1995 Notes on Culture: What Was the Renaissance?

By William Doino, Jr.

	Ever since the publication of Jacob Burckhardt's <The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy> 
(1860), the origins, accomplishments and significance of the period in question,roughly 1450-
1620,have been vigorously debated.  Of course, the Renaissance was a topic of historical discussion 
long before Burckhardt's classic work appeared, but after its publication, the passion and intensity of 
the debate dramatically increased.  In one corner, were liberal historians like John Addington Symonds 
who, taking their cue from what they interpreted as Burckhardt's prejudice against the Middle Ages, 
argued that "the light of classical civilization was extinguished in the night of the Dark Ages and was 
reborn miraculously at the Renaissance which was the starting point of the new period of progress and 
enlightenment," as Christopher Dawson aptly put it.  In the opposite corner, were historians like 
Dawson who maintained that "the ancient world saved its soul by its conversion to Christianity and 
that the tradition of its culture lived on in Western Christendom," flowering into some of the richest 
fruits of the Renaissance.  (<The Judgment of the Nations>  Sheed and Ward, 1942, P. 63).  The 
debate as to whether the Renaissance built upon and continued the Christian achievements of the 
Middle Ages,or whether the Renaissance was independently pagan, and marked a sharp break with 
the preceding Catholic era,is masterfully covered in Wallace Ferguson's acclaimed book, <The 
Renaissance in Historical Thought> (1948), and continues to this day.  And the good news is that the 
Medievalists are winning.  We now know, thanks to the work of eminent scholars such as Ludwig von 
Pastor (<History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages>), Charles Homer Haskins (<The 
Renaissance of the Twelfth Century>), R. W. Southern (<The Making of the Middle Ages>), Stanley 
Jaki (<The Road of Science and the Ways to God>) and, of course, Dawson (particularly his books 
<The Dividing of Christendom> and <Religion and The Rise of Western Culture>) that 1) the 
widespread revival of classical learning and humanistic ideals identified exclusively with the 
Renaissance actually began during the Medieval period; 2) the scientific advances of the Renaissance 
have their origins in the Middle Ages, and were only arrived at because of the Christian world view; 
3) the great art of the Renaissance was often inspired by Medieval artists, who produced paintings and 
sculptures and architecture of no less astonishing merit; and 4) although paganism and immorality 
certainly exercised a considerable influence during the Renaissance, Christian moral and spiritual 
ideals were able to survive and even flourish, as the saints met the secular challenge of the 
Renaissance, just as faithful Christians had overcome the barbarism of the Middle Ages.  Moreover, 
we now know that Jacob Burckhardt's alleged disdain for the Medieval era was not nearly as 
pronounced as certain interpreters of his work would have us believe.  Indeed, as the current edition of 
the <Encyclopaedia Britannica> says in a remarkable statement: "Although Burckhardt emphasized 
many contrasts between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, he did not underrate Medieval 
achievements.  His concept of history left no room for the idea that the Renaissance or any other 
period was characterized by general progress over the preceding epoch."  (Vol. 3, P. 484).

	Heretofore, no student of the Renaissance could afford to ignore Burckhardt's classic work, nor 
Wallace Ferguson's follow-up supplement to it.  Now comes a third work which will likely be 
regarded as equally indispensable: <The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance> by Sir John Hale 
(Atheneum, 1994, 648 pages).  A Fellow of the British Academy and Emeritus Professor of Italian 
History at University College, London, Hale is the author of many books including <England and the 
Italian Renaissance> (1954), <Machiavelli and Renaissance Italy> (1961), <Italian Renaissance 
Painting> (1977) and <Renaissance War Studies> (1982).  Widely regarded as the world's leading 
Renaissance historian, Professor Hale's new book is the culmination of a lifetime of research and 
reflection.

	In <The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance>, Professor Hale "captures Europe's 
spectacular metamorphosis from 1450-1620, when the words 'Europe' and 'European' first acquired 
widely understood significance," to quote a perceptive review of it.  "Filled with numerous 
illustrations, reproductions and quotations, Hale's work analyzes the foundation of modern Western 
thought and culture during this era, adding a fresh perspective to the contemporary debate about the 
nature of Europe."

	"With the Renaissance came humanism and its implicit threat to unquestioned religious faith and 
its reverence for Greek and Roman models in art, literature, and thought.  Hale discusses how art and 
writing flourished across Europe as never before,the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's 
Madonnas sprang up in Rome; the influence of DaVinci's forays into cartography, anatomy and 
applied science spread over Europe; in France, Francois Rabelais spun his audacious tales; and in 
Germany, painter Jan Breughel portrayed a new world of rooms richly decorated with items appealing 
to the expanding number of consumers.

