Theological Origins of Modernity

humanism and the apotheosis of man 71
Roman models, and they were pulled increasingly toward a heroic and ultimately
Promethean individualism that required an ever-greater emphasis
on a Neoplatonic interpretation of Christianity that deemphasized the Fall
in favor of the view of man as the imago dei. As a result, Italian humanists
found it increasingly diffi cult to maintain the separation of God and man.
Northern humanists had a less exalted view of human capacities, but they
too emphasized the importance of the moral life. Th eir model for such a
life, however, was not Scipio, Cicero, or Caesar but Christ. Th ey thus did
not seek greatness or glory but decency and dignity through the practice of
simple Christian charity. In contrast to their Italian compatriots, northern
humanists did not imagine that man could thereby become God, but they
did imagine that man’s free will could play an important role in determining
whether or not he would be saved. While they thus did not fall into
Prometheanism, they did oft en come very close to Pelagianism. However,
neither of these forms of humanism was able to achieve a synthesis that
could fully relieve the immense anxiety generated by the notion of divine
omnipotence. Neither was thus able to forestall the rise of a more ardent
evangelical Christianity that turned away from the humanist synthesis of
Christian piety, Roman morality, and Platonism to an apocalyptic theology
that shook Europe to its core.
Th e term ‘humanism’ was fi rst used by nineteenth-century scholars
to name the Renaissance system of education based on the classics. Th ey
drew on the fi ft eenth-century term umanista, referring to those who studied
classical literature and philosophy in the studia humanista or studia
humanitatis not with a view to understanding God or generating a theology
but in order to understand what it meant to be human and how human
beings ought to live. 2 Humanism thus was understood as a comprehensive
system of education and training that put great emphasis on human
individuality, human dignity, and the privileged place of humans in the
universe. 3 “Humanism” was thus not simply a philosophy but was a comprehensive
cultural movement that included poetry, art, literature, history,
and moral philosophy. 4
While everyone agrees that humanism drew its inspiration from Petrarch,
many believe that it also owed a great deal to an older Italian tradition
of letter writing and public oratory. Medieval civilization had never
penetrated Italy as deeply as it had the rest of Europe. Th ere was a persistent
and idiosyncratic Italian tradition that went back to late Roman times,
expressed in arts and poetry, lay education, legal customs, grammar, and
rhetoric. 5 Th e masters of this kind of public speaking and writing were
called dictatores. 6 Petrarch’s father was brought up in this tradition and