Religion

Renaissance Religion. By: Nancy, Jonny and Maddie media type="file" key="Renaissance Religion Movie.mov" width="390" height="390" align="center"

Our Questions: Q- Question A- Answer from Expert

Expert: ** Steven Engler **, Professor Mount Royal University Q1) During the Italian Renaissance we saw a major shift away from Roman Catholicism (the main religion at the time). Do we see similar conditions in Calgary today? Specifically, do we see a decrease in religious practices and an increase in individualism? A) Yes and yes. The numbers of Catholicism in Canada, there is a slow decline according to the censuses from 1951 to 2001.There also is a decline in Protestantism. In Canada there was less participation in religion. On the other hand if you ask people if they believe in God it has dropped a little, but not as much. There are people who say they have no religion, but they believe in God. It makes religion more of a personal thing.

Q2) During the renaissance we saw the emergence of new religious views such as humanism. Do we see similar developments in Calgary today? More specifically do we see a movement in Calgary towards revolutionary ideas and knowledge? and if so is it widespread or isolated? A) If there was going to be a revolution it would have to be back to tradition. And that is not happening in Calgary.

Q3) During the renaissance we saw great accomplishments from religious people. Some accomplishments were the Mona Lisa, Sistine Chapel and the printing press. Do you see some of the same conditions and developments in Calgary today? Specifically, do we see great conditions such as artwork and inventions from new religious views in Calgary today? A) The world has never had so many genres as today. The scientific revolution spread ideas like the scientific method. But everyone uses it now, so that will not change. So no big things will change. But if you look on the horizon you will see that people have done re-innovative things with tradition. another thing is all the ethnic cultures in Calgary. People who pay attention to art will notice more of a demand in cultural art.

Q4) During the renaissance, there was a great split in the religious power. Two popes were elected, one stayed in Rome and the other resided in Avignon, France. Today a major center of our life is the media. In the media there are many competitions to become the most bought magazine, most viewed channel etc. It is hard for people to decide what to watch, buy or summed up into one word: believe; alike to the split in the church. Do you think this is a mirror image to what happened hundreds of years ago in the renaissance?

Jonny: In response to whether the city Calgary has had a shift away from the “main religion” to make it a Renaissance city, Steven Engler believes that Calgary does possess the necessary conditions. Specifically do we see a decrease in people who go to church and an increase in individualism? He states, “ the numbers in Catholicism in Canada has a slow decline, also if you asked people if they believed in god, it dropped a little bit but not much.” By this he means that there is a slow decrease in people that follow the major religion, which is being a Catholic. In other words, more people are drawing towards individualism rather then a religion. Yet the numbers are still higher for people who believe in God, but there is still a small decrease in that.

Maddie Q2: In response to a new religious revolution, Steven Engler believes that if Calgary were to go into a revolution, it would be back to religion. The long version is in the Renaissance, citizens were scammed through indulgences by the Catholic Church, and later had to suffice through the Great Schism, a big religious catastrophe. The people started to move out towards Protestant Religions, Humanism, and various other religions. This was the religion revolution during the Renaissance. In order to have another religion, you would have to go back to religion, in order to start new.

Nancy: In response to whether we are seeing great accomplishments from religious thinkers today, Steven Engler (Professor at Mount Royal University) states, “the story since the renaissance has been one of more options.” There have never been as many options as today so the idea of “radical innovation” is hard to imagine. For example, in science, the scientific revolution invented the scientific method. But now everyone uses that now so that isn’t going to change. We have new inventions, but we’re not going to re-invent science. So no, there are no new innovations on a large scale but if you look at small things, there are many new innovations with tradition. An example of this is St. Stevens Ukrainian-Catholic Church. They took the traditional dome shape of a church and put it at different levels, they were highly criticized for this because it went against tradition. There is also much more mixing of cultures in Calgary. It is a very cosmopolitan city. So therefore yes, Calgary does have the conditions to become a renaissance city.