Humanities & Classics 1002
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Renaissance Forum
Humanities & Classics 1002 |
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In Reply to: PLEASE POST YOU FIRST REQUIRED POSTING AS A REPLY TO THIS posted by TOM BACIG on December 13, 1998 at 19:30:06:
The differences in the Medieval view and the Renaissance view were
incredible. In a relatively short period of time, as opposed to the time
it took for other changes to take place in the history of man, most of the world's ideas and ideals switched from very strcitly God-centered to man-centered, and priorities seemed to have switched along with the change
in philosophy. These differences in philosophy are nom better summarized than in the writings of Thomas a Kempis and Pico della Mirandola. While these two
great authors lives' overlapped, it is apparent to anyone who reads these pieces that the ideas of man were rapidly changing. Kempis wrote "The Imitation of Christ" (or edited it) towards the end of the Medieval period, and it's
theme is much like any other Medieval writing, strongly saying that Lord is God and that nothing else really matters. Kempis writes that we should "forsake this wretched world", and closely follows what seems to be the Medieval motto,
which is to serve God now and accept your time on Earth, and you will be rewarded with eternal life. Man is referred to as "mortal and frail", and in another passage "meek" several times. This continues to go along with the Medieval theory of man being God's creation only, to be here to serve him
absoltely. Kempis never strays in any way from the these ideas, and it is
apparent that in his life at Mount Siant Agnes, that eh lived nor breathed
anything else but the word of God, as did many other men in the Medieval
period.
Pico della Mirandola, on the other hand, clearly came from a different
background with a different theory on man and his place in this world. While Mirandola was born while Kempis was still alive, and died only 23 years after Kempis, it is obvious that these men came from different "times". Mirandola's work, the "Oration on the Dignity of Man", is clearly a Renaissance work.
In great contrast to Kempis' work, man is described in Mirandola's piece to be "little lower than the angels", and that our existence is to be envied by "not only by brutes but by stars, by minds more than earthly." The Renaissance views are starting to shine through, and they are vastly different than the Medieval ones. The God-centered and God-serving times were starting to fade, and this
new idea of the importance of man was growing.
The Medieval ideas and the Renaissance ideas were vastly different, as can be seen in the writings of Kempis and Mirandola. While some of the differences in their pieces can be attributed to their backrounds, Kempis being a "humble, peasant birth", and Mirandola being the son of an Italian prince, most of the differences are from the changes in philosophy, or simply, the Renaissance period. The world ws to be cahnged forever, and these great authors provide a great example of what changes the world was going through.