Erasmus was arguably the greatest scholar and foremost humanist of the Northern Renaissance. As we learn more about him, we’ll explore the following questions:

1. How was Erasmus’ Greek language scholarship foundational to the Protestant Reformation?
2. What were Erasmus’ basic criticisms of the Catholic Church? How did those critiques differ from Luther’s?
3. Why is it still important to read Erasmus today, despite his fundamental character flaws?

Recommended Reading: Shepherd, Victor. Interpreting Martin Luther: An Introduction to His Life and Thought. Canada: Regent College Publishing, 2008.
Reverend Dr. Victor Shepherd’s website: https://victorshepherd.ca/

Political turmoil swept across Europe in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. To help us expand the topic, Rabbi Rocklin will answer the following questions:

1. How did Luther’s approach to religious reform encourage a rise in centralized power?
2. Why was it necessary to divide the Holy Roman Empire in the Peace of Augsburg?
3. How did Rashi, an eleventh century Jewish scholar, indirectly influence Luther’s interpretation of scripture?

Few events in Christian history had a more dramatic impact than the Protestant Reformation. As we survey this seismic event, Rabbi Rocklin will answer the following questions:

1. How did the spirit of the Renaissance that swept through Europe foster a culture that could lead to the Reformation?
2. What theological debates led to Martin Luther’s eventual split from the Roman Catholic Church?
3. How is Luther’s insistence that the Bible can be translated into the vernacular an outgrowth of his view of the ordinary man?

The spirit of discovery in the Renaissance will push Europe to expand its trade horizons and reshape its economy. On today’s episode, we’ll address the following questions:

1. What were the technological innovations in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that made long-distance sailing easier?
2. Why did Portugal, of all countries, become a dominant force in expanding European trade in the East?
3. How did the Age of Exploration completely pull Europe out of a feudal economic system and into an era of mercantilism?

Consolidation of power will dramatically alter politics, wars, and loyalties in Europe. To help us expand this notion, we’ll explore the following questions:

1. What caused political power in Europe to shift from being localized in the hands of the lords to being wielded by royal families ruling vast territories?
2. How did a rise in national loyalties lead to increasing suspicion of divergent religious groups?
3. Why were the common people important to kings such that kings allied themselves with the populace against the nobility?

The Northern Renaissance may be infused with the same spirit as the Italian Renaissance, but it manifested in uniquely northern European ways. On today’s episode, we’ll take a look at the following questions:

1. How does Goethe’s Faustus grapple with the relationship between knowledge and goodness?
2. What was the danger in Nicholas of Cusa’s philosophical innovation regarding man’s relationship with God?
3. Why did the Northern Renaissance produce great thinkers and reformers?

Recommended Viewing: Northern Renaissance paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
Northern Renaissance paintings at the Museo del Prado (Madrid, Spain)

Modern politics cannot be fully understood without Machiavelli. To help us unpack this claim, Rabbi Rocklin will explore the following questions:

1. How does Machiavelli shift the way that virtue is understood?
2. Why do some scholars consider Machiavelli to be the first modern political philosopher?
3. How does Machiavelli justify his claim that a ruler should use cruelty and fear as tools to control the people?

Recommended Reading: Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince, 2nd edition. Translated by Harvey Mansfield, University of Chicago Press: 1998.

The notion of human dignity takes center stage as humanism comes to the fore with Petrarch and Pico. To help us explore the topic, Rabbi Rocklin will address the following questions:

1. Why did Petrarch, who is often considered the father of humanism, heavily criticize Medieval philosophers?
2. According to Pico, what makes man unique and uniquely dignified? How does that shift the general understanding of man’s relationship with God?
3. Both Pico and the Greeks seem to have asserted that man can change through culture. How is Pico’s assertion notably different?

Recommended Reading: Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni. Oration on the Dignity of Man. 1486.