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Burckhardt, Religion, and the ‘Principle of Correction’: From Renaissance to Reformation
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As a young man, Jacob Burckhardt, son of the highest-ranking Protestant preacher in Basel, started studying theology but then suffered a religious crisis and became a historian. Throughout his life, Burckhardt reflected on the relationships among religion, secularisation, politics, and culture. These thoughts were expressed in his Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy, but also in his lectures on early modern history. His presentation of the Reformation went strongly against the blueprint of optimistic Protestant historiography. Applying what has been labelled as a ‘principle of correction’, Burckhardt painted a gloomy picture of both the Lutheran Reformation and Calvinism; they were violent and destructive. In addition, Burckhardt also corrected prevalent notions about the Italian Reformation. The Reformation failed in Italy, not because it was suppressed by the Catholic authorities—as was usually assumed—but because Renaissance Italians possessed a mentality that was too ‘modern’ to be able to create new dogmas.
Title: Burckhardt, Religion, and the ‘Principle of Correction’: From Renaissance to Reformation
Description:
As a young man, Jacob Burckhardt, son of the highest-ranking Protestant preacher in Basel, started studying theology but then suffered a religious crisis and became a historian.
Throughout his life, Burckhardt reflected on the relationships among religion, secularisation, politics, and culture.
These thoughts were expressed in his Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy, but also in his lectures on early modern history.
His presentation of the Reformation went strongly against the blueprint of optimistic Protestant historiography.
Applying what has been labelled as a ‘principle of correction’, Burckhardt painted a gloomy picture of both the Lutheran Reformation and Calvinism; they were violent and destructive.
In addition, Burckhardt also corrected prevalent notions about the Italian Reformation.
The Reformation failed in Italy, not because it was suppressed by the Catholic authorities—as was usually assumed—but because Renaissance Italians possessed a mentality that was too ‘modern’ to be able to create new dogmas.
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