What Ushered in the Modern Period?
A Series of Events Staggered Over Time and Controlled by God
The Rise of Nation States
The Intensification of the Secular
spirit
The Expansion of Europe
The Rise of Modern Capitalism
The Protestant Reformation
Rise of Modern Science
The Rise of Nation States
The Holy Roman Empire still clung
to universality even though it’s power was
essentially gone
All of Europe was divided into
princedoms, feudal states, or communes
National sentiment had not yet
divided the national groups
Eventually these disjointed
political fragments fused into homogenous states
In these new Nation States the
King was the focus of power
Slowly the King brought the feudal
states under his control
The middle class mercantilist
helped bring control to the king
Invention of gunpowder removed the
power of feudal knights
Nationalistic sentiment grew due
to poets, language, traditions,beliefs
By 1500 most of Europe was divided
into full grown nations
Germany & Italy were destined
to wait until the 19th century to be unified
Intensification of the Secular Spirit
In the middle ages life was viewed
as a pilgrimage. It was only a means of attaining eternal
bliss
As conditions improved the middle
class turned to a more Epicurean lifestyle
In the middle ages people worked
silently at their tasks for the greater glory of God.
Now the primary purpose of life
was the maximum enjoyment of this world and personal
distinction
This humanistic trend was
accompanied not by indifference to religion but by
positive immorality
Movable printing press - helped
spread the ideas * Antithesis*
Expansion of Europe
Driven by the desire to find a
better route to trade with the East
The result of the discoveries was
that Europeans could open a whole new world of commerce
This new commerce gave great
impetus to the rise of capitalism
The Rise of Modern Capitalism
Wealth other than land began to
exist, a fluid negotiable wealth
With the minting of gold (1252) a
monetary system in Europe began
Banking became a new business
Mercantilism - means
employed to create strong industrial states, thereby
strengthening the bond on national unification
The Protestant Reformation
To combat the existence of abuses
in the Church
God led Luther to conclude that
salvation was not by works but by grace alone
The Bible was available to all,
not just the clergy
Printing press helped spread the
Reformation
Copyright © 1998 Covenant Christian High School. Email Covenant