Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
Impeachment & the Renaissance

Impeachment & the Renaissance

Last updated on: January 27, 2020 at 6:00 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

Impeachment & the Renaissance 2020-01-26T18:00:40-05:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The impeachment debacle is a low point in America’s politics. Both sides can agree on that, whether they are repelled by President Trump or by the Congressional efforts to remove him. Americans may be polarized, but they seem to be in agreement that our political system is in a bad way.

Not only have we become cynical about politicians and government. Americans have also become disillusioned about corruption and scandals in their churches, schools, universities, businesses, and workplaces. All of our institutions seem to be failing us.

Harvard history professor James Hankins points to another time that was plagued by similar breakdowns. That period of bad leadership and institutional failure helped to bring about a reaction known as the Renaissance.

From James Hankins, Impeachment and the Renaissance, in The Wall Street Journal [subscription required]:

As I watch America’s elected officials, one after another, disgracing the public stage, crazed with partisanship, driven by incontinent rage to enact their lawless impulses, I can’t help but think that we are reliving the crisis of 14th-century Italy, the convulsion that gave rise to the Renaissance.

This may sound far-fetched. But it was precisely the collapse of institutions and the twin diseases of violent partisanship and tyranny that drove the great political thinkers of the Renaissance to invent a new instrument of statecraft. They called it the studia humanitatis, or the humanities.

When this new program of civilizational renewal was born in the mid-14th century, no one could have imagined that a renaissance of any kind was imminent. Italy was recovering from the Black Death and the collapse of its financial system. The Catholic Church was divided and corrupt, the Holy Roman Empire was fatally weakened and the Ottoman Turks were knocking at the door of Constantinople.

The scholar-poet Petrarch, spiritual leader of the Renaissance, had no confidence that Europe’s universities were up to the task of renewing civilization. Barbarism and irreligion, it seemed to him, ruled the human heart. Worst of all in Petrarch’s eyes were the repulsive specimens of humanity that occupied seats of power across the Western world.

These leaders were ignorant of the past, unable to express themselves truthfully or decently, and driven by their unbridled lust for power and riches to neglect the common good. Feared and hated by their subjects, they were unable to inspire loyalty.

Petrarch’s solution was a new kind of politics: virtue politics. Reforming laws, institutions and policies was all very well, but what really needed reformation was human nature, especially the moral and intellectual qualities of Christendom’s leaders. The great poet’s instrument for the reform of human nature was a new moral and political education.

Specifically, Petrarch revived classical education, which would lead to the cultural renewal known as the Renaissance, which would give us the Reformation, the rise of modern science, the flowering of great art and literature, and political innovations such as the nation state, limited monarchies, and self-governing republics. Prof. Hankins develops the connections in detail in his book Virtue Politics: Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy.

I haven’t read that book yet, but I’m not sure about “virtue politics,” or at least the virtue of Renaissance politics. While the Renaissance gave us Frederick the Wise, it also gave us Niccolò Machiavelli. Classical education produces very capable individuals, and it does emphasize character formation and the cultivation of virtue. But while Renaissance humanists believed that education alone could inculcate morality, reformers of the church, like Luther and Melanchthon, who universalized this kind of education and made it broadly available, insisted that the classical curriculum be supplemented with Christian catechesis, since only the Gospel can effect genuine moral transformation.

Prof. Hankins’ general point, though, is that after things reach their lowest point, they often get better. As is said, it’s always darkest before the dawn. In the Divine Comedy, Dante descends so far into the depths of Hell that, after passing the center of the earth, he finds himself climbing upwards towards the light. (Note how Dante depicts the world as a sphere, thus refuting the myth that people in the Middle Ages believed the earth is flat.)

We can take hope in that our current political and cultural condition may well bounce back after it hits rock bottom. The problem is that we never know exactly how far down we are and how much worse things may yet become.

Things could certainly get much worse as far as our government and our politics are concerned. We still have our Constitution as the supreme law of our land. We still have considerable liberty. We could lose those. We could adopt instead the political system that seems the most universally natural to human beings, namely, authoritarianism. We could adopt totalitarianism, the notion that the government should control everything.

Though some people are claiming President Trump is a tyrant, others dismiss that as merely exaggerated rhetoric, since a tyrant would never permit the kind of criticism that he has been receiving. Rather, they associate President Trump with a renaissance of American greatness.

At any rate, Prof. Hankins, in reminding us that bad conditions are not necessarily permanent and are often the prelude to something much better, can be encouraging. Not only in our worries about politics and government but also about the state of the church, our current intellectual and artistic dead ends, and our moral and cultural dysfunctions.

And, like Plutarch did, we are bringing back classical education.

Illustration: “The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbein (1533), – bQEWbLB26MG1LA at Google Cultural Institute, zoom level maximum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22354806 via Wikimedia Commons

institutional failure

Renaissance

Trump's impeachment

Previous Post

January 24, 2020

Dying of Whiteness

Next Post

January 28, 2020 My New Book on Secularism

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Yes, the discussion seems to be about the cultural side-effects of religion instead of religion ..."

David N. Gray

A Catholic Century or an Evangelical ..."

"I take it as a given that he means faith in “Jesus” or at least, ..."

1another

A Catholic Century or an Evangelical ..."

"Unfortunately she is also defending Russell Brand, so perhaps she also remains a total wacko."

reg

Monday Miscellany, 11/9/26

"Never touches on "vibrant faith" in what. "Personally vibrant faith" without an in what means ..."

reg

A Catholic Century or an Evangelical ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In 2 Timothy, what does Paul say about everyone who wants to live a godly life?

Select your answer to see how you score.

They will face trials They will be blessed They will receive a crown They will be persecuted

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »