re expanding, be they geographical, mental, social, economic, or political. In the broadest sense, humanism was an educational movement, and for the humanists the classical writings were unique instruments for extending the consciousness of human beings. The humanists placed their emphasis on the human being as that individual would be revealed in the written records of classical antiquity. Humanism was a secular movement, and as such it inherently questioned the authority of religious doctrine in social, literary, and political thought. Pico della Mirandola writes on an important humanistic issue--the dignity of man--and does so from the perspective that man has particular value because he was created by God:
O supreme generosity of God the Father, O highest and most marvelous felicity of man! To him is granted to have whatever he chooses, to be whatever he wills (Mirandola 13).
The Reformation, however, was another example of humanism in a religious context. Martin Luther challenged the authority of the Catholic Church and in so doing created a movement away from the strictness of Catholic teaching and from the idea that communion with God required the intercession of the papacy and the religious structure of a Church. This was a human-centered vision in that Luther believed every human being could make a connection with God without needing a priest as intercessor. Luther was reacting to a variety of specific abuses he perceived in the Catholic hierarchy and in terms of doctrinaire differences Luther had with Church teachings. His protest may have challenged the rule of the Catholic Church, but it affirmed the importance of religion and religious belief. Luther's approach also demonstrated the human resistance to any perceived tyranny, physical or intellectual, and the human tendency to develop new modes of thought and action to counter such tyranny. At the same time, Luther demonstrated both his own deep personal fa...