Ad fontes

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Ad fontes is a Latin expression which means "to the sources." (lit. "to the fountain") It is associated with the renewed study of Greek and Latin classics in Renaissance humanism.[1] Similarly, the Protestant Reformation called for the return to the Bible as the primary source of Christian faith. The idea in both cases was that sound knowledge depends on the earliest and most fundamental sources.

This phrase is related to ab initio, which means "from the beginning." However, whereas the flow of thought ab initio is from first principles to the situation at hand, ad fontes is a retrogression, a movement back towards an origin, which ideally is clearer than the present situation.

The phrase ad fontes occurs in the Latin Vulgate version of Psalm 41:

quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum ita desiderat anima mea ad te Deus.[2]

According to Hans-Georg Gadamer[3] there is evidence provided by E. Lledo that Spanish humanists drew the expression from this source.

[edit] References

  • J.D. Tracy, Ad Fontes: The Humanist Understanding of Scripture as Nourishment for the Soul, in Christian Spirituality II: High Middle Ages and Reformation, (1987), editor Jill Raitt

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The fundamental feature of Renaissance Humanism is summed up in the concept of ad fontes. It was believed that by studying the original texts whether, classical or Biblical, that there could be an actualization of the events described.[1]
  2. ^ Latin Vulgate Bible, Book Of Psalms Psalm 41
  3. ^ Truth and Method, p.502 of the 1989 revised English translation.

[edit] External links