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An Infinity of Relics: Erasmus and the Copious Rhetoric of John Calvin's Traité des reliques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2021

Spencer J. Weinreich
Spencer J. Weinreich*
Affiliation:
Princeton University
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Abstract

John Calvin's “Traité des reliques” (1543) inventories early modern Europe's fraudulent relics. Yet, theologically speaking, authenticity is irrelevant: all relics are idols to the evangelical Protestant, while for Catholics prayer's intention, not its conduit, was paramount. This article locates a solution in Calvin's humanist formation: chiefly, his debt to Desiderius Erasmus—not to Erasmus's satirical or devotional works, but to his rhetorical theory of copia. The “Traité” amasses a copia, an abundance, of fakes, burying the cult of relics in its own contradictions. Fusing rhetoric and proof, this mass juxtaposition subjects sacred presence to noncontradiction, patrolling vital confessional borders in Reformation theology.

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Articles
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 74 , Issue 1 , Spring 2021 , pp. 137 - 180
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2021. Published by the Renaissance Society of America

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Footnotes

This article is dedicated to the memory of Louise Grafton, an artist of the genuine illusion. I am profoundly grateful for the suggestions and encouragement of audiences in Princeton, New Brunswick, and New York; the anonymous reviewers; Jeffrey Castle, Colin Macdonald, Jessica Wolfe, Max Engammare, Michael Gordin, Angela Creager, Carlos Eire, Jake Purcell, Jan Machielsen, Wesley Viner, James Delbourgo, and, most of all, Anthony Grafton.

References

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