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How did Judaism, Christianity, the Renaissance, and the Reformation influence the rise of democratic ideas?

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Judaism, Christianity, the Renaissance, and the Reformation each contributed to democratic ideas by emphasizing human equality, personal responsibility, and the separation of church and state. Judaism introduced moral obligations toward society, while Christianity added personal freedom and responsibility. The Renaissance revived classical ideals, including democratic governance, and the Reformation challenged church authority, promoting secular democracy. Together, these influences shaped modern democratic principles, emphasizing individual liberty and social duty.

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To best answer this question, it is important to define democracy and understand what it means to be a democratic thinker. A democracy is defined as a government by the people, involving rule of the majority, where all citizens have an equal say. This system was devised in ancient Greece to unite rule among city-states, and then moved into Italy as well. After the fall of the Roman Empire, groups from lower social and economic classes within some Italian city-states in the thirteenth century began to demand the right to participate in government at some level, familiarizing democratic ideas to a wider audience.

Judaism’s view of human society encompasses values akin to democracy, including notions of human equality, a governing system where the highest rulers are held accountable, and the view that people have the independence to choose between good and evil. While embracing these values was not a direct...

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driver to the formation of our modern democratic governments, each influenced democratic thought.

The Reformation was a movement protesting the secular values of the Renaissance, religious corruption, and monetary abuse by church leadership. In the Middle Ages and early modern period, religious institutions and the state were often intimately partnered. That all changed with the rise of secular democracy. The Reformation lessened the power of these institutions, making religion a more private experience, diminishing the bonds between church and state, and contributing to democratic ideas by sparking the notion of secular democracy.

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First, one should note that democracy evolved in ancient Athens which was neither Christian nor Jewish. Similarly, the Roman Republic was pagan as well. Neither Judaism nor Christianity affected the development of democratic forms of government in antiquity. One could even argue that by the fourth century, when Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire, the Christian system of bishops and ecclesiastical hierarchy served to enforce imperial power and was thus, by its very nature, anti-democratic. Judaism did serve as a locus of rebellion against Rome, but that was not a democratic uprising; rather, it was both religious and nationalistic. 

The key point at which some forms of Christianity became affiliated with democratic ideals was with the rise of Protestantism in the Renaissance. A major ideal of Protestantism was the notion of sola scriptura (that only Scripture and not the church hierarchy was required for salvation) and the notion of the "priesthood of all believers." Both of these ideals tended to accompany more democratic forms of church governance, such as councils of elders. The notion of all white men (but not women, and often not blacks of any gender) was implicit in the notion of all men being formed in imitation of God and thus being equal in brotherhood in Christ, although that ideal only existed briefly in the primitive church and only became part of Christian church governance in limited denominations. 

Also, the Renaissance was a period emphasizing a return to classical ideals, including admiration of the Roman (pagan) Republic.

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One central ideal common to all of the above is that of personal responsibility to the society one lives in.  Personal duty to your society, that duty being to act in ways which positively impact your society, goes hand in hand with the concepts of personal liberty.

Judaism emphasized the obligation of moral behavior toward your neighbors, and Christianity added more emphasis on personal freeedom and responsibility toward individuals as well as society as a whole.  The Rennaissance saw the rise of political philosophies again emphasizing duty to one's society and culture, and individual morality.  The Reformation brought even more emphasis on the individual's personal freedom and responsibilities as the two sides of a societal coin.

Think of the priveleges you have as an independant, free person in a free society.  The other side of that coin is the responsibility to use that freedom and those priveleges for the good of your neighbor as well as yourself.  That is the democratic principle in a nutshell, and also the central thrust of the philosphies that have come down to us through the four influences you mention.

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