How Did The Renaissance Change European Society

The Renaissance brought much change to those living in Europe in a multitude of areas. Change was occurring in all areas of human life, with the most well-known areas being art, science, music, and religion. The most controversial area was religion, which changed the lives of the majority, if not, all, people living in Europe. However, not only did religion change the people, but the people, in turn, changed religion. The most prominent religion in Europe during this time was Catholicism, which some theologians disagreed with. Catholicism presented many disagreeable topics to theologians such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. These two men introduced a new religion called Protestantism, but was opposed later on by supporters of the Counter-Reformation.
The basis of his doctrine, Calvinism, was that mankind is helpless before an all-powerful God and that man was predestined for either Heaven or Hell. This belief furthered reformation in Europe, so when a few men in the town of Geneva asked Calvin to help, he happily obliged. Once he got to Geneva, he placed a system of harsh discipline and order for the citizens of Geneva to follow. Despite their complaints, they knew that Calvin was going to leave a huge impact on their religious lives. He was later exiled from the city for three years, but later returned; those who refused to follow his rules were jailed or executed. He forced all the Genevan people to wake up early, work hard, have a good attitude and morals at all times, and resist all things of this world. This is the idea of “worldly asceticism”, or the rejection of all worldly things whilst living in the world. Calvin also introduced the concept of a man’s “calling”; those who worked happily and accomplished a vast amount of things in the right spirit had been “called” to do something here on earth. Those who followed Calvinism and believed in one’s “calling”, believed that you should work hard, save the money you made, and make investments, or in other words, capitalism. This led to tension, conflict, and anxiety among the
The Counter-Reformation was an attempt by the Catholic Church to convert the new Protestants back to Catholicism. They took a very long time to respond to the reformation caused by Luther, Calvin, and a few others. Some of the groups formed to combat the Protestants were the Council of Trent and the Jesuits. The Council of Trent came up with answers to the problems that caused the Reformation and the reformers. The Jesuits, on the other hand, combined strict spirituality with secular-minded intellectuality. Inquisitions in Spain and Rome were recreated to fight the Protestant belief. Its negative results were years of rebellions, wars, and persecution, with the most famous being the Thirty Years’ War. However, its positive results were the strong universities of Europe, the Lutheran church music of Johann Sebastian Bach, the baroque altarpieces of Pieter Paul Rubens, and the capitalism of Dutch Calvinist