The Northern Renaissance
Introduced| English |
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| Christian humanism/ˈkrɪstʃn ˈhjuːmənɪzəm/ |
The same method, a different focus
- The Northern Renaissance retained a more religious focus, which resulted in more human-centred naturalism that considered individuals and everyday life appropriate objects of artistic representation.
- The CED's logic runs from the religious focus to the human-centred naturalism, which is worth reading carefully.
- A more religious art is here an art of ordinary people and ordinary rooms, not of classical gods.
The CED's logic runs from the Northern Renaissance's religious focus to...
A more religious art is here an art of ordinary people and ordinary rooms.
Christian humanism
- Christian humanism 基督教人文主义, embodied in the writings of Erasmus, employed Renaissance learning in the service of religious reform.
- The CED's verb is employed — the philology of 1.2 is a tool, and here it is pointed at scripture and church practice.
- So the Northern Renaissance is not a weaker version of the Italian one; it is the same technique aimed at a different target.
Christian humanism ____ Renaissance learning in the service of religious reform.
The philology of 1.2 is a tool, pointed here at scripture.
Why this matters for unit 2
- A scholar who can date a document and compare manuscripts can ask whether a church practice has the authority it claims.
- Erasmus produced a new edition of the Greek New Testament using exactly the methods of 1.2.
- So the Reformation of unit 2 has a scholarly precondition, and it is here.
Shared, changed, or the consequence?
Sort each feature of the Northern Renaissance.
Select all the things the two Renaissances shared.
Civic political models are the Italian outcome specifically.
The Northern Renaissance is the same method with a different target, not a weaker version. Christian humanism employed Renaissance learning in the service of religious reform — the philology developed to edit Cicero was pointed at scripture, which is what makes unit 2 possible.
The Northern Renaissance was a weaker version of the Italian one.
Same tools, different target — and the target made unit 2 possible.
Comparing the two Renaissances
- Shared: philological method, printing, classical learning, and an interest in the individual.
- Different: the Italian revival produced secular political models, the Northern one produced religious reform.
- Same tools, different objects — which is the comparison the objective is asking for.
Match each part of the objective to its content.
Three verbs, three different answers.
Developed, maintained and changed
- The objective is how Renaissance ideas were developed, maintained and changed as the Renaissance spread to northern Europe.
- Developed: philology and printing carried north. Maintained: classical learning and individual focus.
- Changed: a religious rather than civic application, and an art of everyday life.
Erasmus compares Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and finds that a familiar Latin reading rests on a translation choice. He is doing what Italian humanists did with Roman poetry. The technique is identical; the consequences are not, because this text is the basis of an institution's authority.
The Northern Renaissance retained a more religious focus, which resulted in more human-centred naturalism treating individuals and everyday life as appropriate artistic subjects. Christian humanism, embodied in Erasmus, employed Renaissance learning in the service of religious reform — the same philological method as 1.2, pointed at scripture, which is the scholarly precondition for unit 2.