Re-thinking of Christian Humanism : An analysis of "De vidua Christiana" by Desiderius Erasmus

In this paper I examine the validity of "Christian Humanism" in Renaissance by analyzing "religious" terms of Desiderius Erasmus. This concept is originally defined as development of Renaissance Humanism that emerged in Italy in the 14th century, and on the content of this concept, in contrast with the secularity and practicality of Renaissance Humanism in Italy, the spirituality and religiosity of Christian Humanism have been emphasized. Then the religious thought of Erasmus who was the representative of this cultural movement also has been interpreted as faithful one that led Martin Luther\u27s Reformation, and on the contrary its secularistic or cultural elements have been ignored. Erasmus actually used the terms that were "christus" or "pietas", but he applied those "religious" terms to the secret of success in daily life or to the beautiful and correct style in Latin, that have nothing to do with so-called "religion" today. Through analyzing the way in which he used these terms in his "De vidua chrtistiana", I examine the difference between Erasmus\u27"religion" and that of today, and the validity of "Christian Humanism" as analysis concept