Unit 2: Ninety-Five Theses

Author Bio- Martin Luther (10 November 1483 to 18 February 1546) was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. Luther reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He strongly disputed his understanding of the Catholic view on indulgences, that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. Luther taught that salvation and, subsequently, eternal life are not earned by good deeds but are received only as the free gift of God's grace. This is why Martin Luther wrote his Ninety Five Theses.

Summary- Martin Luther wrote his 95 theses in 1517 as a protest against the selling of indulgences.  Luther continued to write, elaborating on the issues raised.

Quotes-" When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' , he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."

"This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy."

"Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh."

Unit 2: Predestination

Author Bio:
Author - John Calvin: Originally a French lawyer, Calvin became a religious figure around and following 1530. After religious tensions in France forced him into Switzerland, he became a religious leader there and used his influence to eventually remove his opponents from power.

Date/Context: 1536; After the Lutheran reformation has established itself, other reformers of the church began to express their opinions. Calvin was particularly influential to Scotland and the Low Countries.

Summary: Calvin essentially states the theory of predestination, meaning that not all people can be admitted to heaven. Only some people can be admitted, and those who can are the ones who both lead good lives and follow his teachings.

Key Quotation: "The covenant of life is not preached equally to all, and among those to whom it is preached, does not always meet with the same reception."

Unit 2 - Spiritual Exercises

Author Bio: St. Ignatius of Loyal was a spanish priest who founded the Society of Jesus and then later became the society's first Superior General. Ignatius was mainly involved within the spiritual realm and was best known for his work Spiritual Exercises. This work includes meditations, prayers, and mental exercises. Ignatius in his early life joined the military, but after being badly wounded and after he recovered from his wound, Ignatius converted to the religious world.

Date/Context: Spiritual Exercises was written in 1548. Ignatius was severely injured during battle and after battle he received help from spiritual directors to get in touch with the spirits. He devoted his life to religious practices and saw many visions which later allowed him to write Spiritual Exercises. He designed this work to help people serve and love Christ.

Summary: This work is a compilation of various meditations, prayers, and mental exercises. Ignatius used this work to help people strengthen their relationship with god. In this work Ignatius uses many retreats in order ensure that people will follow Jesus no matter what the cost is. The exercises first to help the person reflect on their own life and then call to christ to follow him. Then the person learns how to follow christ and then they see the suffering displayed by christ. The spiritual exercises ensure that people will love and serve christ.

Key Quotations:

• "Always to be ready to one with mind and heart, setting aside all judgement of one's own, the true spouse of Jesus Christ, our holy mother our infallible and orthodox mistress, the Catholic Church, whose authority is exercised over us by hierarchy."
• "To have great esteem for religious orders, and to give the preference to celibacy or virginity over the married state."
• To praise relics, the veneration and innovation of Saints: also the stations, and pious pilgrimages, indulgences, jubilees, the custom of lighting candles in the churches, and other such aids to piety and devotion."

Unit 2 - "The Rule of Cosimo d'Medici"

Author Bio: Author - Vespasiano (1421-1498) - He was born in Rignano sull'Arno, Italy (a commune of Florence in the region of Tuscany); began his career as a stationer or dealer in parchment and paper. This was before he became the leading bookseller in Italy, right before the invention of printing; well known today for is humanistic beliefs, as well as being a librarian during the Renaissance period; most renowned pieces of work included multiple biographies and scribes; The Memoir of Vespasiano

speaker - Vespasiano da Bisticci (above)

Date/Context: "The Rule of Cosimo d'Medici" is one of Vespasiano's many biographies on famous political figures. It was written during the Renaissance, somewhere between 1421-1498. This excerpt is a small taste of the biography as a whole, however it can be found in a compilation of Vespasiano's works in "The Memoir of Vespasiano". The memoir contained most of Vespasiano's great biographies and scribes. These were translated and compiled together in 1963, to form the memoir. Overall, the excerpt of "The Rule of Cosimo d'Medici", highlights the kind of ruler and leader Cosimo was. It discusses his relationships with the citizens, as well as his acknowledgment and appreciation towards artists, architects, and other tradesman.

Summary: First, the excerpt begins by providing some background of the great Cosimo d'Medici. He spoke latin fluently and had an intense interest of associating with men of "high station". In other words, men who were well known for their knowledge rather than their money, or popularity. Continuing on, by Cosimo's twenty fifth birthday, he had received a wonderful reputation from the city. It had always been important to Cosimo, that he remained an "equal" to the people. He never wanted to be viewed as superior, however he still held a position of power. Vespasiano went on, he described Cosimo d'Medici as a man who never spoke ill of anyone. He explained that Cosimo would he get angry at those who spoke badly of someone else. Next, according to the excerpt, Cosimo was "well versed" and had the ability to hold a discussion with many kinds of men with many different occupations. He showed appreciation to many craftsmen, including a close friend, Donatello. Donatello was an incredible sculptor, and Cosimo's appreciation for artwork impacted Donatello greatly. Eventually, Cosimo ordered the bank to give Donatello enough money every week to take care of his work and four assistants.

