The increased freedom of thought and challenges to authority that were features of Renaissance Humanism contributed strongly to the critical spirit of the Reformation. Northern variants of earlier Italian Humanism, especially the critical philological approach to Scripture and a growing belief in personal religion, were also extremely influential for Martin Luther, John Calvin and other reformers. By the sixteenth century the secular power of the Church and the abuses of the clergy had produced widespread dissatisfaction. This feeling was voiced by Martin Luther who felt that the word of God had been superseded by a merely human, and deeply flawed, authority. From a criticism of the church's abuses, Luther moved on to question the authority of the papacy, which he eventually set aside for the authority of the word of God alone. Scripture, rather than any the earthly church, was seen as the final authority in religious matters. This same approach was taken by subsequent reformers, such as Calvin, as the Reformationist spirit spread throughout Northern Europe all during the sixteenth century. The questioning of authority, inherent in Humanism and then in Luther's approach to religion, led many to assume that the reformers favored such a critical approach in the political realm as well. The rapid spread of Protestantism was due in part to the fact that greater self-determination seemed to be a logical consequence of Luther's approach to religion. Events such as the peasants' revolts of the early sixteenth century did not meet with Luther's approval, but they were clear expressions of the same critical view of the status quo that the reformers were applying to the Catholic Church. The Humanist desire for a deeper spiritual focus and a critical approach to the Church and to scripture thus led to the rejection of the Church and the elevation of scriptural authority by the reformers. It did not, however, lead to the sociopolitical...