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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 world during the forty five years that separate the writings of Thomas a Kempis and Pico della Mirandola was witness to a huge change in how God and man are viewed by people who lived in the world.
In "Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, which was written in 1440, people were supposed to focus on God and heavenly things. In one sentence Thomas a Kempis wrote, "Learn to despise outward things and to turn thee to inward things and thou shalt see the kingdom come into thee." In the film "The Name of the Rose, the character named Jorge definitely took this same view, to the extent that anyone who even laughed was committing a great sin. Another passage that Thomas a Kempis wrote that I believe Jorge would have agreed with was, "In heavenly things ought to be thine habitation, and all earthly things are to be considered as in a manner of passing; for all things pass, and thou also with them. Look that thou cleave not to them, lest thou be taken with them and perish." I think Jorge used this as justification for trying to punish those that wanted to read the books that had comedy. Thomas a Kempis also believed that a man should humble himself and that you can't be great until you believe that you are the lowliest of men.
In contrast Pico della Mirandola believed that man was "intermediary between creatures, the intimate of the gods, king of the lower beings." This is something that Kempis and Jorge would have disagreed with totally and yet this idea came around only a few years after all of them. Mirandola also wrote "let us disdain earthly things, despise heavenly things." This comment is also competely in conflict with the statements Thomas a Kempis and with the attitudes of Jorge in the film "The Name of the Rose."
The thing that I think this shows is that people were starting believe that things here on earth were in their own hands and under their control when before everything was viewed to be under the direct control of God.

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: The world during the forty five years that separate the writings of Thomas a Kempis and Pico della Mirandola was witness to a huge change in how God and man are viewed by people who lived in the world. : In "Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, which was written in 1440, people were supposed to focus on God and heavenly things. In one sentence Thomas a Kempis wrote, "Learn to despise outward things and to turn thee to inward things and thou shalt see the kingdom come into thee." In the film "The Name of the Rose, the character named Jorge definitely took this same view, to the extent that anyone who even laughed was committing a great sin. Another passage that Thomas a Kempis wrote that I believe Jorge would have agreed with was, "In heavenly things ought to be thine habitation, and all earthly things are to be considered as in a manner of passing; for all things pass, and thou also with them. Look that thou cleave not to them, lest thou be taken with them and perish." I think Jorge used this as justification for trying to punish those that wanted to read the books that had comedy. Thomas a Kempis also believed that a man should humble himself and that you can't be great until you believe that you are the lowliest of men. : In contrast Pico della Mirandola believed that man was "intermediary between creatures, the intimate of the gods, king of the lower beings." This is something that Kempis and Jorge would have disagreed with totally and yet this idea came around only a few years after all of them. Mirandola also wrote "let us disdain earthly things, despise heavenly things." This comment is also competely in conflict with the statements Thomas a Kempis and with the attitudes of Jorge in the film "The Name of the Rose." : The thing that I think this shows is that people were starting believe that things here on earth were in their own hands and under their control when before everything was viewed to be under the direct control of God.

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