---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Humanists were people who wanted to…"
description: "\"“Humanists were people who wanted to return to ideas found in old Greek and Latin writing of Greece and Rome, written many centuries earlier. Christian..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ca/michael-mullett-76197_christian-church_humanists-were-people-who-wanted-to-retu_2258448.jpg"
---

#  Humanists were people who wanted to return to ideas found…

![“Humanists were people who wanted to return to ideas found in old Greek and Latin writing of Greece and Rome, written many centuries earlier. Christian Humanists also wanted to get back to these ideas, but they were mainly concerned with learning about the early Christian Church, before it had…” quote by Michael Mullett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ca/michael-mullett-76197_christian-church_humanists-were-people-who-wanted-to-retu_2258448.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ca/michael-mullett-76197_christian-church_humanists-were-people-who-wanted-to-retu_2258448.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ca/michael-mullett-76197_christian-church_humanists-were-people-who-wanted-to-retu_2258448.jpg)

> ““Humanists were people who wanted to return to ideas found in old Greek and Latin writing of Greece and Rome, written many centuries earlier. Christian Humanists also wanted to get back to these ideas, but they were mainly concerned with learning about the early Christian Church, before it had become involved with money-making and superstition. They wanted to read the books of the early Church, especially the gospels of Christ, in the original language of Greek, so that they would know exactly what the writings meant. The leader of the Christian Humanists was Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), who attacked superstitions in the Catholic Church in his writing.””

[Michael Mullett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-mullett/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Humanists sought to revive classical Greek and Latin ideas, while Christian Humanists aimed to study early Christian texts in original languages to avoid later corruptions.

**In simple terms:** Humanists revived ancient ideas; Christian Humanists studied early church texts.

Key Takeaway

Read original sources to avoid later distortions.

Themes

humanism renaissance religious reform scholarship

Mood

curious reflective

Type

historical educational

When to use this quote

- academic research
- theological study
- literary analysis
- educational curricula

Key Concepts

classical revival textual criticism reformation

Questions to Reflect On

- How does returning to original sources change modern belief?
- What challenges arise when interpreting ancient languages?

A Different Perspective

Original texts may be inaccessible or require specialized knowledge.

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[Christian church](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-church/) [Christian Humanists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-humanists-5187798/) [Desiderius Erasmus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desiderius-erasmus-225058/) [Humanism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanism/) [Humanists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanists/) [Humanists Desiderius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanists-desiderius-5187799/) [Humanists People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanists-people-1167130/) [Humanists Wanted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanists-wanted-5187800/) [Old greek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-greek/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/)

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