“The Renaissance was a movement which shifted interest from things religious to things worldly; from salvation in Christ to the development of man. For that reason its adherents came to be known as humanists. They cultivated admiration for the ancient pagan Greek and Latin civilization and literature… But the movement was also going back to the prechristian paganism of the old Roman Empire, and in so far it meant a breaking away from Christianity.”

(Kromminga, D. H. A History of the Christian Church. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1948, 166)