Erasmus' ethnological hierarchy of peoples and races. Issue 8 (17th November 2018)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Erasmus' ethnological hierarchy of peoples and races. Issue 8 (17th November 2018)
- Main Title:
- Erasmus' ethnological hierarchy of peoples and races
- Authors:
- Ron, Nathan
- Abstract:
- ABSTRACT: No comprehensive research of Erasmus' ethnological mind has been published, so far. Erasmus' attitudes toward Turks and Jews were discussed analytically but not synthetically or comparatively. An attempt to widen the ethnological scope and to define and classify Erasmus' attitudes toward different non-Christian groups is presented here. Christian Europeans ( populus Christianus ) were at the top of Erasmus' echelon. Second to them were 'half-Christians', i.e. Turks, or Muslims in general. Below them were Jews, and lower in the hierarchy were black Africans ( Aethiopes ). Yet, no one was unworthy of conversion to Christianity, even barbarians of the third kind – according to Bartolomé Las Casas' sort – the most inferior barbarians, slaves by nature, as defined by Aristotle. According to Las Casas, these barbarians were too low to ask for God and were not candidates for conversion to Christianity. Erasmus' believed that Barbarians of any kind deserved Christianity without being brutally forced to accept it. Yet, in practice, converts from Judaism to Christianity were rated, even by Erasmus, as lower than Christians. This, in addition to the principle that Christian peace excludes war against the Turks, is the very essence of Erasmus' pax et concordia .
- Is Part Of:
- History of European ideas. Volume 44:Issue 8(2018)
- Journal:
- History of European ideas
- Issue:
- Volume 44:Issue 8(2018)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 44, Issue 8 (2018)
- Year:
- 2018
- Volume:
- 44
- Issue:
- 8
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2018-0044-0008-0000
- Page Start:
- 1063
- Page End:
- 1075
- Publication Date:
- 2018-11-17
- Subjects:
- Erasmus -- Turks -- Muslims -- Jews -- ethnological hierarchy
Europe -- Intellectual life -- Periodicals
Europe -- History -- Periodicals
190.5 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rhei20/current ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/01916599.2018.1485002 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0191-6599
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 4318.138000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 9356.xml