"In this massive, meticulously researched work Trinkaus makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Italian humanists and the Christian Renaissance in Italy. . . . The author argues persuasively that the Italian humanists drew their inspiration more from the church fathers than from the pagan ancients. . . . [This is] the most comprehensive and most important study of Italian humanism to appear in English. It is a mine of information, offering, among other things, detailed analyses of texts which have been ignored even by Italian scholars." —Library Journal
"A substantial contribution to the continuing debate on the meaning and significance, even the very existence, of the Renaissance. . . . [T]his study . . . present[s] an original, challenging interpretation of Renaissance thought, stemming from Trinkaus's complete command of Classical, Patristic, Scholastic, and Renaissance sources, and his familiarity with modern scholarly literature." —Choice
"Histories of spirituality have given scant attention to lay spirituality and lay theologizing in centuries previous to the twentieth. Trinkaus provides much material toward redressing the balance as regards Renaissance Italy." —Review for Religious
“. . . an important and thoughtful book. It is . . . a book to return to again and again.” —Times Literary Supplement
Charles Trinkaus (1911–1999) was emeritus professor of history at the University of Michigan. He published a number of books, includingThe Poet as Philosopher: Petrarch and the Formation of Renaissance Consciousness and The Scope of Renaissance Humanity.