Editing Reformation (section)

===Humanism===
{{Main|Renaissance humanism}}
{{See also|Complutensian Polyglot Bible|Northern Renaissance}}

[[File:Holbein-erasmus.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A middle-aged man with a book in his hands wearing a fur coat and a fur hat|''[[Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam]]'' by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]] (d. 1543)]]

A new intellectual movement known as [[Renaissance humanism|Humanism]] emerged in the [[Late Middle Ages]]. The Humanists' slogan {{lang|la|[[ad fontes]]!}} ('back to the sources!') demonstrated their enthusiasm for [[classical antiquity|Classical]] texts and [[textual criticism]].{{sfn|Kaufmann|2023|pp=48–50}} The [[rise of the Ottoman Empire]] led to the mass immigration of [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] scholars to Western Europe, and many of them brought [[manuscript]]s previously unknown to western scholarship. This led to the [[Platonism in the Renaissance|rediscovery of]] the Ancient Greek philosopher [[Plato]] ({{nobr|347/348 BC}}). Plato's ideas about an ultimate reality lying beyond visible reality posed a serious challenge to scholastic theologians' rigorous definitions. Textual criticism called into question the reliability of some of the fundamental texts of papal privilege: humanist scholars, like [[Nicholas of Cusa]] (d. 1464) proved that one of the basic documents of papal authority, the allegedly 4th-century ''[[Donation of Constantine]]'' was a medieval forgery.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=75–79}}

As the [[Paper mill|manufacturing of paper]] from rags and the printing machine with [[movable type]] were spreading in Europe, books could be bought at a reasonable price from the {{nowrap|15th century}}.{{refn|group=note|The price of the books decreased by about 85 per cent after printing machines started to work.{{sfn|Rubin|2014|p=6}}}} Demand for religious literature was especially high.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=68–70}} The German inventor [[Johannes Gutenberg]] (d. 1468) first published a [[Gutenberg Bible|two-volume printed version]] of the Vulgata in the early 1450s.{{sfn|Gordon|2022|pp=8, 18, 29}} [[High German languages|High]] and [[Low German]], Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Czech and Catalan translations of the Bible were published between 1466 and 1492; in France, the Bible's abridged French versions gained popularity.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=70–71}} Laypeople who read the Bible could challenge their priests' sermons, as it happened already in 1515.{{sfn|Gordon|2022|p=30}}

Completed by [[Jerome]] (d. 420), the Vulgate contained the [[Septuagint]] version of the [[Old Testament]].{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=27–28}} The systematic study of Biblical manuscripts revealed that Jerome had sometimes misinterpreted his sources of translation.{{refn|group=note|The Vulgate text of [[Exodus 34]] is a well known case of Jerome's mistranslations: the Hebrew text writes of [[Moses]]'s shining face when narrating the revelation of the [[Ten Commandments]] whereas Jerome describes Moses as wearing a pair of horns as he mistook a Hebrew [[function word]].{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=79}}}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=79}} A series of Latin-Greek [[Novum Instrumentum omne|editions of the New Testament]] was completed by the Dutch humanist [[Erasmus]] (d. 1536). These new Latin translations challenged some scriptural [[proof texts]] for some Catholic dogmas.{{refn|group=note|For instance, Erasmus's translations did not support the traditional [[proof text]] for the concepts of [[Infused righteousness|infused grace]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schwarz |first1=W. |title=Examples of Luther's Biblical Translation |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=1955 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=199–209 |doi=10.1093/jts/VI.2.199 |jstor=23952721 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23952721 |issn=0022-5185|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and the treasury of merit, by choosing the adjective {{lang|la|gratiosa}} ('gracious') instead of the traditional {{lang|la|gratia plena}} ('full of grace') to address the Virgin Mary in the Latin text of the ''[[Hail Mary]]''.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=96}}}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=95–97}}