13.1 Prelude to Reformation

Thomas à Kempis, author of The Imitation of Christ, wrote that

"truly, at the day of judgment we shall not be examined by what we have read, but what we have done; not how well we have spoken, but how religiously we have lived."

A Spanish archbishop, Cardinal Ximenes, was...

-especially active in using Christian humanism to reform the church ->To foster spirituality among the people, he had a number of religious writings, including Thomas à Kempis's The Imitation of Christ, translated into Spanish.

Erasmus called his conception of religion "the philosophy of Christ"

-meaning that Christianity should be a guiding philosophy for the direction of daily life rather than the system of dogmatic beliefs and practices that the medieval church seemed to stress -emphasized inner piety and de-emphasized the external forms of religion (such as the sacraments, pilgrimages, fasts, veneration of saints, and relics)

Moreover, always the man of conscience, More willingly gave up his life ...

-opposing England's break with the Roman Catholic Church over the divorce of King Henry VIII. -While in office, More's intolerance of heresy led him to advocate persecution of those who would fundamentally change the Catholic Church.

FQ: What were the chief ideas of the Christian humanists, and ho did they differ from the ideas of the Protestant reformers?

:D

Thomas More (1478-1535)

Although trained in the law, he took an avid interest in the new classical learning and became proficient in both Latin and Greek. Like the Italian humanists, who believed in putting their learning at the service of the state, More embarked on a public career that ultimately took him to the highest reaches of power as lord chancellor of England.

the new classical learning that was part of Italian Renaissance humanism spread to northern Europe and spawned a movement called...

Christian (northern Renaissance) humanism whose major goal was the reform of Christianity

The most influential of all the Christian humanists was...

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) -who formulated and popularized the reform program of Christian humanism

As more and more people sought certainty of salvation through veneration of relics, collections of such objects grew.

Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony and Martin Luther's prince, had amassed more than 19,000 relics to which were attached indulgences that could reduce one's time in purgatory by nearly 2 million years.

More's most famous work, and one of the most controversial of his age, was...

Utopia, written in 1516. This literary masterpiece is an account of the idealistic life and institutions of the community of Utopia (Greek for "nowhere"), an imaginary island in the vicinity of the recently discovered New World. It reflects More's own concerns with the economic, social, and political problems of his day. He presented a new social system in which cooperation and reason replaced power and fame as the proper motivating agents for human society

indulgence

a remission, after death, of all or part of the punishment for sin

What is striking about the revival of religious piety in the fifteenth century—whether expressed through such external forces as the veneration of relics and the buying of indulgences or the mystical path—was its...

adherence to the orthodox beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church

Christian (northern Renaissance) humanism

an intellectual movement in northern Europe in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries that combined the interest in the classics of the Italian Renaissance with an interest in the sources of early Christianity, including the New Testament and the writings of the church fathers.

Utopian society,

based on communal ownership rather than private property. All residents of Utopia worked nine hours a day, regardless of occupation, and were rewarded according to their needs. Possessing abundant leisure time and relieved of competition and greed, Utopians were free to lead wholesome and enriching lives.

pluralism led in turn to absenteeism:

church officeholders ignored their duties and hired underlings who sometimes lacked the proper qualifications. Complaints about the ignorance and ineptness of parish priests became widespread in the fifteenth century.

northern humanists (also called Christian humanists because of their profound preoccupation with religion) focused on the sources of...

early Christianity, the Holy Scriptures and the writings of such church fathers as Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome

ecause Erasmus thought that the standard Latin edition of the Bible, known as the Vulgate, contained errors, he...

edited the Greek text of the New Testament from the earliest available manuscripts and published it, along with a new Latin translation, in 1516 ->In his day, Erasmus's work on the New Testament was considered his most outstanding achievement, and Martin Luther himself would use Erasmus's work as the basis for his German translation of the New Testament.

The Oratory's members included a number of cardinals who

favored church reform

The Oratory of Divine Love

first organized in Italy in 1497, was not a religious order but an informal group of clergy and laymen who worked to foster reform by emphasizing personal spiritual development and youtward acts of charit

Erasmus's Julius Excluded from Heaven

pilloried the Renaissance papacy in the person of Julius II, the "warrior pope" (see Chapter 12). When Julius dies, he appears before the gates of heaven, expecting a quick entry. When St. Peter denies him entrance because of Julius' misdeeds, Julius threatens to raise an army and storm heaven itself.

Johannes Geiler of Kaisersberg

preacher who denounced the corruption of the clergy.

Especially noticeable were the calls for reform from the religious orders of the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians. Members of these groups put particular emphasis on

preaching to laypeople

The most important characteristic of northern humanism was its

reform program

To Erasmus, the reform of the church meant...

spreading an understanding of the philosophy of Jesus, providing enlightened education in the sources of early Christianity, and making common-sense criticisms of the abuses in the church

the northern humanists felt that through education in the sources of classical, and especially Christian, antiquity, they could instill a true inner piety that would bring about a reform of the church and society. For this reason, Christian humanists...

supported schools, brought out new editions of the classics, and prepared new editions of the Bible and writings of the church fathers

The "philosophy of Christ," advocated by

the Christian humanist Erasmus, was especially appealing

The papal court's preoccupation with finances had an especially strong impact on

the clergy

Increasingly, nobles or wealthy members of the bourgeoisie held

the highest positions among the clergy

pluralism

the practice of holding several church offices simultaneously; a problem of the late medieval church.

Moreover, to increase their revenues, high church officials (bishops, archbishops, and cardinals)...

took over more than one church office

Corruption in the Catholic Church was another factor that spurred people to

want reform

Other people sought certainty of salvation in the popular mystical movement known as the Modern Devotion, which...

which downplayed religious dogma and stressed the need to follow the teachings of Jesus.

Eramus's The Praise of Folly

written in 1509, in which Erasmus engaged in humorous yet effective criticism of the most corrupt practices of his own society. He was especially harsh on the abuses within the ranks of the clergy