In our Image and Likeness

"Charles Trinkaus looks at the development of humanist thought during the medieval period. How the concept of the intrinsic dignity and worth of each human being emerged and came to be accepted as truth.This book is concerned with the efforts of the Italian Renaissance thinkers, primarily the humanists, to arrive at a definition of the nature,condition and destiny of man within the inherited framework of the Christian faith. The idea of human nature during the Renaissance cannot be other than the conception of man’s nature in its relation to the divine nature, and in a subsidiary way in relation to animal nature as well. Thus this book will deal with ideas concerning ‘humanity and divinity’ in all their aspects. We use as our title what we shall show to be the central metaphor of humanist thinking on this subject - the creation of man ‘In Our Image and Likeness’."