During the Renaissance, humanism was one of the most intellectual movements. It was based on the study of ancient literature from Greece and Rome. Humanism had a different view of religion than Christianity but the humanists were not anti-religious. The humanists looked at the ancient classics and valued them for what they were, which were clear insights into human nature. These documents also taught the humanists how to live a good worldly life. In the Medieval world, the Christians used these documents to fit into their world-view and to prove their own doctrines truth. The humanists did not disagree with the Christian belief in religious matters but they did argue that every single detail that had no importance should not be focused on like it was. The humanists based their form of Christianity strictly on the direct meaning of the Bible and what the church fathers wrote. One thing that the humanists stressed was that the historical narrative was cyclic, with recurring events such as times of peace to times of war. The Christians thought that history was the unfolding of G-d s will, which is like a story with a beginning, middle and an end. The cyclic idea was a pagan idea originating mainly from Aristotle, Polybius, and Cicero. Another idea of the humanists was that the human could dominate his environment, thus becoming a magus, or magician. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola said that man could choose his own destiny and shape his own life. This idea of dominance was important to the Scientific Revolution in the early eighteenth century. During the Medieval ages, the artists were obsessed with Madonna, or the Virgin Mary, and the birth of Jesus. The art usually involved Jesus as a baby and Mary holding him. There was sometimes a halo above Jesus head. He was also usually towards the top of the painting in order that the people looking at the painting would look up. During the Renaissance, Pierro de la Francesca did the painting of the Flagellation. This painting can be divided into two parts. The left side has Jesus in the background being whipped while tied up symbolizing his crucifixion. On the right side of the painting there are three men who are worldly and secular. This painting is saying that the Renaissance and Christianity can co-exist. The Renaissance wanted to understand Christianity but became obsessed with math and quantification, or measurements. Because the painters of the Renaissance used quantas they only dominated the painting and not the real world. This brings up the question of how did quantas come from the paintings into the real world? The Renaissance painters thought of the idea of quantas but never used it outside of their paintings. How did they dominate the world and if they didn t dominate, how does modernity come from the Renaissance without domination?