1	HUMANISM: Renaissance vs. Secular Donald T. Williams, PhD Toccoa Falls College HUM 103
2	Two Statements: SCHAEFFER: “Up to a certain point, the Renaissance could have gone one of two ways” . . . [and it took the wrong path]. WILLIAMS: “Up to a certain point, the Renaissance could have gone one of two ways” . . . [and it did!].
3	Two Genealogies Schaeffer Renaissance Humanism Enlightenment Secular Humanism Williams Renaissance Humanism Enlightenment Reformation Secular Humanism Evangelicalism
4	Genesis of Humanism Rise of the Modern Nation-State “Dictatores” Greco-Roman Classics Grammatico-Historical Exegesis “Ad Fontes,” “Back to the Sources!”
5	Nature of Early Humanism Not an Ideology An Educational Reform Movement Not “Man” but the “Humanities” (Studia Humanitatis) I.e., Anyone who wanted to read ancient books using grammatico-historical exegesis Included Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli
6	The “Ad Fontes” Tradition “In the evening I return to my house and go into my study. At the door I take off the clothes I have worn all day . . . And put on regal and courtly garments. Thus appropriately clothed, I enter into the ancient courts of ancient men, where, being lovingly received . . .
7	The “Ad Fontes” Tradition “ . . . I feed on the food which alone is mine, and which I was born for. For I am not ashamed to speak with them and to ask the reasons for their actions, and they courteously answer me.” Niccolo Machiavelli
8	Ad Fontes & the Reformation Equation: Ad Fontes + the Question of Religious Authority = Sola Scriptura. Two Dates: 1516: Erasmus’ Greek New Testament 1517: Luther’s 95 Theses Proverb: “Erasmus laid the egg, and Luther hatched it.”
9	What did Humanism Contribute to Reformation? The Desire to read Ancient Books The Ability to read Ancient Books The Availability of Ancient Books A sound Hermeneutic The Ability to Explain Why the Bible said what Protestants said it said.
10	What Humanism Contributed “There has never been a great revelation of the world of God unless He has first prepared the way by the rise of languages and letters, as though they were John the Baptists.” Martin Luther
11	A Genealogy Ad Fontes Sola Scriptura Sola Gratia Sola Fide Solus Christus Soli Deo Gloria
12	What Went Wrong? Humanists = All who want to read ancient books using grammatico-historical exegesis. An Educational Reform, not an Ideology Some failed to read the Greeks through the lens of Scripture. Greeks did not understand The Fall. Thought Human Nature Good (or neutral).
13	Example “Men that are free, of gentle birth, well-bred and at home in civilized company have a natural instinct that inclines them to virtue and saves them from vice. This instinct they name their honor.” --Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel, 1534
14	Example “There is no vice that is really a vice which is not hurtful, and which a sound judgment does not condemn; for its ugliness and evil consequences are so apparent that perhaps they are right who say that it is chiefly begotten by stupidity and ignorance.” -- Montaigne, Essays, 1580
15	What Went Wrong? If Human Nature is Good, then Evil comes from Ignorance. If Evil comes from Ignorance, then Salvation lies in Education. Therefore Humanist Education became a False Messiah, an Idol. This Branch kept the name “Humanism”
16	Summary Began as an Educational Reform Led to a Rebirth (“Renaissance”) Of Ancient Learning Of Grammatico-Historical Exegesis Helped make the Reformation Possible But some Humanists went Off Course Therefore always Distinguish: Renaissance Humanism Secular Humanism
17	Two Genealogies Schaeffer Renaissance Humanism Enlightenment Secular Humanism Williams Renaissance Humanism Enlightenment Reformation Secular Humanism Evangelicalism
18	Conclusion “If we wish to preserve, defend, transmit, and intelligently apply the Gospel the Reformation recovered, we would do well then to recapture the educational emphases that made that recovery possible. For as Luther knew, to acquire as much skill as possible in the languages and literature not only of the New Testament . . .
19	Conclusion . . . but also of the Greco-Roman world from which it sprang is to attune our ears to the message of those John the Baptists who can help to point us to Christ.” --Donald T. Williams, “Repairing the Ruins: Thoughts on Christian Higher Education.” Christian Educator’s Journal