The Renaissance’s Focus on Human Achievement

The Renaissance’s Focus on Human Achievement
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The Renaissance’s Focus on Human Achievement
The Western culture has undergone various transformations during different historical durations. These changes have been vital in transforming the culture into what it is today. The period 1300-1550 remains remarkable in Western Culture. Two important phenomena took place; the Black Death’s emphasis on the afterlife and the Renaissance’s emphasis on human achievement. While the Black Death’s focus on the afterlife played a significant impact, the Renaissance had more impact. The Renaissance period marked a time when Western Culture underwent numerous changes and rebirth. The rebirth occurred in various facets of society, including cultural, political, and artistic aspects. It acted as a link between the middle ages and the modern age.
Significant individuals during the Renaissance era included Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli, Galileo Galilei, and Martin Luther. Da Vinci was regarded as one of the greatest minds because of his interest in various disciplines like music, art, and science (Kron & Krishnan, 2019). He was a force to reckon with as the Renaissance commenced. One of his notable works is the painting, Mona Lisa. Machiavelli was an Italian writer, philosopher, and historian. Because of his political contribution, Machiavelli is often referred to as the father of modern political philosophy and science (Rožič, 2013). The Prince remains one of his greatest works. Galilei changed the understanding of the world by supporting the work of Copernicus. He demonstrated that the earth rotated around the sun daily, an idea met with opposition from the Catholic Church (Wolf, 2016). Galilei also invented one of the first modern telescopes. Finally, Luther became the leader of the Protestant Reformation. He attacked the Catholic Church because of its belief that individuals could pay money to mitigate sin (Becker, Pfaff, & Rubin, 2016). After being excommunicated from the Catholic Church, he became key in the Protestant movement.
The Renaissance period promoted humanism, which encouraged the people to question the role of the Roman Catholic Church. Humanism propagated the idea that humans were the center of the universe. Therefore, individuals needed to embrace things that focus on human achievements like education, science, and literature, among others (Szönyi, 2018). The invention of the Gutenberg printing press in 1450 improved communication and allowed ideas to spread quickly in Europe. As more individuals learned how to read and write, they started questioning the role of religion. Before the Gutenberg printing press, religious materials, especially the Bible was not available to the common citizens (McDaniel, 2015). The mass production of the Bible due to the printing press allowed the book to be available to ordinary people for the first time. The humanistic view of life encouraged individuals to question issues surrounding papacy (Palmer, 2017). The Renaissance period created religious turmoil, as evidenced by the Protestant Reformation movement led by Martin Luther.
With a focus on the here and now, the Renaissance period great...