My secret service has been explaining to me the current situation across Europe about their political and ideological movements. Unlike the Italian Renaissance, the Church is at the heart of the Northern Renaissance. (Which I’m a personal fan of) Europe (with the exclusion of Italy) wants to reform the church, they want to renew Christian life instead of abandoning it. In this day in age, Clerics, Bishops, and Cardinals were heavily criticized for being wealthy. They were criticized because God representatives are not supposed to be wealthy because Jesus and Joseph were poor carpenters. They were also criticized for being ignorant and ill-informed about religion. The reason why they were being ill-informed was because they were taught a very small segment of Christianity theology, and they focus on only a small part of the text. And because of these complains, they decided to work on rebuilding institutions. They have put in place ‘Cathedral Schools’ designed to teach people, both the Priests and any person, about the Bible and Religious texts. I had the fortunate opportunity to visit one of the Cathedral Schools during my visit of Europe. I had the chance to learn various excerpts of the Bible; it was very intriguing! Intriguing indeed. I also had the opportunity to learn about the Church Fathers; St. Jerome (Vulgate), St. Augustine (Pelagius), St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Ambrose. All of the Church Fathers had a direct impact on Church and Bible Interpretations. During my visit to the Cathedral Schools, someone introduced me into three very significant figure heads; Francois Rabelais, Erasmus and Thomas More. I have the opportunity to meet them at the Rectory to enjoy some tea this afternoon to get to know these influential men.
I am sitting in the Rectory with these 3 men; how great it feels to be sitting amongst such significant people. If only I could be sitting here with Deng Xiaoping!
The first man I had the pleasure of meeting was Francois Rabelais, a church critic. Rabelais explained to me that he is an advocate of rational reform. As well as a frequent Satirist of religion, eschatology; because of this he was deemed a heretic. The second man I met was Erasmus, who is another humanist as well as a Satirist of the church. Erasmus told me that he works to restore “true” theology. Erasmus seems to be a very significant and influential man of his time. He desires gentle reform but ridiculed hypocrisy. From what I have noticed, Erasmus avoids any public authority as he disagrees with public service. He also explained to me that he views Humanism as preparing your soul for afterlife. He argues that we the people should live for today and Christianity can be used to facilitate that. These teachings of Erasmus – trying to get Christians to think for themselves and using the Bible as a practical guide in everyday life, lead to Vernacular translations of the Bible in reformation which is the common language. I was truly impressed by Erasmus’s ideologies and values, I felt that I could truly relate to his moral values and beliefs. The third and final man I met was Thomas More. More is devoted to the Catholic Church and he will defend it in any situation. From what I have heard through people across Europe as well as More himself, there is some current unrest between More and King Henry VIII. More is a Roman Catholic, and King Henry wants a divorce from his wife, so he is creating a new Church which is a branch of the Catholic Church. More truly disagrees with this movement, and King Henry does not like that he disagrees...we will see where this dispute leads us in coming weeks.
It was a pleasure getting to know these gentlemen, I feel like I am truly gaining so much knowledge with my journey to the past!
I am sitting in the Rectory with these 3 men; how great it feels to be sitting amongst such significant people. If only I could be sitting here with Deng Xiaoping!
The first man I had the pleasure of meeting was Francois Rabelais, a church critic. Rabelais explained to me that he is an advocate of rational reform. As well as a frequent Satirist of religion, eschatology; because of this he was deemed a heretic. The second man I met was Erasmus, who is another humanist as well as a Satirist of the church. Erasmus told me that he works to restore “true” theology. Erasmus seems to be a very significant and influential man of his time. He desires gentle reform but ridiculed hypocrisy. From what I have noticed, Erasmus avoids any public authority as he disagrees with public service. He also explained to me that he views Humanism as preparing your soul for afterlife. He argues that we the people should live for today and Christianity can be used to facilitate that. These teachings of Erasmus – trying to get Christians to think for themselves and using the Bible as a practical guide in everyday life, lead to Vernacular translations of the Bible in reformation which is the common language. I was truly impressed by Erasmus’s ideologies and values, I felt that I could truly relate to his moral values and beliefs. The third and final man I met was Thomas More. More is devoted to the Catholic Church and he will defend it in any situation. From what I have heard through people across Europe as well as More himself, there is some current unrest between More and King Henry VIII. More is a Roman Catholic, and King Henry wants a divorce from his wife, so he is creating a new Church which is a branch of the Catholic Church. More truly disagrees with this movement, and King Henry does not like that he disagrees...we will see where this dispute leads us in coming weeks.
It was a pleasure getting to know these gentlemen, I feel like I am truly gaining so much knowledge with my journey to the past!
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