The Reformation reacted to, stood against, and changed much of the religious distortion and degeneration of the Middle Ages. In 1643 Puritans closed the doors of theatres because they subverted, in their opinion, public morals. However, the arts, especially music and visual arts flourished in northern Europe within biblical boundaries and within the Christian conception of reality. During the Reformation and Renaissance, natural and realistic art replaced that which was mystical and symbolic. In Reformation countries, art was produced for the glory of God, who was at the center of the universe for Reformation man. (Schaeffer 1984:79-88)

As the Reformation took place in northern Europe, the Renaissance took place in southern Europe. In Renaissance countries, art was produced which glorified man, who was at the center of the universe for Renaissance thinkers. The Renaissance was generally humanistic in orientation with little reference to absolutes, universals, or a unified concept of ultimate truth.

Thomas Aquinas, as a Renaissance forerunner, had opened the door to the exalting of the human mind and to individual relativism, when he stated that man’s will had succumbed to the Fall but not his mind. There was a return to the classical Greek philosophers, who were to stand beside the great biblical figures, including the apostles. For example, Michelangelo’s David was created with larger-than-life hands and body. This David was not circumcised, indicating that he was a humanistic David (not necessarily the David of the Bible).

Great art flourished in the Renaissance but morality in art gradually declined. Mary, for example, was painted as a real figure, but the king’s mistress was used as a model. (Schaeffer 1984:71-72) Great dramatic literature flourished under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth. Earlier religious plays were replaced with the sweeping histories, tragedies, and comedies of Shakespeare and of other great Elizabethan playwrights.