Christian church’s succumbing to the temptations of political power through-
out history provides a powerful antidote to any romanticized views about
Christianity as the only wholesome formative social influence. And yet, our
modern ideas of philanthropy and human dignity were inspired by Christian
views of humanity as made in Christ’s image; moreover, the church, especially
the Eucharistic rite, served as a powerful image of love, solidarity, and hope.
Modern churches can learn much from this‘Eucharistic’element of Christian
humanism. As the essay by Torrance Kirby in this volume demonstrates,
developments of Eucharistic doctrine within English Protestantism contrib-
uted to the formation of a public sphere within which religious claims had to
be argued for rather than simply asserted.
That not only secular humanists but also many Christians (particularly those
in evangelical and Reformed denominations) instinctively oppose humanism
and Christianity indicates how sorely we need to recover the incarnational
impulse for solidarity and social justice at the heart of the gospel. The essays
collected in this volume respond to our current cultural climate and its chal-
lenges by reintroducing the reader to the broad and foundational presence of a
Christian vision of humanity in our culture. More than that, these contributions
aim tore-envisionChristian humanism as an important resource for addressing
cultural problems resulting from the forgetfulness of our common humanist
inheritance. This volume is meant to convince readers that Christian humanism
is arguably the best expression for a Christian philosophy of culture. By the end
of this series, the reader should regard the label‘Christian humanism’as a viable
description of how a Christian, and not least a Christian educator, lives authen-
tically in the modern world.
The chapters of this volume are structured both chronologically and topic-
ally. Thefirst three chapters introduce the theological origins of Christian
humanism as education into true humanity (John Behr), the importance of
patristic teaching for the Reformation (Irena Backus), and the importance of
Christian Platonism in Renaissance humanism (James Hankins). In chapter 1,
John Behr traces the intrinsic connection between suffering and learning
that marked patristic paideia, along with a synthesis of reason and faith.
The second chapter by Irena Backus delineates the authoritative role of
the church fathers in Renaissance humanism. She shows that in their pursuit
of humanistic learning, Renaissance and Reformation scholars drew exten-
sively on patristic authors for their understanding of pagan antiquity. In the
third chapter, James Hankins’ study of Ficino demonstrates the broadly
Christian spirit of Renaissance humanists, and their creative appropriation
of ancient philosophical sources, which transformed Christianity into a
more inclusive creed.
The next set of three chapters continues with Renaissance humanism
during and after the Reformation. Chapters 4 and 6 portray two eminent
humanists. Nicholas Wolterstorff introduces us to John Calvin’s Christian
Introduction 13