Christian humanism
Also called: Northern humanism · Topic: Renaissance, Reformation and the Scientific Revolution · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 5 "Changing Cultural Traditions"
Meaning
Christian humanism was the form humanism took in northern Europe. In Italy, humanism was led by professional scholars. In the north, it drew in many members of the Church. They wanted Christians to follow religion as it appears in the old texts and to drop rituals added later. They saw people as free and thinking beings and attacked the Church for being greedy.
Example
Thomas More (1478–1535) of England wrote Utopia (1516), and Erasmus (1466–1536) of Holland was the other leading Christian humanist. Both condemned the Church's greed and extortion, above all the sale of "indulgences", papers that claimed to free the buyer from his sins.
Don't confuse with
- Protestant Reformation: Christian humanists criticised the Church from inside it. Luther and the Protestants broke away from the Pope altogether.
Related concepts
- Thomas More
- Erasmus
- Indulgences
- Donation of Constantine
- Martin Luther
- Ninety-Five Theses
- Protestant Reformation
- John Calvin
- English Reformation
- Anglican Church