Humanism and Secularization

Fubini Riccardo Fubini, King Martha King

Description

The Renaissance movement known as humanism eventually spread from Italy through all of western Europe, transforming early modern culture in ways that are still being felt and debated. Central to these debates-and to this book-is the question of whether (and how) the humanist movement contributed to the secularization of Western cultural traditions at the end of the Middle Ages. A preeminent scholar of Italian humanism, Riccardo Fubini approaches this question in a new way-by redefining the problem of secularization more carefully to show how humanists can at once be secularizers and religious thinkers. The result is a provocative vision of the humanist movement.Humanism and Secularization offers a nuanced account of humanists contesting medieval ideas about authority not in order to reject Christianity or even orthodoxy, but to claim for themselves the right to define what it meant to be a Christian. Fubini analyzes key texts by major humanists-isuch as Petrarch, Poggio, and Valla-from the first century of the movement. As he subtly works out these authors' views on religion and the Church from both biographical and textual information, Fubini reveals in detail the new historical consciousness that animated the humanists in their reading of classical and patristic texts. His book as a whole shows convincingly just how radical the humanism of the first half of the fifteenth century was and how sharply it challenged well-entrenched ideas and institutions. Appearing here in English for the first time, his work provides a model set of readings of humanist texts and a critical perspective on Italian humanism that will alter and enrich discussion and understanding of the nature of the humanist movement.

Sujets

• Histoire
• History of religions
• History of Europe
• 1500

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 22 janvier 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822384014
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Humanism and Secularization

Duke Monographs in

Medieval and Renaissance Studies 

Editorial Committee: David Aers, Caroline Bruzelius,

Joan M. Ferrante, Edward P. Mahoney (Chairman),

Joseph Shatzmiller, David C. Steinmetz,

Ronald G. Witt

Humanism and Secularization

From Petrarch to Valla

             

Translated by Martha King R

                  

Durham and London 

©  Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper  Typeset in Bembo by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book. This book was originally published in Italian asUmanesimo e secolarizzazione da Petrarca a Valla (Rome: Bulzoni, ).

Contents R

Acknowledgments

Introduction



vii

. Consciousness of the Latin Language among Humanists Did the Romans Speak Latin?

. Humanist Intentions and Patristic References Some Thoughts on the Moral Writings of the Humanists

. Poggio Bracciolini and San Bernardino The Themes and Motives of a Polemic

. The Theater of the World in the Moral and Historical Thought of Poggio Bracciolini 

. An Analysis of Lorenzo Valla’sDe Voluptate His Sojourn in Pavia and the Composition of the Dialogue

Notes

Index





Acknowledgments R

It is usual for the authors to acknowledge the debts incurred in the course of their work according to criteria that may be likened to a musicalcre- scendo:beginning from the lesser and ascending to the most close acquain- tances, from colleagues and friends to the most distinguished represen- tatives of the academic world. This time, on the occasion of this English edition of my bookUmanesimo e secolarizzazione,I would like to invert this customary order. At the very roots of the project there is one person in particular. For many years duration, for the sensitive understanding of my historical researches, for the never-failing attention—in short, for his true friendship—I must remember here first and foremost Ronald G. Witt. Thank you, Ron! The work of translation has been long and laborious. Emily O’Brien, very young at the time, was the first to take it on; her contribution was later revised by a professional translator, Martha King. As far as I can judge, the text resulting from this cooperation seems to me duly homoge- neous, and reading over again my old writings in their new English dress, I would no longer be able to distinguish Emily’s youth and enthusiasm from Martha’s experience. If shortcomings or obscurities still remain, the reader will not be wrong in attributing them to the writer and to his poor knowledge of English. As far as the translation is concerned, the first chapter, ‘‘Consciousness of the Latin Language among Humanists,’’ is an exception to the remain- ing parts of the volume. Since Emily was then engaged in her own schol-

arly work, the translation was undertaken by Gloria Ramakus. Unfortu- nately, a short time thereafter, Gloria fell ill and died, and the revision of the text was carried out by Amanda George and the writer. It may be the right occasion to remember here this courageous woman, so well known and admired by all participants of the I Tatti community, both for her generous, if sometimes provocative, political passion and, above all, for her undertaking legal studies later in life. She became a lawyer in New York in order to protect the rights of the more disadvantaged members of society. Lastly, the numerous adaptations of the writing for editorial prepara- tion of this volume have necessitated the recourse to various computer applications and thus to the assistance of the younger generation. I do not know how I would have managed without the help—sometimes impa- tient, sometimes compassionate—of my sons. I wish particularly to thank Renzo and Andrea (since Federico no longer resides in Florence). To them, together with Maria, go my most affectionate thoughts. This is surely not the place to speak of my intellectual and academic debts. These are implicit in the Introduction and in the essays themselves that make up the book. Just one aspect, but an essential one, must be mentioned here. I maintain that Ron has been particularly supportive of me, because we are both descendants, even if by different paths, from the lesson of the intellectual movement that old German scholars defined as ‘‘Historismus.’’ To say how much of this concept is outdated now is clearly beyond my scope. Yet the insistent and sometimes ungenerous criticism of one of the last exponents of that school, Hans Baron, is an unmistakable sign of how vexed the problem still remains. The thought with which I would like to conclude these preliminary lines is much more simple and essential. The scholarly tradition from which my Renaissance studies de- rive (here I testify for myself only) is concerned with content rather than form, with ideas rather than erudition, with moral issues rather than lit- erary virtuosity. I do not know how many people will agree with me on this point. I suspect that all together we would have difficulty in winning a presidential election, albeit a presidential election at the RSA only. Let these humanistic essays, in their more diffusive English edition, be dedi- cated to all people who will share with me such an honorable minority.

viii

Acknowledgments

Humanism and Secularization