John Yowan
Mr Bruner
World History Cultures
Hour 2
6,
April 2003
The Renaissance changed the world in
many ways. The Renaissance affected education, art, and religion.
Education became much more important
and influential during the Renaissance. Scholars during the Renaissance found
and translated ancient writings that had been lost during the Middle Ages.
Scholars were urged to study both Greek and Latin so they would be able to read
the ancient manuscripts and literature of Rome. There were three important
achievements that aided the spread of learning during this time. The first was
Rulers and Popes began to gather great libraries. The second was Scholars
founded great academies throughout Italy to study and translate great
literature. They studied Hebrew, Arabic, and Egyptian works as well as Greek
and Roman religions. The third achievement during this time was that Johannes
Gutenberg invented moveable type in about the year 1440. In my opinion the
world would have been much different. One example is that we may not have schools
of higher education right now. Common people may be less educated today had it
not been for the Scholars of the Renaissance. People today may know less about
the Earth because people during the Renaissance discovered much land including
the Americas. America may have never been discovered had it not been for the
explorers of the Renaissance.
Art became much more popular during
the Renaissance. Wealthy people of the time like the Medici family gave artists
money to create art. Artists of the time discovered many new techniques for
their art creations. One of these techniques was called chiaroscuro.
Chiaroscuro is a contrast of light and shade. This technique was used by
artists to model their figures and set them off from the background. Another
technique was called perspective. Perspective was used by artists to give their
paintings an appearance of depth. Artists also discovered better and more
effective ways to mix paint. Another way the Renaissance affected art was that
the Flemish artists of the 1400s developed the technique of oil painting. In my
opinion if these things had never happened the world would be a much different.
I think artists would have less colors to choose from because we would have
possibly not learned about the many new ways to mix paints that were discovered
during the Renaissance. Perhaps there would be less great art because interest
in it bloomed during the Renaissance. I believe we would not have as many good
works of art had it not been for the artists of the Renaissance that developed
chiaroscuro and perspective.
Religion changed drastically during
the Renaissance. One way that religion changed was Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz
invented moveable type. Using moveable type Gutenberg made hundreds of copies
of the Bible and other books. The Gutenberg Bible was printed in German making
it easy for most literate people to read and interpret it for him or herself.
Some of the people that read the Gutenberg Bible and similar Bibles interpreted
it for themselves and decided that the church was wrong in some areas. Because
of this the church disagreed with them and they broke away from the church and
started their own religious beliefs. One other thing that helped change
religion was Desiderius Erasmus.
Erasmus of the Netherlands published copies of the Old and New Testament
to give scholars a better understanding of the Bible. Erasmus worked for
reforms in the Roman Catholic Church. But he refused to take part in the
Protestant Reformation. Also artists, scholars, and writers broke away from the
religious thinking of the Middle Ages. They made man rather than God the center
of interest. I believe there would be no Protestant churches if it were not for
these things. The Catholic Church would be the only church and it would have a
big influence on the governments of all the countries. I think perhaps that if
the Renaissance had never happened the United States would have less people,
because a lot of the people that came here were seeking religious freedom.
I believe conclusively that if all
the major Renaissance breakthroughs in the preceding paragraphs had not
happened that the world as we all know it now would be a very different place
to live in. It is possible the world would have evolved much slower in the aspects
of art, religion and education and we would not have the ability to appreciate
the beautiful works of art that now exist, as well as freedom of religious
thought and the ability to keep on educating ourselves indefinitely.