	"Yet, as Hale explains, although Renaissance Europe saw immense achievements, it was also 
filled with many inconsistencies, imperfections and failings.  The improvement of maps, the increase 
in traffic and the stimulation of trade as a prosperous population grew, all contributed to the end of the 
fragmentation of Europe and encouraged a continental point of view.  According to Hale, however, 
new knowledge of neighboring cultures may have opened minds, but it also fed prejudices.  'As the 
image of Europe became intellectually ever clearer, so did its divisions,' Hale writes.

	"For some, the Renaissance was a time of optimism and hope,an age which made intellectual 
and artistic achievement its hallmark.  For others it was characterized by wretchedness, increased 
rivalries, warfare and religious strife.  Yet whatever the opinion of those living through this 
extraordinary era, 'thoughtful men,at different times and in different places and with different 
reasons,came to see themselves as living in a period which felt different,' Hale writes.  ( From the 
review of Hale's book in <News from Atheneum>, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, 
August, 1994).

	Where does Hale stand in the great debate over the connection - or lack of it - between the 
Renaissance and the Middle Ages?  While giving full credit to the new aspects and creative energy of 
the Age of Humanism, Hale makes it unmistakably clear that he views the Renaissance as an <upward 
continuation> of,rather than a radical departure from,the Medieval era.  This is particularly true of 
the progress of Christianity, argues Hale, for it continued to maintain its powerful influence during the 
bumps and grinds of this historical transition.  Indeed, for all its secular elements, the Renaissance was 
still a time "when almost everyone believed or wished to believe that he or she played a personal role 
in a divine plan, initiated when God created the world and concerned more directly with the individual 
when God himself became a man and in this guise died under the torture of the cross for his fellows." 
(p. 112).  Moreover, " in moments of anguish priests were [still] seen as essential intermediaries 
between God and man and true repentance as a possible guarantee against the pains of hell."  (p. 114).  
Theology, says Hale, was <not> overshadowed by the new emphasis on classical civilization, for 
intellectuals continued to passionately argue "about such issues as predestination, personal immortality, 
the efficacy of penitential works in sealing an act of contrition, the question as to how far salvation 
after death depended on having been as little absorbed as possible in the active life of trades and 
families and politics and war." (ibid.).  The 

Renaissance's well advertised endorsement of individualism was always qualified, and did not 
necessarily lead to self-indulgence and idleness, for "the medieval condemnation of the vice of sloth 
remained a governing principle behind the surveillance of work and leisure alike in ideal 
communities." (p. 441).  The assumption that the Renaissance was an era given over to unprecedented 
sensuality and sexual immorality is equally off base: "It would be hazardous to suggest that sexual 
appetites changed or that sexual behavior actually became more of a threat to the structure of civilized 
society." (p. 430).  In fact, states Hale, there was "a new alertness" to the reality and danger of sins 
against the flesh: "This was due in part to the more vigilant scrutiny of morals by Catholic clergy and 
the strenuous demands made by Protestantism on sexual conduct." (p. 430).  Most importantly, says 
Hale, the leading Christians of the Renaissance did not adopt a defensive,much less, 
compromising, attitude toward Humanism, but sought to incorporate its grandest achievements into a 
Christian worldview.  In a paragraph that sums up the vital essence of his book, Hale describes how 
eminent humanist Christians were able to "baptize" what was best in their age and thus make it part of 
their heritage.

	"On the whole...there was felt to be little potential conflict.  Humanist moral teaching emphasized 
the obligations of honorable individual conduct and the pursuit of the collective good in terms that 
contradicted neither the Ten Commandments nor the Sermon on the Mount.  There was in any case a 
strong tendency among theologians themselves to divide the aspect of truth that was ascertainable by 
reason and community experience from that of spirituality and revelation.  'Surely the first place is due 
to holy scripture,' wrote Erasmus in his widely read dialogue <The Religious Banquet>, 'but 
sometimes I find some things said or written by the ancients, by pagans and poets, so chaste, so holy, 
so divine, I am persuaded that a good genius enlightened them.  Certainly, there are many in the 
communion of saints who are not in our catalogue of saints.' "  (p. 198).

This article was taken from "The Dawson Newsletter," Summer 1995, P.O. Box 332, 
Fayetteville, AR 72702, $8.00 per year.

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