Renaissance is the period that covered two centuries in history, from 1350 to 1550. The period was significant as it revealed a spirit of self-discovery and fulfilment. Renaissance was the beginning of religious reforms, and it had a remarkable impact on the role of religion in society. It came during times of religious turmoil. During the late middle ages, there was confusion on the church. Political intrigue revolving around papacy, exploration of western Schism, and a period whereby three people emerged and simultaneously claimed they were true pope. The Council of Constance resolved the schism conflict in 1414, leading to Conciliarism, which limited the pope’s powers.
However, the papacy emerged superior in ecclesiastical issues, as projected by the Fifth Council of the Lateran (1511). However, corruption was rooted during pope Alexander VI accused of fathering four children, nepotism, and simony. The engagement of the Greek Christian responsibilities paved the way for protestant reformation during the renaissance. Pope became the most popular leader in Italy. For example, pontiffs like Julius II campaigned to expand their temporal domain. Counter-reformation was initiated to counter the protestant reformation by Catholic resurgence. Therefore, the research aims to discuss religion’s role in society during the Renaissance period.
Influence of renaissance and religious reforms on society
The development of new theories was revolutionary and radical from a religious perspective. Religion played a vital role in people’s lives. For example, the church has been authoritative as a reference for information addressing heaven’s and earth’s history. People came to believe in the Holy Trinity and believed in the Supreme Being as they acknowledged God’s punishment. During the Renaissance, religion significantly affected art and music worldwide. For example, during the medieval period, secular and sacred music impacted people’s thinking, making creative decision approaches. Western music traditions can be traced back to the Middle Ages in Europe due to religious and social developments. There was a shift in people’s worldview due to changes attributed to art and music during the Renaissance period (Cassen). Reformation revealed that people were conscious of religious culture but also developed humanism in European society.
The medieval period was associated with the development of art, influenced by the church and religion. People believed in God and followed His teachings during the medieval ages. For example, Europe’s art was confined to Catholic themes and subjects at the beginning of the medieval ages. Most artistic items were religious, and the main objective was God. Irrespective of the people who lived within the medieval ages, they both believed in God’s existence, making people focus on God, church, and religious arts. For instance, during the medieval age, Romanesque art showed that people believed in the Supreme Being God who controlled their lives.
People believed and loved God as the art had twelve people and a symbol of God at the center of the image, as shown in figure 1. People listened to and trusted in God. Therefore, the symbol of Romanesque art revealed that people paid homage to Christianity and religion. The art can be interpreted to mean that the artists portrayed the aesthetic value of the images. Besides, the art could show that the artists wanted people to follow God in return to receive God’s favors. “Some artists drew something about Christianity to make people know more about God”, according to Jingsan (2016).
Figure 1: Renaissance and religious reform
Before renaissance, people were not conversant with God’s existence as they existed during feudal society when they only went to church for worship. Most artists during the Renaissance drew images to show God’s significance to society, resulting in reformations. The images communicated to the people, and they could interpret the significance of the symbols. Therefore, people not only developed a worldview about God but also knew more about Him and started believing in Him. Moreover, renaissance artists started to focus on real things and people apart from the religious images, which made people resist religious practices. “As more people learned how to read, write and interpret ideas, they began to examine and critique religion as they knew it closely.” History.com editors stated (History.com Editors).
The spread of humanism made people oppose the church of God of the feudal ideology. Artists focused on more realistic images that focused on real-life situations and revealed people’s emotional status. Some images started to portray happiness more realistic to the people than those from the religious perspective (Cassen). Besides, the majority of the arts were derived from the Renaissance. Religious arts were primary for the subsequent ideologies. Artists started to focus more on relationships, emotion, and life perspectives rather than religious arts only as they were before.
Renaissance was very vital during religious transformation, and it had a lot of impact on society. Society acquired much experience about God, which made people change their worldview and helped them make crucial decisions. The influence of religious arts was significant as it reflected people’s social lives in society, especially in Europe. It reflected the shifting of people’s social worldviews. “Humanism promoted the idea that man was the centre of his universe”, according to Editors (2020). Religion portrayed many attitudes and ideas to society during the Renaissance ages through art. Art and music were significant during the Renaissance, as religion was rooted in the arts.
The development of humanism put more emphasis on human abilities, needs, and interests. The idea of humanism changed artists’ ideologies and started to focus on societal literature to address more divergent ideas in society (Comberiati). For example, they started painting pictures apart from drawing the art to make the message more concrete. For example, the painting of the famous Jesus Christ portrait connected people with Jesus alongside describing people’s experiences and life.
Figure 2: last supper
The picture was about the last supper, and it taught people how supper should look and also portrayed conduct during supper time, according to figure 2. Besides, the picture demonstrated the spirit of humanism in excelling in diversified knowledge and skills. The idea of rationality, reality, and learning rose due to religious arts, and people became more conversant with church doctrines. The images focused on humanism and Christianity, outstanding religious achievements during the Renaissance.
Music was based on religious concepts because Christianity was rooted in the medieval culture during the Middle Ages. Music was developed to support religious practices, and many people became Christians. Through religious music, people understood the medieval culture, and church attendance was high as people became conversant with heaven rather than reading the Bible only. Besides, secular music was composed for entertainment and expressed love. Therefore, religion led to the spread of music in society for entertainment and praising God. Music was the best social media to spread Christianity during the Middle Ages, such as Gregorian chant music, which expressed people’s relationship with God. “Religious influences in the late renaissance led to development of music according to Comberiati (2016).
Religion led to more advancements in the music industry and made it more colourful and convincing. Music connected people to church, and more songs were composed based on preaching. Besides, some songs expressed people’s attitudes and emotions and helped people judge their emotions wisely. In the Middle Ages, sacred music influenced many people to attend church, and many Christians composed songs to praise God and connect themselves to Jesus (Comberiati). The role of religion during the Renaissance was to promote Christianity in society through art and music. People believed that singing scared songs connected themselves to God and helped them change their worldview about their relationship with God.
Overall, religion had a significant impact on society during the Renaissance. Many people became Christians and became conversant with church doctrine. If it wasn’t for religion, famous arts and music could not have developed. They were all dependent on religious facets. Through religion, people acknowledged humanism and its significance in society. Finally, people developed a strong relationship with God and changed their worldview about diverse issues.
Works Cited #
Cassen, Flora. Marking the Jews in Renaissance Italy: Politics, Religion, and the Power of Symbols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. 225 pages.
Comberiati. Late Renaissance Music at the Hapsburg Court. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016. 242 pages.
History.com Editors. “Renaissance.” HISTORY (2020): pp.1488–1576.
