Similarities Between Reformation and Italian Secularism

The Reformation is undoubtedly a controversial topic, in regards to what it did, and the responses to it from everyone across Europe. It was a time of criticizing the Church and rediscovering what it truly means to be a Christian, taking off with the ideas of Martin Luther that spread like rapid fire once he made them known to the public. There are many things that could be said about it, but one thing is evident. The Reformation was not a rejection of the secular spirit of the Italian Renaissance because the Renaissance was when people started to question their authority, and that is exactly what Luther did; furthermore, Luther respected secular powers, and although his interests were primarily religious, many people who spread his ideas and responded to them did so for non-religious reasons.

The event that people believe to mark the beginning of the Reformation was when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences to the door of the church at Wittenberg Castle on October 31, 1517. He was angered and appalled by the Church that was growing increasingly more corrupt, and his last straw was when Dominican friar John Tetzel started to sell indulgences so Pope Leo X could keep working on the construction of St. Peter's Basilica. This led him to speak out about those issues and publicly question the Church and its authority. Not only that, but he, along with other religious leaders, started to question whether it was the pope or Scripture that had ultimate authority. In the Italian Renaissance, numerous humanists had encouraged people to stop simply accepting the information that was given to them, and inquire about their leaders and the Church as well. Questioning the Church was not a revolutionary idea thought of by Luther, it was a continuation of the secular spirit of the Renaissance. Although Luther was, indeed, very religious, he did not condemn others for not being the same. He respected secular powers that were legally established, and was very much against the peasants for trying to oppose those powers. He did not like that the peasants were interpreting his ideas to use them to justify their opposition towards the secular nobles and princes. He wanted freedom from the Roman Catholic Church, and only them. He believed that all vocations are equally valuable, whether they were religious or not.

Now, there is no denying that Luther's interests were primarily religious, as well as his motives. He was extremely faithful, and solely wanted independence from the Church because they were not, in his opinion, being true Christians and spreading the word of God. He was only planning on reforming the Church back to its Ancient Rome days. However, many of the people who spread his ideas and established Protestantism in their own states were not doing it for religious reasons. Because the Holy Roman Empire controlled a vast amount of land, and the leaders in that land had to listen to the emperor and therefore did not have ultimate authority, they supported Luther and Protestantism to break away from the empire. They could now legally confiscate various luxurious land, monasteries, and shrines that they could not have before because it was owned by the empire. Of course, there were some princes in Germany that were genuinely attracted to the new religion for its ideals and morals, but most were influenced by the material advantages. Those who were not in the nobility or ruling classes, such as those in the middle class, also found Protestantism appealing for non-religious reasons. They were envious and disapproving of the luxurious lifestyle and wealth that church officials had. Moreover, they deplored the taxes and money they had to pay to the Church. Therefore, the ones who took Luther's ideas and ran with them were not particularly religiously motivated, consistent with the secularism of the Renaissance.

The Reformation was concurrent with the secular spirit of the Italian Renaissance because it did not accept authority without question, Luther himself was tolerant of secular rule, and those who converted to Protestantism did so for social, political, and economic benefits. At the same time, one could just as easily argue that it was extremely religious and that it is not similar to the Italian Renaissance. However, because it was not all ecclesiastical and had certain secular elements to it, it cannot be called a rejection of the secular spirit. The Reformation and Italian Renaissance may have more in common than one might think.