Lecture 3 The Challenge of Christianity PDF

Lecture 3 The Challenge to Christian Europe From Christian Europe to Humanism Europe’s journey from religion to reason  1/19 This week’s guiding questions What are three features of humanism? What are...

Lecture 3 The Challenge to Christian Europe From Christian Europe to Humanism Europe’s journey from religion to reason  1/19 This week’s guiding questions What are three features of humanism? What are three reasons for the Renaissance? What does Hirst mean when he says that the Reformation is “Christianity but not Roman”? What is, according to Hirst, the main message of the Enlightenment? Readings: Hirst, chapter 2 Documentary: “The Story of Europe Part 3”  2/19 Time frame Middle Ages: 500-1500 Renaissance and humanism: 1400-1650 Enlightenment: 1650-1820  4/19 The Great Tradition Fascination with the Ancients steady throughout the Middle Ages At Charlemagne’s court Kept alive by the Church that retained all the elements of classical civilization that did not contradict Christian doctrine Ex.: Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)  5/19 In the West: Italy and the cradle of new ideas Prelude to the Renaissance #1 Manufacturing and Mediterranean trade made Italy into Europe’s wealthiest regions starting in the 13th century. Enormously wealthy merchants, bankers, counts and dukes whose attitude towards life became gradually more secular, more centered on man, more centered on the here and now rather than God and the hereafter.  6/19 In the East: The Ottoman Turks Prelude to the Renaissance #2 Tribe from central Asia that moved into Anatolia in the 12th century, converted to Islam and turned into a regional superpower. 1453: Ottomans conquer Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. As a result, many members of the Byzantine’s empire cultural elite, scholars and artists fled and found refuge mostly in the Italian peninsula.  7/19 Light comes from the East Prelude to the Renaissance #3 Byzantine scholars brought their Christian tradition, strongly influenced by classical Greek civilization. They brought manuscripts of ancient Greek thinkers and writers: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, different version of the work of Aristotle and Plato. Old Greek versions of the Holy Scripture, unaltered by centuries of transcribing.  8/19 The rise of Humanism This made European elites more critical. They questioned the authority of the Church, they saw the Bible also as a product of history, as a man-made creation rather than the accurate word of God. The contact with the Byzantine version of classical civilization, made people more critical of the existent, modified European representation of classical values. Enthusiasm for the genuine Greek and Roman ideas. Interest in the language these works had been written: classical Greek and Latin became the model as opposed to the corrupted Latin used by the Church.  9/19 Erasmus: the Humanist par excellence Desiderius Erasmus (1465-1536), Dutch born scholar Questioned institutions such as the Church that asked people to unquestioningly accept the Bible as literally and eternally true Criticized the Roman Catholic clergy in charge of education in Europe, accusing them of hypocrisy and ignorance in refusing to study the secular literature of the ancients Posited that the goal was to keep people ignorant  10/19 Leonardo Da Vinci The renaissance and its “new man” Homo universalis Humanist values Humanism is an intellectual movement, the Renaissance is a much wider idea: variety of fields: visual arts, literature, music. Man becomes a unique being, powerful of his rational and creative capacities. Jump from an anonymous member of God’s creatures into an individual. The “I” takes central stage. Michelangelo Every person has special qualities given by God. Man must honor God by making the most out of his qualities. He must realize his innate human creative potential: his virtù. Crucial role of education: “studium humanitatis”, classical texts.  11/19 Realism Goal of artists and writers: represent everything as the critical eye sees. 1420, Filippo Brunelleschi: Linear perspective (http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/Brunelleschi.html) Earlier, the representation was not supposed to be accurate: it carried a message: life on earth is not the real, valuable life. The Renaissance man was beautiful and worth showing. Birth of a new ideal-type human being, we are still using today.  12/19 Renaissance beyond Italy Elite phenomenon that took over the continent  Big changes Discovery of the Americas and of alternative routes to Asia shifted the economic center of Europe from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Mediterranean trade gradually collapsed. Rise of French, Flemish, Dutch, English, German towns through commerce and industry. Spain and Portugal became immensely wealthy through their American colonies. (See Documentary Story of Europe part 3 )  14/19 Luther and Protestantism 1439: Gutenberg invents the printing press, which allows for easy and numerous copies of books, i.e. the Bible. 1517: Martin Luther nails his thesis to the door the church in Wittenberg. Protest against the practices of the Catholic Church. Return to the basics of Christian religion, a turn inward. A new religious current is born: Protestantism. Questions the unique authority of Rome. Hirst p.31: “Christianity but not Roman”. Roman = Catholic Church/the pope.  15/19 The flood gates opened New (humanist) ideas of: critical thinking, individualism, realism The Church watched as men chose to live their lives in the world rather than within the confines of monasteries. Education (and life for regular people) remains Christian, but strongly influenced by Humanist values. Prepared the terrain for the Scientific revolution and the Enlightenment.  16/19 Goals of Enlightenment: make reason sovereign, fight against ignorance and superstition, irrationality embodied in the Catholic church and the king. (Hirst, p.37-40)  17/19 Hirst, chapter 2  18/19 Rational, empirical, secular Europe Europe today, with its highly technological, individualistic and liberal societies, clearly finds its roots in the values of Humanism and the Enlightenment Individual as point of reference for society. Man as a free agent. Growing confidence in man’s ability to know himself and his world. Rationalism: The light of reason. Doubt all claims to authority and power not based on logical and reasoned principles versus unreasoned imposition of tradition. Empiricism: Collection of data, analysis and meaningful conclusions. Refusal to accept as truth ideas that could not be reduced to empirical observations. Secularism: the state is separate from religion. State affairs are conducted based on rational, empirical considerations. Religious choices are private.  19/19 The basis of today’s European values  Seminar preparation Concepts: The Great Tradition Humanism The New Man of the Renaissance Virtu Protestantism The Enlightenment Rationalism Empiricism Secularism