The Jesuits and the Globalization of the Renaissance

Abstract

Following a brief discussion of comparative and entangled history, and of the extension of studies of the Renaissance to the world beyond Europe, this article focusses on the Jesuits as carriers of the ideas and forms of the European Renaissance to their mission stations in Asia and the Americas. In their attempts to adapt or ‘accommodate’ Christianity to the cultures of the peoples that they were attempting to convert, Jesuit missionaries made use of Renaissance humanism, rhetoric, grammar and the concern with manners and customs that was later known as ethnography. The missionaries also made use of art and architecture in the Renaissance style to reinforce the Christian message. Their use of local craftsmen had the unintended consequence of introducing new elements into this western style, producing a hybrid art. However, without wanting it or even knowing it, the Jesuits prepared the way for the later reception of western art in India, China and Japan.