For nearly one thousand years in the west the standard framework used for discussing these themes had been the contemplation of Christ and his Passion. Now Petrarch stood the traditional model on its head. He was unquestionably a pious Christian—indeed, he was officially a clergyman. Yet he found the sublime in the individual, and not the other way around. He imbued the emotional and interior life of one person with infinite significance and the power to reveal higher truth. Everything still led back to God.
