Could you imagine living in a time where you had to adhere to everything the church said? For the men and women of the fourteenth century this was their life; Marriages were arranged, men worked while women stayed at home and raised their children. You placed your trust solely in the hands of uneducated “spiritual” leaders. As Italian city-states grew through trade and commerce, they also flourished economically and intellectually. This led to a peak in interest in the classical literature, art, social and political ideas of Greece/Rome. Humanism was a literary movement that occurred during the Renaissance. During this movement, authors began to deal with general questions about the soul. Dante wrote about the soul's journey to salvation. Petrarch, another famous Italian author, began writing epic poems and sonnets; he later became known as the “father of the Italian Renaissance”. In addition to the pinnacle of Italian literature, there was also a sudden interest in classical art. Previously, all works of art were about religion. However, there have been some creators who have dared to push back against the status quo. Michelangelo, famous sculptor, painter and architect, had a strong passion for creation; he was the mind behind many marble statuettes in Italy. Jan Van Eyek became one of the first to use oil paintings. As time went on, art began to shift from a religious focus to a more secular focus. The Catholic Church was heading down the road to destruction. The popes of the Papal States acted as politicians, rather than as religious leaders. They became power-hungry and began using church offices to make money; indulgences were sold to buy the salvation of the soul, heavy tithes/offerings were required. Many people opposed these half-paper religious orders such as the Jesuits, Capuchins, Ursulines, Theatines and many others; the Jesuits were the most effective. Heirs to devotional, observational, and legalistic traditions, the Jesuits organized their order along military lines; they strongly represented the tyrannical radicalism of the period. The Jesuits ensured that the worldliness of the Renaissance Church never upset their order. The Renaissance brought new conceptions of life and the world; many of these ideas are still used or have been refined and applied to today's society. Both the Renaissance and the Reformation helped shape our world; they reformed education, restored the broken unity of history, aided the development of literature, supported the scientific revolution, as well as gave impetus to much-needed religious reforms. It could be said that a new era has begun for human beings.