The first book-length study to link the origins of religious toleration
in the West to the humanists' use of rhetoric.
"Remer has written an exceptionally lucid account of the intellectual
and political tradition underlying the idea of religious toleration
and the implications of that tradition for contemporary policy on
free speech. . . . This wide-ranging, thoroughly researched, and
systematically argued book makes an important contribution to the
history of rhetoric, political theory, and Western intellectual
history." —Choice
Religious toleration is much discussed these days. But where did
the Western notion of toleration come from? In this thought-provoking
book Gary Remer traces arguments for religious toleration back to
the Renaissance, demonstrating how humanist thinkers initiated an
intellectual tradition that has persisted even to our present day.
Although toleration has long been recognized as an important theme
in Renaissance humanist thinking, many scholars have mistakenly
portrayed the humanists as proto-Englightenment rationalists and
nascent liberals. Remer, however, offers the surprising conclusion
that humanist thinking on toleration was actually founded on the
classical tradition of rhetoric. It was the rhetorician's commitment
to decorum, the ability to argue both sides of an issue,
and the search for an acceptable epistemological standard in probability
and consensus that grounded humanist arguments for toleration. Remer
also finds that the primary humanist model for a full-fledged theory
of toleration was the Ciceronian rhetorical category of sermo (conversation).
The historical scope of this book is wide-ranging. Remer begins
by focusing on the works of four humanists: Desiderius Erasmus,
Jacobus Acontius, William Chillingworth, and Jean Bodin. Then he
considers the challenge posed to the humanist defense of toleration
by Thomas Hobbes and Pierre Bayle. Finally, he shows how humanist
ideas have continued to influence arguments for toleration even
after the passing of humanism—from John Locke to contemporary
American discussions of freedom of speech. |
