Christian excellence in history. From heroic saints to educated experts (1500–1800)

Abstract

The article deals with the understanding of religious talent or religious excellence in the Early Modern Period. Three subtypes are identified as follows: (1) Political Heroism and the Sacred, (2) Countercultural Moral Excellence, (3) Extraordinary Emotions. It is further argued that these subtypes are to a great extent replaced with the idea of an educated expert in the modern period. In the end, the study of emotional intelligence is mentioned as a hypothetically fruitful way to understand these phenomena in behavioral sciences.