JOHN FISHER (1469-1535): BETWEEN MEDIEVAL LEARNING AND RENAISSANCE CULTURE (ON THE PROBLEM OF STUDYING HUMANISM IN ENGLAND)

Abstract

The article studies the peculiarities of the intellectual image of the Christian thinker of the Renaissance, chancellor of Cambridge University - John Fisher (1469-1535). It is noted that in the memoirs of contemporaries and foreign historiography there is no unambiguous definition of his scholarly views. J. Fischer is characterized by features typical of both the adherent of scholastic thought and humanism. It is emphasized that the diversity of opinions is connected with the ambiguity of the term humanism. It is concluded that the assessment of J. Fisher as a humanist cannot be accepted without reservations, no matter what understanding of the concept of humanism the researcher adheres to. From the point of view of E. Garen’s concept, J. Fischer cannot be called a humanist, because his views did not include an aspiration to anthropocentrism. Within the framework of P.Christeller’s concept, who defined humanism as a preoccupation with words, J. Fischer showed features of humanist scholarship, but his philological studies were not so much concerned with ancient literature as with the writings of the Church Fathers, who combined classical eloquence and Christian worldview. The concept of Christian humanism, based on the changes in the church and society through the enlightenment mission of the clergy through the activation of preaching activities, makes it possible to define J. Fischer in this niche. However, his recognition of the authority of scholasticism and his repeated citation of the works of numerous scholastics distinguish him from other supporters of this trend, who opposed most of their views to scholasticism.