2
The Church Fathers and the Humanities
in the Renaissance and the Reformation
Irena Backus
REFORMERS AND HUMANISTSIn 1527 Heinrich Bullinger (1504–75), the important Zurich theologian, no
doubt the most influential second-generation reformer along with Calvin,
wrote in his educational manual entitledRatio studiorumor Method for Study:
This study [of profane letters] leads to the study of sacred letters, as all those who
have ever dealt with the Holy Scripture know...[Profane letters] also make men
wise as they offer sage counsel. This wisdom could be observed in the past in the
Roman Senate, which assembled men who were very learned and extremely wise
such as Cato, Cicero, Caesar, Portius, and others. The Senate did nothing rash,
nothing it could be ashamed of, and nothing unwise or regrettable...[These
studies] improve morals, plant honesty and the love of what is good. They
make you hate what is bad, and they make your household more human and
pleasant. That is why they are calledhumanae et bonae litteraeor‘humane and
good letters’. Indeed if there is anything that is to be discussed, taught, praised,
vituperated, advised on, admonished, or warned against, these studies will pro-
vide you with the right words but also with the right subject matter. If someone
does not have them, I do not see how he can be called a human being or what,
except the name, is human about him. Thus given thatbonae litteraemake us
human, that we can hardly be good without them and in view of their value in
helping us interpret and understand sacred letters, students must not neglect
them but learn them with the greatest diligence.^1Does this reduce humanities to the status of a merely propaedeutic realm? In
fact, as we shall see, Bullinger represents the current of thought that considers
(^1) Heinrich Bullinger,Studiorum ratio, 1527/8, Heinrich Bullingers Werke, vol. 14 (Zürich:
Theologischer Verlag, 1987), 58.