Religious Renaissance

Critical Essay Plan

Critical Essay Plan

Introduction

The world is geographically divided by boundaries and every country is recognized by the religion which is being practiced by majority of its citizens. From the beginning of times, religions have influenced human lives and ways. People of a particular belief follow all the rules as set by the religion. With the passage of time the impact of religion has not dimmed but it has been altered. Historic events, penned in the literature, suggest that the essence of religious beliefs is the same but the concept has changed. Progress in research, particularly in the field of religions, laid the basis of a literature based movement, popularly known as Religious Renaissance. The literary work is based on many theories which emphasize on understanding religious aspects in a logical way. It was not aimed at starting a rebellion movement against religious beliefs, but it certainly invoked the concept of inquiry. Prior to the Renaissance era, people felt an obligation to follow their religion blindly. There was no space for enquiry and reason. But today these beliefs have been reformed and believers can consult scholars and abundant of literary work to clear their views regarding their religion. The journey from traditional ecclesiastic beliefs to an age of inquiry and reason is marked with significant historic events. The literary work provides evidences for all the theoretical work in this regard and also keeps the track of noticeable reformations in different eras. There were also movements which meant to protest the religious reformation 'Shakespeare's critique of or skepticism about religion, again, never breaks completely from what can be understood as religious impulses, but those religious impulses are not easily described by traditional markers such as “Catholic” or “Protestant” or even “skepticism" '.

The purpose of the essay is to develop an understanding about the alteration in religious beliefs. The motivational forces of this shift from traditional ecclesiastic beliefs to an age of inquiry and reason are discussed in this essay. A theoretical and research based approach is adopted to analyze the literature of renowned scholars. The essay focuses on the changes in thoughts of writers and poets as the period of reformation progressed. There are a number of sonnets that reveal a new aspect of religious facts. Depiction of religious figures as a symbol of knowledge and wisdom motivated people to ask questions about their religion. This was a far cry from the era where enquiries regarding religion were strictly forbidden and if someone dared to do so, he was considered as a challenger. The following analysis of the literature focuses at promoting the cause that asking questions about religious facts is a way to understand the ideology behind the religion.

Aims and objectives of the following discussion are to enlighten the affect of the Religious Renaissance on literature and believers. As the Renaissance gained recognition, the literature on religions started to get alter in terms of concept and tone. Literature has sonnets and theories showing the positive side of ...