Key Quotes: 

• "he never spoke ill of anyone, and it angered him greatly to hear slander spoken by others."
• "He was grave in temperament, prone to associate with men of high station who disliked frivolity, and averse from all buffoons and actors and those who spent time unprofitably."
• "the great mistake of his life was that he did not begin to spend his wealth ten years earlier;"

Unit 2: Scholarship and Art

Author Bio: The author focuses this peice on the ideas of Leon Battista Alberti, and from this peice I believe he is one of the most relevant voices of the Renaissance. The author, Giorgio Vasari, was a Da Vinci of his time- an architect, painter, and writer, focusin pg mostly on biographies of Italian renaissance artists. He studied in Florence, and actually had close ties with the Medici family. This gave him a pretty heavy bias toward Italian arts, and sometimes filled in facts with his own opinion. 

Context: Vasari is reflecting on Alberti's ideas of art and scholarship and exemplifying them in his own way. Alberti and Vasari lived in different decades, but his ideas were carried throught that gap of time and put back into the public by the author. Vasari is reflecting the idea that science is essential to have successful art, especially to the artist. This makes most sense in light of architecture. 


Summary: Not only is the knowledge of science useful to all, but especially artists.  Science provides knowledge and education needed to perfect art. This is most easily shown in architecture and sculpting. When an artist uses science in his work, he is also more likely to be accepted by the community. In Vasaris own commentary, he says that the idea of combining art and science is also personified in Alberti's work. 

"For the service, security, honor, and ornament of the public, we are exceedingly obliged to the architect; to whom, in time of leisure...in time of business...The whole of the human species, was most obliged to the architect, or rather, inventor of all conveniences.

Unit 2 "How Many Sins are Committed in a Single Day"

Author Bio: Johann Tetzel was a Roman Catholic friar and preacher. He studied at the University of Leipzig and was known for exchanging money for indulgences. Tetzel was later condemned from the church for life due to fraud and embezzlement.

Date/Context: Written in 1517 during the Renaissance.

Summary: Johann Tetzel is speaking directly to the reader. He begins by saying that the reader should feel blessed for the gifts that God has given them. He reminds the reader that life is difficult and sins surround us day by day. Tetzel notes that God is forgiving. He insists that through means of confession you will avoid Purgatory and find yourself in Heaven. Tetzel tells the reader that after confession, it takes seven years of penitence to rid yourself of a sin, whether this takes place in life, or in Purgatory. Tetzel wonders how many sins are committed in a single day, week, year, etc. by one person. He believes that anyone who commits a sin belongs suffering in Purgatory. Tetzel encourages the reader to exchange money for indulgences from the church that help you to get rid of your sins so you can get into Heaven.

Key Quotation: “Are you not willing, then, for the fourth part of a florin, to obtain these letters, by virtue of which you may bring, not your money but your divine and immortal soul safe and sound into the land of Paradise?”

Unit-1 "Alexander and the Brotherhood of Man"

Author Bio: Author-Plutarch (ca. AD 46 -AD 120).  Greek biographer, essayist, and Platonist philosopher who was born in Chaeronea, Boeotia; best known for writing "Parallel Lives" and "Moralia."  Even though he took some liberties with how accurate his accounts were, he always made sure that they were entertaining and informative to read.


Date/ Context: There has been much debate as to why Alexander the Great chose to conquer the Persian Empire and other large-scale empires. Was he a power hungry manic who got off on conquering his fellow man?  Was he motivated by irresistible curiosity or a desire for wealth?  Or did Alexander have bigger concerns altogether?  When he ordered his soldiers to take Persian brides, was he attempting by crossing blood and customs to break the mold between the intellectual and physical restraints of the Greek city-states, and therefore unite East and West?  Or was the creation of his mighty empire the result of impulse and coincidence?


Summary: Alexander the Great did not treat the Greeks as a leader, nor did he treat the barbarians as a master, instead treating the Greeks as friends and kinsmen, and treating the barbarians as wild animals or plants. If he did treat the Greeks as a leader, his kingdom would have been full of warfare, banishment, and secret plots, rather he saw himself as a divine being sent down to earth to keep the peace and rule the world.  If Alexander the Great failed to win people over with diplomacy, he conquered them in battle.  Alexander the Great conquered people from all over the world and united them as one under his rule, intermixing their lives, customs, marriages and standards of living.  Alexander the Great urged his conquered subjects to view his land as if it were their native homeland.  Alexander the Great saw good men as his fellow kinsman and those who commit evil deeds as aliens; he distinguished Greeks from barbarians not by their shields, swords, or tunics but by associating Hellenism with virtue and honor, and barbarians with evil deeds.  Alexander acted out of a desire to subject all the races of the world under one rule and one form of government.  In conclusion, Alexander the Great perceived himself as a god-like figure who was sent down to earth to unite all the races in the world under his mighty empire's rule and form of government, to make all of mankind united as one.



Key Quotations:

"Alexander did not follow Aristotle's advice to treat the Greeks as a leader, the barbarians as a master, cultivating the former as friends and kinsmen, and treating the latter as animals or plants."

"Had he done so his kingdom would have been filled with warfare, banishments and secret plots, but he regarded himself as divinely sent to mediate and govern the world."

"And those whom he failed to win over by persuasion he overpowered in arms, bringing them together from every land, combining, as it were in a loving cup, their lives, customs, marriages and manner of living; he bade them all look on the inhabited world as their native land, on his camp as their citadel and protection, on good men as their kinsmen and evil doers as aliens, and to not distinguish Greek from barbarian by the . . . shield, or the sword, or the sleeved tunic but to associate Hellenism with virtue and barbarians with evil doing . . ."        

"Instead he conducted himself as he did out of a desire to subject all the races in the world to one rule and one form of government, making all mankind a single people."