Erasmus and the Middle Ages: The Historical Consciousness of a Christian Humanist

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BRILL, 2001 - History - 202 pages
The aim of this book is to examine Erasmus' attitude toward the medieval past and to relate it to his historical consciousness. More than any other Renaissance humanist, Erasmus was committed to the goal of building an alternative to medieval civilisation. In his view, the restoration and study of ancient pagan and Christian literature would result in an elevation of cultural and intellectual as well as moral and spiritual standards. Yet these very assumptions appear to be challenged by Erasmus' specific observations on the course of history up to his own day. The present study is the first to show a fault line between the basic ideas of Erasmus' Christian humanism and his view of the actual development of humanity through the ages.
 

Contents

The Monastic Period
33
The Scholastic Period
62
Chapter Four Restoring a Golden Age
104
Chapter Five The New Testament Renewed
129
Chapter Six Back to the Future
153
Conclusion
191
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Page 196 - Wallace K. Ferguson, The Renaissance in Historical Thought: Five Centuries of Interpretation (Cambridge MA 1948).

About the author (2001)

István P. Bejczy, Ph.D. (1994) in History, Catholic University of Nijmegen (Netherlands), has published on medieval culture (including La Lettre du Prętre Jean: une utopie médiévale) and Renaissance humanism. He is directing a research programme on medieval moral consciousness at the Catholic University of Nijmegen.

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