In reading Thomas More’s Utopia, one can infer that the society he describes in the book is so far from the Europe he lived in, that it might be some sort of ironic critique of European culture. This becomes even more evident when other pieces of More’s portfolio are brought in for comparison. One such work is Two Swords: Heresy and Just War, in which More writes primarily about how other European countries and his own England dealt with opponents of the Christian faith known as heretics. In this passage, More’s words offer me better understanding of why he chose to depict religion in Utopia in the way that he did.
In 16th century England, Catholicism reigned as the supreme religion. Those who practiced it believed that it was the most righteous form of prayer, and worked to convert others to follow Christ in the same way they did. Heretics, however, were not only non-christians, but they were openly against the religion, and translated this into violence against everyday christians; “[English christians] yet never in fact would have resorted so heavily to force and violence against heretics if the violent and cruelty first used by the heretics themselves against good Catholic folk had not driven good princes to it” (Swords 282). More believed had the heretics not engaged in violence initially, than there would be no need for it. Ideally he would have liked to see open dialogue between the two groups, “…in the event that the Turks, Saracens, and pagans were to allow the Christian faith to be peacefully preached among them, and that we Christians were therefore to allow all their religions to be preached among us, and violence taken away by assent on both sides, I doubt not at all that the Christian faith would much more increase than decline” (Swords 283). This however was not the way that 16th century Europe dealt with things.
When More wrote Utopia, he ended the book speaking to the way the Utopians dealt with religion. He was very thorough in his explanation of how various religions could co-exist, not even separately in the same society, but side by side, and even in the same house of worship. Through reading about the way the society More lived in dealt with other religions, it becomes more clear why More might have been motivated to create Utopia as he did. Based on logic and reason, the Utopians are much more accepting of new ideas, apparent when More mentions, “Some Romans and Egyptians were cast upon the shore and never left again. Notice how their diligence turned this single occasion to their advantage. There was no useful skill in the whole Roman empire which they did not learn” (Utopia 49). The way in which the Utopians treat new information and different ideas make it clear that More has strong feelings about his own society, and, for example, the way it deals with heretics’ different beliefs. By providing background knowledge on the world More lived in, Two Swords makes it much easier to understand the underpinnings of More’s critique on European culture through the story of Utopia.
I have neither received nor given unauthorized assistance in the completion of this work
Works Cited
More, Thomas, “Two Swords: Heresy and Just War” in A Thomas
More Source Book. Edited by Gerard B. Wegemer and Stephen W. Smith. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2004, pp. 281-290.
More, Thomas. Utopia. Translated by Clarence H. Miller. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.