Humanism as a philosophy can be traced back to Confucius and Greco-Roman thinkers, especially Plato and Aristotle. The Italian Renaissance, however, is most often pointed to as the first full ex¬pression of this philosophy. The term itself derives from the fifteenth-century Italian humanist a meaning teacher of the humanities. The term developed to distinguish certain studies in philosophy, litera¬ture and the arts from theology or the study of divinity. In its strict¬est sense, humanism referred to a Renaissance literary cult or Re¬naissance Humanism, which spearheaded an awakened interest in Greek and Roman literature. Studying such works for their own sake, it was believed, would develop autonomous and responsible individuals. The so-called "New Learning" movement was a revolt against the stultifying authority of a church-dominated world in which the Greek and Latin Classics were read for the edification of Christians. The emergence of humanism in Renaissance Italy as a revolt against a dehumanizing force begins a pattern repeated several times.