Luther Speech Contest Winners!!!

Great job on your recital of Luther's famous quote.
The winners are: Donald Livingston, John O'Connor, & Laura Swanzy!

"Unless I am convinced by Scripture or by clear reason (for I do not believe in the authority of either popes or councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted each other), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen."- Martin Luther

Luther - Coloring Contest

Draw a cartoonist style picture about Luther & the Reformation in the style of Ron Hill's Arm Chair Theologians illustrations.

Coloring Contest Rules:
- Drawings can be black & white or color.
- Drawings must be on paper size 8.5" x 11" or larger.
- Entries must be turned in by Wednesday, October 27th.

The Renaissance

Although the Renaissance revived the realization that man and nature are important, it went overboard by making man the measure of all things—and by that destroyed the importance of man.

There was indeed a positive side to the proper emphasis on nature and the enjoyment of it, but we can also see that the Renaissance humanism slowly but steadily evolved into modern humanism (a value system rooted in the belief that man is his own measure, that man is autonomous, and totally independent).

The architecture and music of this time were also beginning to shift from medieval back to classical. Another way we can see the emphasis on man emerging in other ways is the fact that we know very little about who built cathedrals in the Gothic era or who composed Gregorian chants, but in this Renaissance era self portraits became a generally accepted form of art and the artist’s name was usually an essential component to his artwork, if not even contributing to the majority of a piece’s artistic worth. Now, people not only admired paintings and music compositions for their own sakes, they admired the artist himself.

It was the humanists of that time who, under the enthusiasm for the classics, spoke of what had immediately preceded them as a “Dark Age” and talked of a “rebirth” in their own era. Unfortunately, this same attitude toward medieval society carried over to the Enlightenment and lingers in our minds today.

The return of nature to its rightful place could have moved in one of two directions – biblical or non-biblical. The emphasis could have been on real people living in a real world which God had made, or humanism could take over with its emphasis on the individual things being autonomous. However, the die was cast: man tried to make himself independent.

* Excerpts from Francis Schaeffer's "How Should We Then Live"