Erasmus on the Folly of Political Leaders

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Matthew Phillips

“Show me a man such as princes commonly are: a man ignorant of the laws: an enemy of the public: intent upon private gain; taken to pleasure; against knowledge, liberty, and truth; never occupied with the safety of the state; and finally measuring all things in terms of his own desire and profit.  Now first seat him on a golden chair, the chair symbolizing the union of all the virtues; next give him a crown adorned with precious gems, this symbolizing that he ought to surpass all others in every heroic quality.  In addition to these hand him a scepter, en emblem of justice and of a devoted heart and soul; and last of all place on him a scarlet robe, symbolizing the love and fervent respect that he ought to have for the realm.  If any prince would try to uphold these symbols, even if it meant giving up his life, then I am sure that he would have the honor to be ashamed of his depravity.  He would fear that some satirist might turn this whole solemn affair into ridicule and sarcasm.” Desiderius Erasmus, The Praise of Folly, in The Essential Erasmus, trans. John P. Dolan (New York, 1964), 155.

In this famous work Erasmus satirized European society in the early sixteenth century. This quote demonstrates that he did not spare kings and the nobility from his acerbic literary attacks.  This portrayal is the opposite of Erasmus’ description of the Christian prince  http://wp.cune.edu/matthewphillips/2013/11/03/erasmus-on-teachings-of-christ-plato-and-the-prince/

Also he did not spare the courtiers.  The modern courtiers are staffers, diplomats, and lobbyists.  “Now what shall I say about the noble courtiers? These men desire to be likened as God’s foremost creatures, yet the fact is that no group of men is more sordid, more obsequious, more idiotic, or more contemptible than this set of men…They are contented with being able to speak of the king as ‘our master’; in knowing how to return a compliment in three words; in knowing on which occasion to use the titles of ‘Your Grace’ ‘Your Lordship,’ and ‘Your Majesty’; in not knowing shame; and in having mastered the art of flattery with exceptional success.” Ibid.

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Augustine on the Use of Symbols

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Matthew Phillips

“But, all those truths which are presented to us in figures tend, in some manner, to nourish and arouse that flame of love by the impulse of which we are carried upward and inward toward rest, and they stir and enkindle love better than if they were set before us unadorned, without any symbolism of mystery.  It is hard to explain the reason for this; nevertheless, it is true that any doctrine suggested under an allegorical form affects and pleases us more, and is more esteemed, than one set forth explicitly in plain words.  I believe that the soul makes its response slothfully as long as it is involved in earthly things, but, if it is borne along to corporeal representations and from them to spiritual ones, which are symbolized by those figures, it gains strength by that transition, it is enkindled like fire shaken in a torch, and by that more ardent love it is carried on to rest.” Augustine of Hippo, Letter 55: Book II of the Inquiries of Januarius, Saint Augustine: Letters, vol. 1, trans. Sister Wilfrid Parsons, Fathers of the Church, vol. 12  (Washington, D.C.  1951), p. 277.  [Find older translation in Letter LV, ed. Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 1 (1886), p. 309-310.]

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Artists and the Liberal Arts

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Matthew Phillips

“I want the painter, as far as he is able, to be learned in all the liberal arts, but I wish him above all to have a good knowledge of geometry….Our rudiments, from which the complete and perfect art of painting may be drawn, can easily be understood by a geometer, whereas I think that neither the rudiments nor any principles of painting can be understood by those who are ignorant of geometry. Therefore, I believe that painters should study the art of geometry.” Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting and on Sculpture in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance: A Sourcebook.  Ed. Kenneth Bartlett. 2nd Ed. (Toronto, 2011),  p. 171.  [Emphasis added]

It should not surprise us that Alberti thought artists should study geometry.  Alberti was an architect and an artist.  The study of geometry laid the foundation for the transformation of the artistic depiction of the world.  However, notice that Alberti exhorted artists to study all the liberal arts.  Therefore, he continued:

“Next, it will be of advantage if they take pleasure in poets and orators, for these have many ornaments in common with the painter.   Literary men, who are full of information about many subjects, will be of great assistance in preparing the composition of a ‘historia,’ and the great virtue of this consists primarily in its invention.  Indeed, invention is such that even by itself and without pictorial representation it can give pleasure.” Ibid.

Here Alberti compares the composition of a historical painting (historia) to the practice of literary and rhetorical invention.  He understands the painting similarly to literary narrative presented by an orator.  Invention is the process by which an orator asks questions to find commonplaces (loci) for his speech.  For Alberti, a great work of art tells a compelling story to its observers.

