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
Prospects for a Renaissance

Prospects for a Renaissance

Last updated on: August 5, 2021 at 6:00 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

Prospects for a Renaissance 2021-07-31T18:19:49-04:00 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.

James Hankin, a history professor at Harvard, sees, despite our current problems, the prospect for a new Renaissance. His suggestions for bringing it about are quite similar to what many Christians today are trying to do.

From James Hankin, How to Build Your Own Renaissance:

Suppose you were living at a time when all around you, it seemed, civilization was breaking down. Political institutions were so little respected that the only way they could compel obedience was by increasing surveillance, multiplying laws, and tightening enforcement. People did not trust their leaders and suspected that elites were only interested in themselves. Many leaders were tyrannous, ignoring constitutional norms. Religious leaders engaged in scandalous behavior, and religious faith was losing its hold over the educated classes. Standards of personal behavior had collapsed, and it seemed that most people had forgotten what even ordinary decency was. Examples of upright character were hard to find, heroism almost unknown. The young went to universities only to learn how to earn money and achieve status. Even the military had grown corrupt. A great pandemic had taken many lives and filled people with fear. No one believed any more that medical science was honest about its ability to cope with the disease.

Welcome to the fourteenth century.

He continues:

The world I have just described was that of the mid-fourteenth century, as seen through the eyes of Francesco Petrarca, or Petrarch, the most famous poet of his time and the true founder of the Italian Renaissance. As my description of the times implies, it resembles our own world in certain key respects.

The historical parallels between fourteenth-century Europe and our own times can be useful to us in our current civilizational crisis. Petrarch decided to do something about the crisis of Christendom in his own era, and the path to reform he opened up, in my opinion, was not only highly successful, but imitable. He aimed to create a new synthesis between classical and Christian civilization, to use the resources of antiquity to heal the spiritual diseases of his own time. What he and his followers created over the next century and a half is known to historians as the Renaissance, the rebirth of antiquity. It followed a formula that can still work today.

The formula? Classical Education!

Prof. Hankin gives an excellent account of the seven liberal arts, their ossification in medieval scholasticism–which turned them into theoretical disciplines unattached to life–and their revival through “humane letters,” the study and emulation of classical literature. (This was not so much a brand new approach to education, as Prof. Hankin suggests, but a new emphasis on the liberal art of “rhetoric,” in the sense of the cultivation of creative language.)

This was the brainchild of Petrarch, who formulated the theory and the practice of this “humane education” and spread it first in Italy and then throughout Europe. This approach was not simply about building academic knowledge; rather, its “principal purpose was to develop good moral character and practical wisdom.” The result was a flowering of the arts, the sciences, and culture as a whole.

This new learning gave us the Renaissance, and it also gave us the Reformation. The university of Wittenberg was founded to pursue this new learning. One of the slogans of the movement was “back to the sources,” looking to original sources instead of the secondhand textbooks favored in medieval universities. In the field of theology, this meant study of the Bible. Luther was a theology professor at Wittenberg, who, in the course of preparing to give lectures on Romans, realized that “the just shall live by faith.”

A major proponent and practitioner of this humane education was another Wittenberg professor, Philip Melanchthon, who designed the curriculum of the new schools the Reformation was opening up everywhere. And, as Thomas Korcok has shown in his book Lutheran Education, this approach, combined with rigorous catechesis, would define Lutheran education for centuries.

Many Christian schools and homeschools are working to bring back classical Christian education, as is the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education. (Go to that site and follow the links to learn more about this movement, its schools, its resources, and the inroads it is making.)

Prof. Hankins describes how Petrarch spread his ideas and his pedagogy by forming relationships and networks throughout Europe, gradually penetrating the existing universities, influencing important princes, and turning out students whose accomplishments were undeniable, leading to a cultural “rebirth” or “renaissance.”

Perhaps something similar is happening now. This is not the time to lose heart or to give up. Our cultural and intellectual breakdowns are simply evidence that something better is needed, and we Christians may be in a position to bring that about.

Illustration: Portrait of Petrarch, with others, by Altichiero, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

classical Christian education

classical education

Classical Lutheran Education

humane letters

Liberal arts

Lutheran educational tradition

Plutarch

Renaissance

Previous Post

August 4, 2021

When Medical Schools Can't Teach Biology

Next Post

August 6, 2021 Golden Anniversary

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

Who said, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peter James John Paul

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »