Erasmus, Contarini, and the Religious Republic of Letters [Paperback]

This 2005 book examines how the religious search for meaning shaped contemporary assumptions about friendship, gender, reading and writing.The Republic of Letters in Early Modern Europe is commonly understood as a force of secularization. This book, however, shows that in the first half of the sixteenth century, Catholic men and women of letters forged this community for religious reasons. In the process, they created a new kind of spirituality that prioritized friendship and spiritualized scholarship. The book analyzes letters, poems, and literary and polemical works written by female as well as male Catholic humanists and explains why they created this new community instead of simply entering traditional religious orders.The Republic of Letters in Early Modern Europe is commonly understood as a force of secularization. This book, however, shows that in the first half of the sixteenth century, Catholic men and women of letters forged this community for religious reasons. In the process, they created a new kind of spirituality that prioritized friendship and spiritualized scholarship. The book analyzes letters, poems, and literary and polemical works written by female as well as male Catholic humanists and explains why they created this new community instead of simply entering traditional religious orders.Though the paradigm of modernist progression has been challenged on many fronts, Erasmus and other sixteenth-century figures are still commonly viewed as people who led the transition from a religious Middle Ages to a more godless modern era. By analyzing the lives, work, and correspondence of Erasmus, Thomas More, Margaret More Roper, Reginald Pole, Gasparo Contarini, and Vittoria Colonna, this book demonstrates how these Catholic men and women of letters created a distinctive kind of religious community rooted in friendship and spiritualized scholarship.1. A new kind of religious life; 2. Creating an alternative community: spiritual values and the search for meanlÓ,