Peace and Redemption

Redemption can be used to describe the renaissance. At the point of the renaissance, the world is coming out of the dark ages which were marked by disease and dogma. Philosophy that was abandoned for years before begins to re-emerge during this time. Also,  Christianity was starting to become more personal with the ideas of Luther and Erasmus. No longer was access to salvation through the church, but through faith. Also, the access to works of Plato, Aristotle, etc had also been more common. You could say that the old knowledge of the Greeks was becoming “resurrected.”  That “resurrected” knowledge was spreading fast and it made a vast impact on every aspect of life.

A philosopher whose ideas can be applied to redemption is Giovanni Pico. His philosophy exemplifies the idea of redemption in the renaissance era because of his emphasis on peace. He believed in objectively studying different viewpoints, which is something, that college students are challenged to do. The ideas of respecting different viewpoints and being able to find similarities between popular thought, I think are relevant to what redemption stands for. His idea of finding commonality between philosophies is something that was unknown. Finding similarities rather than differences is a way of working towards community. His belief in the immortal soul can also be applied to incarnation aspect of redemption.