northern renaissance: humanism, christian humanism & skepticism

Northern Renaissance:

Humanism, Christian Humanism & Skepticism

Christian HumanismCharacteristics:• Part of the Northern Renaissance• Emphasis on early Church writings

rather than on Greek or Roman texts• Emphasis on education and human

intellect to bring about change• Writings led to criticism of Church and

eventually to Reformation movement

Desiderius Erasmus• Dutch scholar (1466-

1536)• Most famous of all

northern humanists• Earned living by writing• Devout Catholic,

despite his criticism of the Church

Erasmus – In Praise of Folly (1513)• Written in Latin, bestseller second only to

Bible by 1550• Satirized European society & superstition• Criticized the immorality and hypocrisy of

Church leaders• Inspired calls for reform within Church,

including Martin Luther - “Erasmus lay the egg that Luther hatched”

Sir Thomas More• English lawyer and

government official (1478-1535)

• Example of ‘civic humanist’

• Served as Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII

• “the most saintly of humanists, the most human of saints”

More – Utopia (1516)• Humanistic masterpiece, radical for its

time• Mixed civic humanism with religious

ideals to create a perfect (utopian) society on an imaginary island

• People should live by reason, giving up material goods for the common good

• On Utopia, war, poverty, religious intolerance and other problems of society did not exist

Michel de Montaigne• French noble, politician,

scholar (1533-1592)• Skepticism – questioning

what can truly be known – “What do I know?”

• Created essay form of writing about subject

• Essays (1580s) – very influential on European thought – urged toleration for all ideas since nothing could be known for certain

William Shakespeare• English playwright, poet

(1564-1616)• Works reflected

Renaissance idea of humanism – focus on individual, both good and bad

• Skepticism present in some later works like “Hamlet”