Religion during the Neoclassic and romantic periods
The neoclassical period occurred immediately after the renaissance period and was witnessed by the emergence of the playwrights, and satire was also famous during this period. During this time, many churches had emerged with different architectural designs, and the church had entirely been split from the governance matters (Brown, 1997). The church was to perform religious duties only, and the Roman Catholic power had gone down and leveled with the other churches which had emerged. The control of the economics and politics and other matters in the society was done by the secular government, which was not interfered with by any church.
On the other hand, the romantic period had such similar cases whereby many churches existed, and the organization of the church characterized the period. Christianity during this period was more organized, and any revolt in the social and intellectual realm led to another in the religious sphere (Gray, 1901). People in the era were strict with the Christian doctrines, and the people respected Christianity. The respect is more remarkable in this era despite the losses the church had gone through in the past ages. On comparing Christianity in the two eras, the romantic period was characterized by the self-belief in God, and one could do what he thought pleases God. Religion during the romantic period was personal, and one’s perception of God is the reason for human beings to guide the lives of the people in the era.
The period was characterized by the personal view of what was right and what was wrong for them, and only the secular law was compulsory and had to adhere. The views of the world changed amongst the people and basing of natural phenomena to the scientific theories emerged. The measure of good life turned from one’s obedience to the church doctrines to the more comfortable and pleasant stay on the world, as explained by Gray, (1901). This means that the spiritual belief had been secularized, and the people did what they thought was right to others and obeyed the laws of the state. During this period, scientific discoveries were allowed, and many scientists implemented some of their experimental facts about the world. The period was so different compared to the time before, where the scientific discoveries and theories were rejected as they would interfere with the religious beliefs.
On the other hand, the Romantic period God was viewed as dynamic, unlike the deism belief that had risen during the neoclassic period and which opposed Christianity and saw God’s existence as on the rational grounds only. This was due to the independence of the people to generate their views on the perspectives of religion (Wordsworth, & Rogers, 1980). In the Romantic period, God was perceived to live in Nature and was the same God in every place, unlike the neoclassic period were rational thinking led to different believes on the perspectives of God existence, which led to the rise of deism. In the neoclassic era, deism as opposed to the Christianity had emerged and was recognized by many people who followed it. Deism unlike the Christianity did not have written texts to convey religious message to the people. According to the beliefs about religion, the romanticism period holds the fact that Human beings are good in Nature, but they are only made corrupt by Nature.
The artist of the romantic period did not longer put their beliefs in the religion and seemed to have forgotten it. Some of the artists used angels in their work and used Christ also in the films and cinemas. This was not, however, witnessed in the neoclassic period, which still held religious facts intact though it did not support the leadership of the religion to partake the matters of governance (Gray, 1901). The romantic period, however, believed in the Judeo Christian thought, and the pattern was by the fall; the return of God and the future reunification of God was ideal for the Christian believes during the era. The neoclassic, however, had different dimensions on the think about God, whereby they had raised deism, which had no supporting literature.
The romantic period differentiated itself from the neoclassic period through scientific discoveries, which rise as many scientists were free to implement their thoughts. According to Johnson (1785), the biblical truths were the only ideal to live a good life according to the earlier perspective of the church until the struggle for reforms during the renaissance period. The church held that any scientific all the things are possible through belief in the spiritual truth, which was later proved wrong by the reformers during those times. Freedom of thinking was limited, and one could be prosecuted for his scientific thoughts. During the neoclassic period, the church power had been lowered, liberty and democracy of the people to do what they thought was right had emerged.
On comparing the two periods, it is found that more freedom existed in the romanticism period as opposed to neoclassical During the romanticism period, the deism which had to arise did not believe in the trinity of God thus differentiating it from the romantic period (Wordsworth, & Rogers, 1980). In Britain during the romanticism, however, any person who believed in Nature could face the law on charges of blasphemy. In Britain during the romantic period, Christianity was fully adhered to, and any individual who resisted that could be charged with blasphemy. According to the Deist believes, God created the world and later on ignored it hence the reason why people suffer.
Period. The goals of the Humanitarians during the Neoclassical were not accomplished immediately, and it took a long time for their thoughts to be implemented. This means that during the neoclassical period, the people were still denied the freedom to discover more ideas that could challenge the church (Wordsworth, & Rogers, 1980). The church during this period dominated and ruled the country, and there was no other thought in the scientific field that could be allowed to exist. The Roman Catholic doctrines were to be followed without question by every person, and people who objected to the church faced persecution. The churches of the neoclassic, however, copied the architectural designs of the church and the rulers who wished to lead in divine righteousness.
In the Neoclassical period, there was less peace and freedom as the humanitarians and reformers went on campaigning for the changes in the church. Many prosecutions occurred for the scientists who tried to interfere with the church doctrines, and there were a lot of changes that occurred (Wordsworth & Rogers, 1980). Till the beginning of the Romanticism period, the peace for the church was not guaranteed as opposed to the romanticism period where everything had settled, and the Roman Catholic powers were fully interred from influencing the secular governance, as explained by Taber (2000). The freedom for the scientists and everybody in the romanticism period existed as opposed to the neoclassical period. The period for progress in the different church doctrines which had emerged during the neoclassical period fully established and others were emerging.
The two periods show a drastic change of events in Christianity within the two periods in a sequential manner. Since the periods follow each other, the changes from each period to the other follow some order and consistency, as written by Ware (1960). The Neoclassical, according to the study, can be viewed as the time of fighting for religious freedom, which is enjoyed in the romanticism period. All the struggle during the Neoclassical gives room for the religious freedom of worship and generation of own ideas about Christian religion according to one understand.
References
Gray, T. (1901). An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (No. 3). HM Caldwell.
Brown, S. A. (1997). Paradise Lost and Aurora Leigh. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 37(4), 723-740.
Johnson, S. (1785). The rambler (Vol. 1). Harrison and Company.
Wordsworth, W., & Rogers, P. J. (1980). The World is Too Much with Us... PJ Rogers.
Taber, C. R. (2000). The World Is Too Much with Us: Culture in Modern Protestant Missions. Sweet & Maxwell.
Ware, M. (1960). The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: A Discourse on Prayer?. The Review of English Studies, 11(43), 303-304.