Amidst the rediscovery of language and rhetoric, a religious Renaissance was rediscovering God. This was the era of John Calvin and Martin Luther, the official rise of Protestantism and the secession of the Church of England from the Catholic. Up to its elbows in religion, politics and business alike, the Catholic Church held two major monopolies: access to the Bible and other sacred documents, and the authority of its leaders to rescue mankind. If a person wanted to get into heaven, there was a gate, and the key belonged to the Catholic.
At least, it was until the king of England decided to divorce his wife, and in the process divorced the Church. And though the Church of England published the Six Articles in 1539 that would pull the masses back to their Catholic heritage, many others had already turned away from notions of redemption by the Pope and of intercession by the Saints. Such was the case of Martin Luther in Germany, predating the cessation by almost a decade, and Hugh Latimer, who abandoned his catholic traditions shortly after graduating from university (Beeching).
Some reformists, like Tyndale, sought to give common men access to the Bible. Others, like Latimer, taught “so that the servants and handmaids shall carry away as much as the gentler sort” (Beeching). But it wasn’t just recovering literary sources and clarity: the new teachings of these reformists emphasized man’s own inutility and God’s unitary role in salvation. They were turning back to the source of religion itself: an understanding of deity and our relationship to it.
A similar movement is in progress now. Many Christians are de-emphasizing the role of organized religion in our relationship to God, and stressing instead personal feelings and experience. New forms of worship include contemporary music sessions, a movement to be non-denominational and bible study groups operating outside of Sunday worship groups. And there are new translations of the Bible, some adopting contemporary language, some preserving the Hebrew and Greek vocabulary to maintain accuracy.
We may not experience the drama of separating ourselves from a state religion, and our lives may not be at stake. But religion is undergoing similar changes now to what Europe experienced in the Renaissance, changing not only our definition of God, but our definition of ourselves.
Beeching, Henry Charles. “Sermons by Hugh Latimer: Introduction.” Anglican History. Project
Canterbury. N.d. Web. 4 September 2015. http://anglicanhistory.org/reformation/latimer/sermons/intro.html