular and served no divine purpose.

Question 27

Who helped form the Renaissance view of politics?

Answer 27

Niccolò Machiavelli.

Question 28

In what book did Machiavelli establish the secular view of politics?

Answer 28

The Prince.

Question 29

What was the crux of The Prince?

Answer 29

That the rules of personal morality do not apply to leaders as they discharge their duty as heads of state.

Question 30

How did Medieval Art and Renaissance Art vary?

Answer 30

Medieval Art focused only on the world to come while Renaissance Art focused on this world but still had religious themes.

Question 31

What was the Religious Theme of Renaissance Art?

Answer 31

That men succeed when they live well in this present world and that people can fulfill their God ordained destinies in this world.

Question 32

What is a famous example of this perfection theme in Renaissance Art?

Answer 32

The sculpting of nude statutes with perfect bodies such as Michelangelo’s David.

Question 33

Name a rediscovered technique used in Renaissance painting.

Answer 33

Perspective and Foreshortening. To make works of art more lifelike.

Question 34

What invention plated a large role in transmitting Renaissance thought?

Answer 34

The Printing Press.

Question 35

What did northern humanists seek to gain out of the Renaissance?

Answer 35

A purer and more Biblical Christianity.

Question 36

Who was the leader of the northern Renaissance movement?

Answer 36

Erasmus.

Question 37

What did Erasmus do to earn him prominence among theologians?

Answer 37

Corrected the errors in the Vulgate’s translation and made the new translation available to the public.

Question 38

What was Erasmus’s presupposition in his quest for accuracy in translation.

Answer 38

The notion that Christians should carefully investigate the biblical texts for themselves.

Question 39

What did Erasmus believe about True Christianity?

Answer 39

It did not depend upon doctrine, ritual, or the power of the clergy, bur rather Christian living that displays kindness, compassion, toleration, and a healthy respect for rational inquiry.

Question 40

Who would be Martin Luther’s most formidable theological opponent?

Answer 40

Erasmus.

Question 41

Who was the most influential English Humanist?

Answer 41

Thomas More.

Question 42

What was one of Thomas More’s radical proposals on reordering society?

Answer 42

The abolition of private property.

Question 43

What was More’s most famous work?

Answer 43

Utopia.

Question 44

Who’s literature enshrined Renaissance virtues?

Answer 44

Shakespeare.

Question 45

How does Shakespeare’s literature illustrate Renaissance virtues?

Answer 45

Shakespeare’s characters control their own destiny. Fate and Fortune exist but never God’s providence. The focus of the stories is honor, heroism, love, weaknesses, and failing. Men are able to overcome their weaknesses if they strive mightily.

Question 46

What should impact the Christian’s view of the Renaissance and why?

Answer 46

1) The Renaissance fueled the Reformation. (Ideas like humanism in reading the Bible for oneself were developed by Renaissance thinking.)
2) The Enlightenment is the bigger villain. (Renaissance ideas were nurtured in some Christian worldview while the ideas of the Enlightenment turned science and inquiry into a worldview of its own.
3) Christians should be slow to call Renaissance art sin because of its portrayal of secular themes. (Otherwise Christians fall into monasticism but the art of non-Christians is not inherently sinful since God created art and can use it for His glory.
4) Humanism is an evolution from Renaissance Humanism to Modern Humanism.
5) The Renaissance addressed human potential and affirmed human potential to glorify and serve God.

Question 47

What does Schaeffer’s paradigm of humanism allow Christians to do?

Answer 47

1) We can judge modern humanism/Enlightenment Humanism to be unbiblical.
2) We can separate post-Enlightenment humanism from Renaissance humanism.
3) We can be aware that the Renaissance ideas nurtured and yielded some unbiblical fruit but not all of it is unbiblical.

Question 48

What three focuses did a Christian Humanist usually have?

Answer 48

1) The Church’s failure to inspire people to live a Christian life.
2) Popular quasi-superstitious practices like the veneration of relics or pilgrimages.
3) Corruption and insincerity in the official Roman Catholic hierarchy.