"Not at all. The leading Renaissance intellectuals rejected the universalist world-view of the Catholic Church. Dante and Petrarch shocked their contemporaries by writing their greatest works in their native language - Italian - rather than Latin. They rejected monotheism and embraced the buzzing, blooming physical world and the plethora of dieties (not to be taken too seriously) of the classical world. This led very naturally to a celebration of one's homeland and culture, to empiricism and exploration. "
Don't let us debate the history of literature here, but the Dante embracing a plethora of deities? Admittedly I when I read his Devine comedy the first time heaven felt utter boring to me as purgatory might be the place were I'll end up, if he is correct. -jo
