Question

What were the beliefs of the humanists during the Renaissance?

Answer 1

If you see humanism as a secular "freedom from God" movement than you'd see the Renaissance as some kind of exaltation of man over the bad religion. During the Renaissance, the humanists wanted to draw from all these sources of knowledge, resulting in a flowering of the arts, literature, music, etc. Arguably, these sources had already been mined in the philosophical realm, most notably by Augustine and Aquinas. The Reformation delivered this new way of looking at education to the masses. With its emphasis on having the scriptures available in the local languages, the Reformation spurred education so the general public could read the Bible. While certain philosophical questions were propelled forward in this era the questions were framed within a worldview where theology remained the chief aim of knowledge. A secularized perspective on man and the world at large was not fully engaged until the enlightenment and the exaltation of man's reason over God's revealed will.