Christian Humanism

Nowadays, if you say “humanism” people tend to think you mean “atheism”: the British Humanist Association is prominent in opposing all public expressions of religion in our society. But in the early sixteenth century humanism didn’t mean such a feeble-minded thing. Then “Humanism” was a liberal arts movement: it was an attitude towards learning, which emphasised the skilful use of the past, applied to the present. The Christian humanist wished to apply his knowledge of the ancient writers, Christian and pagan, in the betterment of the lives of his fellows.

Christian humanists advocated a synthesis of classical, biblical, and patristic learning as the basis for an ambitious renewal of theology, piety, and public morality.¹

This was a Europe-wide movement, and something that was shared in with enthusiasm by English scholars. Early examples are John Colet, (founder of Saint Paul’s School at London), John Fisher, (prime mover in the foundation of St John’s College Cambridge), Lady Margaret Beaufort, (founder of Christ’s College Cambridge) and Thomas More. Erasmus, the Dutch humanist, was a huge influence on the development of Anglican learning, and the church and universities weren’t afraid to import the best continental learning: Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr Vermigli are two of the most prominent scholars of the period.

For the consequences of which see… here.

1. James Michael Weiss “Humanism” Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation. Ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand. (Oxford University Press, 1996) [↩]