Who were the Christian humanists and how did they hope to reform the Church?

Answer 1

A:Humanism was essentially a late medieval movement that sought to promote the study of the humanities, which meant the ancient writings of Greek philosophers and pagan writers. In modern times, it is generally associated with secular humanism, but the first humanists are known as Christian humanists. They saw the study of the humanities as a possible catalyst for religious and moral reform in society. It was said that to help those in need you had to give them your knowledge. This was a period in which the very concept of religious toleration was foreign, and humanism was not yet ready for the idea of true religious freedom, although they did seek more limited religious reform.

Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466-1536), the illegitimate son of a Catholic priest, was the greatest Christian humanist of the generation that spanned the beginning of the Reformation. His aim was to revitalise religion and personal piety through humanistic studies and education.

Answer 2

Catholic AnswerGiven the tenor of the question, it would appear that the questioner is specifically asking about those who immediately preceded the protestant revolt, as genuine Christian humanists, such as Popes Pius II, Sixtus IV, and Leo X were all Christian humanists but certainly didn't call for any overhaul of the Christian faith beyond what the Church has always called for from her sons and daughters. If referring to the pre-"Reformation" figures, such as Erasmus, d'Etaples, Gansford, Reuchlin, Rufus, Celtis, and Pirckheimer, then you have a mixed bag. Please see the second quote below to see.

from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980

Humanism was the name originally given to the intellectual, literary, and scientific movements of the fourteenth century through the early sixteenth. Their aim was to based every branch of learning on the culture of classical Greek and Roman antiquity. On its pagan side, it extolled the early non-Christian writers who stressed the full development of human nature, only vaguely interested in life after death. On its Christian side, believing humanists encouraged the free use of the treasures of antiquity without compromising the truths of the Gospel. Christian humanism began with Dante (1265-1321), while pagan humanism reached its peak in Petrarch (1304-74). Popes Pius II, Sixtus IV, and Leo X favored Christian humanism and did much to promote it. St. Tomas More (1478-1535) typed its best spirit in England. After the French Revolution the extreme humanistic spirit rebelled against Christian revelation and the Church.

from

History of the Catholic Church Frm the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium, by James Hitchcock, Ignatius Press, San Francisco © 2012

The Fate of the Humanists:

Erasmus and Lefevre d'Etaples, whatever their dissatisfactions with the church, remained Catholics, both dying in 1536. Erasmus made peace and charity the hallmarks of a true Christian and, despite his many criticisms of Catholic doctrine and practice, always made the unity of the Church paramount, including a certain deference to papal authority and to Tradition.

The leading humanists of the immediate pre-Reformation generation moved in various directions. After Wessel Gansfort's death, his writings were formally condemned; whatever Gansfort himself might have intended, Luther praised him as a precursor. Reuchlin, although most of his students became Protestants, remained a Catholic, even being ordained a priest shortly before his death. Mutianus Rufus at first befriended Luther but eventually rejected his movement, and the skeptical Conradus Celtis was condemned posthumously by both Catholics and Protestants.

Willibald Pirckheimer (d. 1530) was a wealthy German humanist, a friend of both Erasumus and Luther. He wrote to the Pope to defend Luther, but he seemed not to espouse fundamental Lutheran teachings, merely demanding that the Mass be said in the vernacular and that Communion be given to the laity in both kinds. Pirckheimer opposed the introduction of the Reformation in Nuremberg, where he served on the town council and where two of sisters were abbesses and three of his daughters were also nuns. He defended their way of life as genuinely Christian, although criticizing it as overly formal and tending toward pride. Like Erasmus, he cautioned against breaking with the Church, accusing some of the Reformers of fostering unbridled liberty, calling one former friend "Satan" and saying that he would rather live under papal authority than under that of the Reformers.