The Downfall Of The Catholic Church: How The Renaissance Foreshadowed The Reformation

The Downfall of the Catholic Church: How the Renaissance Foreshadowed the Reformation The Renaissance brought back culture and intellectualism to a Europe that had long been under the veil of ignorance brought on by the Dark Ages. The Catholic Church and Niccolo Machiavelli’s book The Prince had a significant impact on many during the Renaissance era, moulding their ideologies and promoting artistic achievements. Yet, these controversial influences not only set the groundwork for the Reformation but also foreshadowed the mindset of challenging the Catholic Church’s set principles. First and foremost, the Catholic Church was one of the most powerful institutions during the Renaissance. They had a vast amount of political power and wealth,

By shifting their focus towards political power, they began to sway from the original teachings of Christianity. Many humanist scholars saw this corruption and saw a need to reform it. Intellectual humanists such as Erasmus Desiderius, who wrote the book In Praise of Folly advocated the return of the original teachings of Christianity. He criticizes the Church, writing, “[a]lmost all Christians being wretchedly enslaved to blindness and ignorance, which the priests are so far from preventing or removing, that they blacken the darkness, and promote the delusion.” (Erasmus). The essence of this is that he, along with many other humanist scholars such as Thomas More, Juan Luis Vives, Francesco Petrarca and more, influenced the way many thought about the Church’s teachings. They even paved the way for Martin Luther to come forward with his much more radical ideas, shaping the Reformation. As he went against Church’s principles, Luther

Moreover, there was Niccolo Machiavelli’s book The Prince. The book was written during a time of political turmoil and corruption, foregrounding unethical and immoral ways for rulers to control their subjects using fear rather than love. The book’s advice on power challenges the Church’s authority over ethical and moral concerns and the advice given was considered controversial at the time. Machiavelli writes, “[u]pon this a question arises: whether it is better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved” (Machiavelli). This passage represented a new cultural perspective, as it reinforced the idea of individualism and led people to spread more secular ideas. Conversely, the book also provided insight to many rulers, who at the time found his book to be a great tool to achieve and secure more power. Ergo, we can instantly recognize that the book, The Prince, foreshadowed the upcoming reformation of Christianity as many rulers, such as Cesare Borgia, used Machiavelli’s amoral tactics to achieve their political successes instead of relying on the Church’s support. This reinforced individualist philosophy in Europe and ran counter to traditional Christian belief. Overall, the book shifted the view of