Humanism and Secularization: From Petrarch to Valla

書刊名 Title	Humanism and Secularization: From Petrarch to Valla
作者 Author	Fubini, Riccardo; trans. Martha King
出版社 Publisher	Duke UP
出版年 Year	2003
語言 Language	English
ISBN (10 / 13)
Bibliography Reference	(STC, Duff, GW . . .)
來源網址 Web Link	https://www.dukeupress.edu/humanism-and-secularization
評論者Reviewer	郭如蘋、洪沛茵
撰寫日期 Date	Nov. 29, 2016

Ø 書評 Review (中英文不限 Chinese or English) 

本書設定的讀者為研究英國文藝復興時期的學生，以及關心擁有美好生活的讀者群。本書研究人與思想理念，試圖全面性地介紹都鐸時代早期最偉大的人文主義者對於戰爭與和平的思想，諸如伊拉斯謨與摩爾的見解，並處理人性中和諧與不和諧的交錯，以及其與生命、戰爭、和平的複雜關係。行文中生命和文學多有所交會，並呈現劇烈的相互作用。
 
西方文藝復興運動最廣為人知的人文主義的影響力從意大利傳播到整個西歐，改變了前現代時期的文化，這些變化目前也仍能有所感受，甚而引發辯論。這些辯論—同時也是這本書—的核心在於論證人文主義運動是否（以及如何）促成中世紀末期西方文化傳統的世俗化。意大利人文主義的傑出學者Riccardo Fubini以嶄新的方式處理這個問題，他更小心翼翼地重新定義世俗化的問題，以證明人文主義者可以同時為世俗化促使者和宗教思想家，並發掘了人文主義運動中具挑釁的見解。
人文主義和世俗化微妙地敘述了人文主義者對抗中世紀對於權威的觀念，不是為了抗拒基督宗教或甚至正統，而是要聲明自己有權定義何謂基督徒。Fubini分析了幾位重要的人文主義者之關鍵文本，如Petrarch，Poggio和Valla。Fubini從傳記和文本信息中闡述這些作者對宗教和教會的觀點，並詳細地揭示了一種新的歷史意識，激發了人文主義者在閱讀古典和宗教文本時新的動力。本書整體而言成功地呈現了十五世紀上半葉的人文主義其激進的程度，以及它如何挑戰根深蒂固的想法和制度。
 
[Original description]
The Renaissance movement known as humanism eventually spread from Italy through all of western Europe, transforming early modern culture in ways that are still being felt and debated. Central to these debates—and to this book—is the question of whether (and how) the humanist movement contributed to the secularization of Western cultural traditions at the end of the Middle Ages. A preeminent scholar of Italian humanism, Riccardo Fubini approaches this question in a new way—by redefining the problem of secularization more carefully to show how humanists can at once be secularizers and religious thinkers. The result is a provocative vision of the humanist movement.
Humanism and Secularization offers a nuanced account of humanists contesting medieval ideas about authority not in order to reject Christianity or even orthodoxy, but to claim for themselves the right to define what it meant to be a Christian. Fubini analyzes key texts by major humanists—isuch as Petrarch, Poggio, and Valla—from the first century of the movement. As he subtly works out these authors’ views on religion and the Church from both biographical and textual information, Fubini reveals in detail the new historical consciousness that animated the humanists in their reading of classical and patristic texts. His book as a whole shows convincingly just how radical the humanism of the first half of the fifteenth century was and how sharply it challenged well-entrenched ideas and institutions. Appearing here in English for the first time, his work provides a model set of readings of humanist texts and a critical perspective on Italian humanism that will alter and enrich discussion and understanding of the nature of the humanist movement.
 
關於編者：
Riccardo Fubini is Professor of Renaissance History at the University of Florence. He is the author of Umanesimo italiano e i suoi storici: Origini rinascimentali, critica moderna; Quattrocento fiorentino: Politica, diplomazia, cultura; and Italia quattrocentesca: Politica e dipolmazia nell’età di Lorenzo il Magnifico.
Martha King is the editor of New Italian Women: A Collection of Short Fiction, translator of Grazia Deledda’s Reeds in the Wind and Elias Portulu, and cotranslator of Luigi Pirandello’s Her Husband, published by Duke University Press.
 
本書目次如下：
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Consciousness of the Latin Language among Humanists: Did the Romans Speak Latin?
2. Humanist Intentions and Patristic References: Some Thoughts on the Moral Writings of the Humanists
3. Poggio Bracciolini and San Bernardino: The Themes and Motives of a Polemic
4. The Theater of the World in the Moral and Historical Thought of Poggio
5. An Analysis of Lorenzo Valla’s De Voluptate: His Sojourn in Pavia and the Composition of the Dialogue
Notes
Index
 
Review:
 
Endorsement: 
“A splendid collection. Fubini’s studies offer a powerful and coherent account of Italian humanism from Petrarch to Valla. They make a strong case for the seriousness of humanism as an intellectual movement, rather than a simply literary or pedagogical one. They thus do us the important service of making our image of humanism at once more complex and more responsive to primary sources. . . . Fubini lays the basis for a whole new approach to humanist texts.”—Anthony Grafton, Princeton University — N/A
“Fubini is a major figure in the study of Italian humanism today. In this collection he addresses what has always been since Burckhardt a central issue in the interpretation of humanism, namely, to what extent and in what ways is the humanist movement responsible for secularizing Western cultural traditions at the end of the Middle Ages. His is an important voice urging us to see the full range and complexity of humanist attitudes to religion and helping us to situate the humanists more precisely vis a vis the Protestant Reformers and the Deists and philosophes of the Enlightenment.”—James Hankins, Harvard University — N/A