Culmination of Contemporary Christian Humanistic Ethos From Medieval England: Reference to Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”

Abstract

Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance which emphasizes the value of human beings individually and collectively. Christian humanism is incorporated of universal human dignity and individual freedom with teachings of Jesus. The matured state of contemporary Christian ethos is not a sudden burst of contemporary humanistic qualities but it is being culminated from the medieval England. The purpose of this research is to analyze the inducement of medieval Christian values in contemporary Christian humanistic ethos. The impact of Christianity in medieval England is reflected in Chaucer’s “ The Canterbury tales”. This detailed analysis of “ General prologue to the Canterbury Tales” attempts to highlight certain Christian elements of medieval Christian society which have embedded in the contemporary Christian humanistic ethos. This project is designed to prove the culmination of contemporary Christian humanitarian values from the medieval England with the reference of ‘The Canterbury ‘ tales which provides the best contemporary picture of medieval England. The resemblances between the medieval humanistic ethos and the contemporary humanistic ethos are compared in order to prove the fact that the root or the cornerstone for the contemporary Christian culture is laid in the medieval England, where Christianity was at its peak. This study predominately converse about certain Christian values, such as the impact of heritage of saints, post war consolation in Christianity, Christian moral of aiding the poor and the needy and the contribution clerics in building up good citizens through spirituality and education. This project will be done by comparing the humanistic qualities of the pilgrims and their circumstances from the Canterbury tales and the Missioneries of charity- Trincomalee, Ehed Caritas-Trincomalee, The society of Vincent De Paul, Our Lady of Perpetual help-Anpuvalipuram, Trincomalee, world Vision-Trincomalee and the society of Jesus- Trincomalee. This study will result in the exhibition of the socio-religious aspects of medieval England and its culmination in the development of humanistic ethos up to data.