Simply consider Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel as an example. The great artist tells the story of God’s creation and restoration of the world and humanity.  He finds his material in the commonplaces of the Bible.

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Augustine on the Use of History

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Matthew Phillips

“Whatever the subject called history reveals about the sequence of past events is of the greatest assistance in interpreting the holy books, even if learnt outside the church as part of primary education.” Augustine of Hippo, On Christian Teaching II. XXVll., trans. R.P.H. Green (Oxford 1999), p. 55.

In his famous work on Christian teaching Augustine examines the use various subjects to support a proper understanding of the Bible.  History serves a significant role in that it examines God’s providential work in time.  This subject explains what has happened already and provides examples and guides for the teachers and students of holy Scripture.  In order to understand Augustine’s use of pagan and sacred history, then simply read his monumental work, The City of God.

“Historical narrative also describes human institutions of the past, but it should not for that reason be counted among human institutions.  For what has already gone into the past and cannot be undone must be considered part of the history of time, whose creator and controller is God.  There is a difference between describing what has been done and describing what must be done.  History relates past events in a faithful and useful way, whereas the books of haruspices and similar literature set out to teach things to be performed or observed, and offer impertinent advice, not reliable information.” Ibid., p. 56.

Haruspices were diviners in ancient Rome who read the entrails of animals to predict future events.  Augustine contrasts their unreliable predictions and teachings with the reliable information provided by divine providence through the examination of historical events.  According to Augustine, God controls history, not diviners, and the historical narrative reflects his handiwork.

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The Remedy of Human Infirmity

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Matthew Phillips

“Although pleasurable in many ways, the pursuit of letters is especially fruitful because it excludes all annoyances stemming from differences of times and place, it draws friends into each other’s presence, and it abolishes the situation in which things worth knowing are not experienced.  Arts would have perished, laws would have disappeared, faith and all religious duties whatsoever would have shattered, and even the correct use of eloquence would have declined, save that divine compassion granted to mortals the use of letters as a remedy for human infirmity.  The examples of our ancestors, which are incitements and inducements to virtue, never would have encouraged and been heeded by everyone, unless, through devotion, care and diligence, writers triumphed over idleness and transmitted these things to posterity.” John of Salisbury, Prologue to Policraticus, ed. and trans. Cary J. Nederman. Cambridge, 1990, p. 3.

In the opening paragraph of his work on political philosophy and history John of Salisbury lauds the study of letters (i.e. reading and writing) as the foundation of the liberal arts, learning, and religion.  Through literature, as if through a divine gift, our ancestors pass on their collective wisdom to us from the past.  We rest the study of history upon this literary foundation and thereby we may remedy our human weaknesses.

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Proper Digestion

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Matthew Phillips

“In the process of learning, the very thing that ought to be a great help, namely, a great desire to learn, often becomes for many people an impediment.  They want to take in everything at the same time, and are able to retain nothing as a result.  For as excess food does not nourish, but disgusts the stomach, weighing down and weakening the rest of the body, so a great abundance of things ingested all at once into the memory slips away heedlessly now and weakens the memory for the future.  So always let those who are eager to learn read widely, but let them select a few things each day that their memory can digest, and in this way let them store away three or four things or more, as each one’s ability or leisure will allow, as the special profit of that day. By reading other things, they will succeed in preserving by meditation what they have already learned and daily reading will make more familiar to them what they have yet to master.” Piero Paolo Vergerio, “Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth,” in The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to Be An Educated Human Being, ed. Richard M. Gamble. Wilmington 2007, pp. 321-322. [Emphasis added]

Vergerio, the early fifteenth-century teacher, explains how good students must not overwhelm their minds with too much reading.  Commit small bits of ideas to memory on a daily basis.  When a student attempts to learn many things too quickly it gives the mind a “stomach ache.”  Vergerio follows the classical and medieval tradition of comparing reading to eating.  Slowly chewing one’s food makes for better digestion.  Similarly, slowly and steadily reading increases one’s abilities to remember and ultimately to truly learn.

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John of Salisbury on the Liberal Arts

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Matthew Phillips

“While there are many sorts of arts, the first to proffer their services to the natural abilities of those who philosophize are the liberal arts.  All of the latter are included in the courses of the Trivium and Quadrivium.  The liberal arts are said to have become so efficacious among our ancestors, who studied them diligently, that they enabled them to comprehend everything they read, elevated their understanding to all things, and empowered them to cut through the knots of all problems possible of solution. Those to whom the system of the Trivium has disclosed the significance of all words, or the rules of the Quadrivium have unveiled the secrets of all nature, do not need the help of a teacher in order to understand the meaning of books and to find the solutions of questions.” John of Salisbury, Metalogicon, Book 1, Chap. 12, trans. Daniel D. McGarry (Philadelphia 2009), p. 36.

