First of all, understand the essential meaning of the name "Renaissance". The original meaning of "revival" is "rebirth" or "resurrection" and "revival". From Rinascita, Italy, it is generally written as the French Renaissance. On the surface, it refers to the movement of European advanced intellectuals to revive the Greek and Roman classical culture, because people think that literature and art flourished in the Greek and Roman classical era, but declined and disappeared in the Middle Ages, and it was not "reborn" until14th century. It shows that the new European culture is based on classicism, but it is by no means a simple revival of classicism, but a rebirth of anti-feudal culture, a general upsurge and innovation of bourgeois culture in the fields of science, literature and art, and an ideological emancipation movement of the emerging bourgeoisie, which has obvious class, progress and sense of the times.

Secondly, understand the reasons for the "Renaissance". The Renaissance began in Italy in the14th century, and later spread to other European countries and regions such as Germany, France, Britain, Spain and the Netherlands, reaching its climax in the16th century. Why did this sport originate in Italy? Its premise is that capitalism first germinates here and the bourgeoisie first emerges here. For its own development, the bourgeoisie demands to get rid of the feudal shackles ideologically and create new cultural achievements in science, literature and art, so its spokesman, advanced intellectuals, despised the shackles of the Catholic Church, put forward a series of ideas and created a series of scientific and technological cultural achievements. In addition, Italy was in the center of western trade in the 14 ~ 15 century, and its economy was prosperous, which was the material basis of new culture. Italy's unique talent advantage and rich cultural background have also become important conditions for the emergence of the Renaissance.

Third, understand the ideological core and historical significance of the Renaissance. Humanism is the core of the Renaissance. The guiding ideology of the Renaissance originated from "humanism" in ancient Greece, which represented the bourgeois world outlook. The core of humanism is to affirm the value and dignity of human beings, taking "human" as the center rather than "God" as the center. Based on this, humanism attaches importance to secular life, thus pursuing freedom, happiness and material enjoyment, opposing Christian afterlife view and asceticism, and advocating giving full play to human creativity. Humanism attaches importance to scientific experiments, encourages taking risks to get rich, and thinks that success in career is a moral behavior. In a word, humanism is an optimistic and enterprising spirit to create secular happiness.

How to understand the Reformation?

Background of the Reformation:

Economically, from 14 to 15 century, capitalist relations of production developed and expanded in European feudal society. However, the oppression of Europe, especially Germany, by the Catholic Church has seriously hindered the development of capitalist economy. This is the fundamental reason for the religious reform in Europe.

Ideologically, Europe after the Greek and Roman civilization experienced a cultural desert and spiritual oppression of about 1000 years under the shackles of the Christian spirit, but the people-oriented thought in the Renaissance greatly impacted the spiritual dictatorship of the Catholic Church and greatly liberated people's minds. This is the ideological condition for the religious reform in Europe.

Politically, the feudal forces with the Catholic Church as the spiritual pillar colluded with each other, making the weak bourgeoisie unable to resist, leading to the early bourgeois anti-feudal political struggle had to resort to religious theology. This is the inevitable situation of European religious reform.

In other respects, Germany is in a state of disintegration, and it is more severely squeezed by the Roman Catholic Church. The church's activity of selling impunity vouchers in Germany finally ignited the fuse of religious reform.

Religious reform:

15 17 10 In June, Martin Luther put forward the Outline of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, which exposed the deception and absurd behavior of the Pope and marked the rise of the Religious Reform.

Martin Luther put forward that "believing in Jesus can be saved", which is the core of the religious reform thought; He advocated simplifying religious ceremonies and suggested that believers could interpret the Bible according to their own understanding, allowing monks to get married and return to the secular world. emphasize

Later, feudal princes joined the religious reform movement, which made the struggle more intense. Some Protestant sects were formed in the movement, such as Lutheranism in Germany and other places, Calvinism in France, and Anglican Church in England.

Evaluation of religious reform

Martin Luther's religious reform denied the authority of the Pope, translated the Bible in German, and stimulated the national consciousness of Germany, which was supported by many feudal princes. It attacked and shook the foundation of feudal forces-the Catholic Church. It shows the open rebellion of human reason against faith. Luther's doctrine interpretation thought is the counterattack of reason to faith, which contains bourgeois liberalism, individualism and humanistic spirit and has progressive significance. This movement is an anti-feudal struggle in the bourgeois ideological field under the cloak of religion.

The religious reform movement attacked the feudal forces in western Europe and destroyed the spiritual dictatorship of Catholicism. Protestantism became the banner of the early bourgeois revolution, which had a great influence on the later bourgeois revolution and promoted the development of national culture and education in western European countries. Politically and economically, it has strengthened the autocratic monarchy system in Western Europe and expanded the emerging nation-states.