Thomas More
Topic: Renaissance, Reformation and the Scientific Revolution · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 5 "Changing Cultural Traditions"
Meaning
Thomas More (1478–1535) was an English Christian humanist and statesman. A Christian humanist was a Church-minded scholar who used ancient texts to call for a purer, simpler Christianity. More criticised the Church as greedy and extortionate, meaning it took money unfairly from ordinary people. His writing is part of the north European humanism that prepared the ground for the Reformation.
Example
More's book Utopia (1516) describes an imaginary island with an ideal society. The well-ordered life of this island showed up the faults of his own England.
Don't confuse with
- Erasmus: Both were Christian humanists who attacked the Church's greed. More worked in England, while Erasmus worked in Holland.
- Machiavelli's The Prince (1513): More imagined an ideal society. Machiavelli described how men actually behave, driven by self-interest.
Related concepts
- Christian humanism
- Erasmus
- Indulgences
- Donation of Constantine
- Martin Luther
- Ninety-Five Theses
- Protestant Reformation
- John Calvin
- English Reformation
- Anglican Church