The trivium consists of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric.  The quadrivium includes arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.  These arts formed the basis of literary comprehension, understanding, and true problem solving.  Once someone has mastered these arts he or she does not need a teacher.

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The Word Became Flesh

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“…we believe the Scriptures and confess with holy Christendom, which existed at all times and will endure till the end of the world, that this article of our holy Christian creed, together with all others, is firmly and solidly established by the testimony of the holy prophets and apostles, the spokesmen of the Holy Spirit: that Christ, our Lord and God, assumed true human nature, not the nature of an immaterial phantom, and that He became a natural man like any other man of flesh and blood.  He did not flutter about like a spirit, but He dwelt among men.  He had eyes, ears, mouth, nose, chest, stomach, hands, and feet, just as you and I do.  He took the breast.  His mother nursed Him as any other child is nursed.  He acted as any other human does.  He was born as a true man from the Virgin Mary; the one difference, however, was that He was not born in sin as we are, that ‘He committed no sin, and no guile was found on His lips.’ ” Martin Luther, Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 1—4, in Luther’s Works, vol. 22, p. 113.

Martin Luther preached and taught on the Gospel of St. John in the late 1520s. Here he explained the meaning of “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)  According to Dr. Luther, the incarnation of God the Word as a human being formed the core of the Christian faith.  Jesus Christ did not become a phantom, a ghost, or temporarily take on an earthly form.  Rather, he was made human in every way except for sin.

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Martin Luther, Augustine and the Languages

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“And, further, if I could bring it to pass among you, I should like to ask that you do not neglect the languages but, since it would not be difficult for you, that you have your preachers and some of your gifted boys learn Latin, Greek, and Hebrew well.  I know for a fact that one who has to preach and expound the Scriptures and has no help from the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, but must do it entirely on the basis of his mother tongue, will make many a pretty mistake.  For it has been my experience that the languages are extraordinarily helpful for a clear understanding of the divine Scriptures. This also was the feeling and opinion of St. Augustine; he held that there should be some people in the church who use Greek and Hebrew before they deal with the Word, because it was in these two languages that the Holy Spirit wrote the Old and New Testaments.” Martin Luther, The Adoration of the Sacrament, in Luther’s Works, vol. 36, p. 304. [Emphasis added]

Dr. Luther wrote this exhortation to the Bohemian Brethren in 1523.  This quote appears at the end of a treatise on the proper adoration of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper.  In the paragraph before this quote Luther acknowledges the difficulty of understanding the meanings of words from different languages (Czech, German, and Latin.)  Then he exhorts them to teach Latin, Hebrew, and Greek to young men so that they may have proper preachers in the future.

Luther also cited Augustine of Hippo to support this notion.  As indicated in the footnote of the English translation (Ibid.), Luther, most likely, had the following passage in mind:

“An important antidote to the ignorance of literal signs is the knowledge of languages.  Users of the Latin language–and it is these that I have now undertaken to instruct–need two others, Hebrew and Greek, for an understanding of the divine scriptures, so that recourse may be had to the original versions if any uncertainty arises from the infinite variety of Latin translators.” Augustine, On Christian Teaching II. XI., trans. R.P.H. Green (Oxford 1999), p. 38. [Emphasis added]

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Cassiodorus on Returning to Books

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“For learning taken from the ancients in the midst of praising the Lord is not considered tasteless boasting. Furthermore, you make a serious teacher angry if you question him often; but however often you want to return to these books, you will not be rebuked with severity.” Cassiodorus, Institutions of Divine and Secular Learning in The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to Be An Educated Human Being, ed. Richard M. Gamble. Wilmington 2007, p. 230

Cassiodorus (c.490-c.580) was a noble Roman born around the time of the fall of western Roman Empire.  He sought to preserve both sacred Christian and ancient Roman literature.  This work, Institutions of Divine and Secular Learning, sets forth a curriculum of study for a monastery and its school.  Books serve as teachers who never cease instructing their readers. Cassiodorus continues:

“Therefore, beloved brothers, let us ascend without hesitation to Holy Scripture through the excellent commentaries of the Fathers, as if on the ladder of Jacob’s vision so that, lifted by their thoughts, we are worthy to arrive at full contemplation of the Lord.  For commentary on Scripture is, as it were, Jacob’s ladder, by which the angels ascend and descend [Gen. 28:12]; on which the Lord leans, stretching out his hand to those who are weary, and supports the tired steps of those ascending by granting them contemplation of Him.” Ibid.

 

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