ABSTRACT
The relation of Renaissance humanism and the Reformation has been examined from various standpoints historical, theological, literary and so on. However, it has not received as much attention as it deserves from musicologists working on Reformation musical history. Kristeller's view of Renaissance humanism as an educational and cultural movement provided an interpretative foundation for understanding the relation of humanism and the Reformation as reciprocal rather than conflicting. Luther's programme of religious reform, however, can be seen as humanist in many ways. It was greatly supported by humanist editors and educators and relied on the methods and programmes of the biblical humanism cultivated by Erasmus and Reuchlin. The essence of Erasmus's Christian humanism lies in the establishment of a new framework of theological discourse, on the basis of the rules of classical rhetoric. The New Testament has no direct statement against instrumental music; it is generally assumed that primitive Christianity did not admit the use of musical instruments.
