how did the renaiissance lead to the reformation?

Question

does it have to with the church or something

Answer 1

As the "renaiissance" went on, more and more developed forms of technology were invented. In Germany, Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press- a machine that allowed books to be printed instead of being handwritten. He teamed up with Martin Luther, a monk who was working on a translated version of the Bible. The Bible was written in Latin, so most people couldnʻt read it. By translating it into German, Martin Luther hoped to let people read it for themselves, instead of blindly believing what they were told. When his printed version of the Bible went into circulation, it caused a lot of uproar. In England, King Henry VIII used it as an excuse to split from the Catholic Church so HE could be the head of the Anglican English church, and so he was the boss of everyone. This sparked a lot more splits and schisms in the church. It also prompted a "heretic" monk named Savonrola to denounce all selfish ways, sending the people of Italy, Spain, and France into part anarchy.

In a nutshell.

Answer 2

It's not quite correct to say the Renaissance "led to" (or somehow "produced") the Reformation. The two had some connections, but these are often misunderstood.

Here's an overview of how the Renaissance did and did NOT contribute to the coming of the Reformation:

1) It did NOT initiate basic reform movements, NOR did it prompt the concern to translate Scripture into local (vernacular) languages, though it helped encourage both these trends.

These were already started in Northern Europe BEFORE any Renaissance influence.
In the 14th century, John Wycliffe was espousing reform AND translating the Bible from Latin into English. His followers, the "Lollards", later became the core for the English Reformation. His efforts also inspired Czech Reformer John Hus in 15th century, and through him Luther and others.

2) Not exactly the printing press either. It is true that the printing press was an ENORMOUS tool for spreading Reformation ideas and hence for its successes(offering aid to Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, et.al. that was not available to Wycliffe or Hus). But this technology itself was NOT exactly a "Renaissance" invention. That is, it was not the result of something inspired by what had been going on in Italy. Like the efforts of Wycliffe, etc., this was an INDEPENDENT advance.

There is tendency to attribute practically every late medieval advance to the "(Italian) Renaissance". I recently saw someone credit them with the important BANKING reforms which, by their OWN listing, began in the TWELFTH century, two centuries before the Italian Ren. !

We must recognize (as both #1 and 2 show) that there were MANY advances in these centuries that were NOT the result of the cultural and literary flowering of 14th-15th century Italian city states! In fact, the Ital. Ren advances themselves, depended heavily on EARLIER and in many ways larger, more significant breakthroughs, esp. the "12th Century (or High Middle Ages) Renaissance"... which included the founding of the UNIVERSITY system and scholastic methods, the very foundation of the textual and scientific inquires of succeeding centuries. (Another earlier "renaissance" that should also be acknowledged was the "Carolingian" in the 8th-9th century.)

3) What the Italian Renaissance certainly DID contribute to the Reformation was an emphasis on collecting and carefully analyzing ORIGINAL TEXTS... an effort which itself owed much to the growth of the university system... but ALSO to the sudden and fortunate availability of ancient text not available (or not on such a scale) to earlier European scholars.

This interest in texts included analysis to resolve the correct (or best) text, as well as to uncover mistakes and forgeries. (It was during this period that the "Donation of Constantine", long suspected of being a forgery, was systematically demonstrated to be just that.) The other side of this was the literary study and analysis of the MEANING of the texts. Both of these elements were very important components of the Reformation, which was characterized by the translation of Greek and Hebrew biblical texts (not just Latin, as with Wycliffe) into local languages, and then the careful study and public teaching of those texts (growth of the SERMON as central to Protestant worship).

This was all part of the "Christian humanist" approach to education and study. ("Christian humanism" was ESPECIALLY a development of the NORTH European branch of the Renaissance.)

Lots of possible links, but here are some I hope help with Pt #3 -
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/lifelong-learning/distrib/reforml3.htm#1.4
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REN/HUMANISM.HTM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_humanism
http://www.all-about-renaissance-faires.com/RenaissanceInfo/Renaissance_and_Humanism.htm

Answer 3

The permissive liberal attitude fostered by the Renaissance allowed a mad monk heretic to criticize and split the Holy Catholic Church.