Radical Reformation

known as Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses in 1517. However, religious tolerance remained a controversial topic. In early modern Europe, most states had an established church supported by the ruler. However, partly as a result of the Protestant Reformation, many states had sizable religious minorities. While many were for freedom of religion, others were against it. People were for religious tolerance because of reputation, unity,…

The First Crusade was the first and most successful of a series of holy wars that defined the Middle Ages. Ostensibly a religious mission to regain the Holy Land, the crusade changed the ways the nobility interacted and opened western Europe to new ideas. While the goal of the First Crusade was to “rescue” Jerusalem, its most lasting effect was the strengthening of the Catholic Church. At the behest of the Pope, Urban II, a large group of French nobles went to try to recapture Jerusalem. The…

The tone of anger and condemnation once again intensifies with another example of the impotence of moral authority All hope for a brighter future is lost. Even the church is jaded and has lost it ability to comfort the people as expressed in the following lines: How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry Every black’ning Church appalls; The very lines prompt an even bleaker view of England in the nineteenth-century. The lines/sentences introduce us to the chimney-sweeper who are none but the…

The renaissance is the re-birth of classical ideas. Many artists of this period were influenced by the Roman and Greek culture and wanted to re-create their works by adding their own touch and thoughts. Also, at this time, art began to flourish and patrons commissioned many artists. Artists like Michelangelo Buonarroti and Hieronymus Bosch were and still are very famous for their works. In this essay, I will discuss “The Last Judgment” done by both Michelangelo and Bosch. Michelangelo was from…

Despite the extensive presence of the Catholic church in the late Middle Ages, it seems as though society was still fixated on the opposition between Fortune and free will. It is common knowledge that Christianity preached free will to its people, and that the idea of Fortune or fatalism was a pagan idea condemned by the Church. Fortune as a concept, then, could only be explored through writing. Geoffrey Chaucer was one of many writers who wrestled with the opposition between free will and…

During the early Fifteen Hundreds a man known as Martin Luther became a voice for a movement that would change the way people practiced religion. Previous to the Protestant Reformation, Europe had been through over a century of plague from the Black Death which desimated the population killing a third of European society. The plague was thought by many to be punishment by God for the sins Europeans had committed. Society especially the middle and lower class began to view the Church…

There were many different factors that contributed to the European witchcraze, one of which included the religious changes of the period. Before a judgment is to be made on how responsible these religious changes were for the European witchcraze, we must first take into account all of the other aspects which could also have some responsibility for the European witchcraze. Some of these aspects include: Intellectual changes, legal changes, religious changes, social & economic changes and warfare.…

Ludwig Feuerbach The Essence of Religion follows up his previous work The Essence of Christianity. The former with a greater focus on religion as whole rather than just Christianity itself. Within the Essence of Religion, Feuerbach spends are large portion of the book around the topic of Nature, and its connection to religion. Feuerbach first few sections serve the purpose of introducing what nature is and its relation to man. The latter being important to what Feuerbach discusses within the…

Riemenschneider's Assumption Tilman Riemenschneider created the Virgin’s assumption altarpiece meant for a church in Germany. The sculpture is often regarded as one of Riemenschneider’s greatest works. In the altarpiece, he incorporated forms and shapes that made his altarpiece stand out among other sculptures during his time. He utilized gothic forms which were intricate to highlight the features of the altarpiece. These intricate forms are visible in the sculpture’s canopy. In comparison to…

Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic priest and a philosopher, became the catalyst for a new era of medieval philosophical thinking. Aquinas’ philosophical theories revitalized the link between philosophy and theology in Western Christian Europe at a time when Europe looked likely to follow the footsteps of the Muslim world by spurning their own innovative thinker just like the Muslims had done with Averroes. However, Aquinas’ works including the most famous one, Summa Theologica, were widely acclaimed…