The Renaissance marked a rekindled interest in Roman and Greek literature in the West. For hundreds of years, the writings of Plato and Cicero were merely footnotes in history. The West had no access to those writings, even though medieval writers frequently referenced them. Towards the end of the High Middle Ages, various scholars including Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Poggio Bracciolini, rediscovered the classics from Rome. Some of the pieces of literature were obtained through expeditions to the East, some were found in monasteries, and others were taken to the West by Eastern scholars fleeing the siege of Constantinople. Gutenberg’s marvelous invention, the printing press, only fueled the spread of curiosity in ancient antiquity and helped preserve and spread the newly rediscovered documents. In short, the Renaissance marked the end of an age and a transition to a new world.
The Catholic Church had once held a firm grip over cultural thought. However, following the 14th-century crises and the turmoil, disillusionment, and fornication among the clergy, the Catholic Church’s influence began fading. While most citizens still professed to be Christian, their actions spoke louder than their words. Monastic living was no longer honored. Clergy were ridiculed as degenerates. The Church was culturally mocked. The dwindling respect for the Catholic Church, as exemplified in the first story in Boccacio’s Decameron, left civilization hungry for something else to worship. Thus, the West turned back to the classics of Rome and ridiculed the Christian High Middle Ages, labeling that era the “Dark Ages.” Of course, that was a grotesque mischaracterization. Look at the architectural beauty in the monasteries and cathedrals. Look at the literary flowering during the Carolingian Renaissance. Look at the educational advancements with the development of the university system. The Early and High Middle Ages were not dark. They were beautiful. Most modern historians acknowledge this. Nevertheless, figures during the Renaissance looked down on the High Middle Ages and developed ideas that were very critical of the prior norm. Some of those key ideas were fair and held water, while others exemplified human hubris.
Individualism was front and center during the Renaissance. Art and poetry were no longer pursued only for the sake of beauty. Instead, poets lusted for fame and immortality through their writings. They wanted to be like Cicero whose speeches survive thousands of years later. The same was true of the arts. Previously, sculptures and paintings in the West were largely anonymous. Some were created to beautify monasteries, but the focus was always on the art itself, not the artist. With many artists signing their works for the sake of fame and historical immortality, a shift occurred where the artist became the focus, not the art. Fame was the focus, and pride was the disease. Like any other pandemic, it spread like wildfire and permeated every sphere of Western art, from paintings and architecture to love poems. This idea that man could attain greatness in this world without the assistance of God was one of the diabolical sins of the Renaissance. It exalted man, and it diminished God. In short, the pursuit of fame was central to the Renaissance, and hubris should be viewed as morally repulsive.
However, there was some moral beauty resulting from the Renaissance. Monks and friars made it popular to disregard the temporal world and only focus on Heaven. Focusing on Heaven is not inherently wrong. All Christians are called to lay up treasures in Heaven, but that is not a justification to neglect earthly duties. After all, Christians are also commanded to exercise dominion over creation as God’s steward.1 The problem with the industrious pagan is that he works for himself. He works for personal gain, not realizing that the Earth is God’s. On the other side, there is the Christian who acknowledges that all cattle on a thousand hills belong to God,2 so he neglects to work diligently on this earth, confusing diligence for greed. Diligence is not greed. Some may be called to live in monasteries, but that is not the majority. The majority is called to acknowledge the earth as God’s and govern it on His behalf. Humanity is divinely endowed with the responsibility to be a good steward.3 Because of the Renaissance’s emphasis on worldly pursuits, Western culture accepted the fact that ecclesiastical and monastery work was not the only way to glorify God. That was an important realization for the West. They needed to remember the dominion mandate and not completely forsake this material world to only focus on the immaterial world. Heaven is important, but Christians should not completely abandon this world and view it as inherently corrupt. The world is not inherently corrupt. The world is inherently beautiful and good—as God declared when He created it4—but that beauty and goodness were marred by the heinous touch of sin. Therefore, it is the Christian obligation to proclaim the gospel to the rest of the world and let Christ sanctify creation’s corruption to showcase its inherent beauty.
Finally, the Renaissance placed an effort to appreciate classical literature, poetry, and history over philosophy and theology. There was a reemergence of Aristotelian logic and philosophy during the Carolingian Renaissance. Scholastics like Thomas Aquinas used that logic and philosophy to serve Christianity. In a way, they morphed theology and philosophy into a cohesive worldview where neither contradicted the other—theology was logical, and logic proved theological truths. However, members of the Italian Renaissance were bored with this obsession with theology and philosophy. Petrarch in particular, hated Aristotle because he was not eloquent. On the other hand, Petrarch adored Cicero because of his eloquence. Therefore, the Renaissance was in many respects diametrically opposed to the Scholastics. One side favored theology and philosophy, while the other side preferred poetry and eloquence.
- Genesis 1:18 (NKJV): Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.”
↩︎ - Psalm 50:10-12 (NKJV): “For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would tell you. For the world is Mine and all its fulness.”
↩︎ - Matthew 25:14-30 (NKJV): “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
↩︎ - Genesis 1:31 (NKJV): Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
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Asher Sisneros 