THE SUNDAY SERMON
by OneVike
Any discussion about literature of the Renaissance Age must include the Council of Ferrara. In 1439 a large delegation from the Eastern Church held discussions with the Western Church over the doctrinal differences of Christendom. While every agreement made at this council was eventually disregarded, the effect that it had on literature was profound and since the proceedings were in Latin and Greek, a renewed appetite for Greek studies and classical writings followed. The original manuscripts of the articles from this council are preserved to this day at the Laurentian library in Florence. At the conclusion of this council, many of the more than 700 men from the eastern delegation stayed in the west giving lectures and teaching Greek.
One of these Eastern theologians was Georgios Gemistos, better known as Plethon. (1355-1450) Plethon remained in the West giving lectures on Plato and other Greek philosophers while helping the Catholic theologians better understand the ancient Greek manus cripts. Led by Plethon’s lectures on Plato, the politically powerful banker Cosimo de’ Medici was moved to fund the Platonic Academy in Florence, which was very influential in advancing the philosophy of humanism. By the turn of the century the antiquities bug was so prevaliant that the church, monarchs, lords, bankers, and wealthy merchants would all compete to be the first to find any antiquities cionnected to the apostles. These antiquities ranged from letters they wrote to even the posible skulls of the Lords disciples. The funds to pay for these antiquities, as well as the scholars and artists of the Renaissance period, not only drained the church caufers, but nearly bankrupted the Medici family. To replace the money spent, the church preyed on the citizens by selling indulgences that they claimed would release dead relatives from purgatory.
In Italy, this revival in the study of the Greek classics was aided by the influx of manuscripts brought by those fleeing the Muslims. After Constantinople fell in 1453, many Greek scholars brought along valuable manuscripts so the invading Turks could not destroy them. The Italians were not driven by a desire to understand the original text of the New Testament as much as they were by their passion to become acquainted with Homer, Plato and other classic Greek authors. This would result in a literary awakening that eventually spread from Italy beyond the Alps.
North of the Alps the attention was chiefly centred on examining the Old and New Testaments. Greek and Hebrew was studied, not with the purpose of ministering to a cult of antiquity, but to more perfectly reach the fountains of the Christian system. Thus, humanism entered into the service of religious progress. Being less brilliant and elegant, the German scholars produced no poets or artists of the first rank. Instead, such authors as Reuchlin and Erasmus were more serious in their purpose and more exact in the writings they contributed to the Reformation.
This awakening of interest in classical learning coincided with the Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1450 which was probably the most important agent in the history of intellectual culture since the invention of the alphabet. With the development of vernacular languages, and the weakening influence of the Catholic Church, the Renaissance writers and scholars received new avenues for expressing their views. In the period between 1450 and 1500, more than 6000 separate works were printed, with some of the most celebrated of these works still in existence to this day. In Italy, or the south, they were printing such works as the newly revived Greek and Roman classics, and the scientific works of various Renaissance scholars. As the Italians were printing chiefly secular works, in the north they were printing religious books such as Bibles, Psalters, and critical theological works. Access to these writings gave the northern Renaissance man freedom from dependence on the clergy. Just as the Bereans compared what Paul was preaching to what the scriptures said, Acts 17:11 “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so”, they too started examining the Scriptures. Along with God’s word they also read differing commentaries that were espoused, giving them a sense of freedom from the need of the clergy. This literature awakening helped lay the foundation for the constructive work of the Protestant Reformation.