Asher Sisneros

Many Greek and Roman classics start their fascinating—and often debaucherous—tales by invoking one or more gods, and Boccaccio does something similar in The Decameron. His book, which is a Renaissance classic, chronicles the stories told by ten people who survived the Black Death. With all their colleagues killed, they temporarily moved to the country for ten days to quarantine themselves, and they told ten stories per day to pass the time. The Decameron records all of those stories, which are largely filled with debaucherous fornication or what Dr. Gary North describes as “smut for wealthy men,”¹ i.e., porn. However, not all of the stories in The Decameron were created equal. Some are worse than others. For example, the first story told on the first day does not include any sexual perversity. Instead, the story proves to be an inconspicuous jab at the Catholic Church. That does not make Boccaccio a heathen, however. While he despised the perversions in the Catholic Church—and rightfully so—he was still religious and a professing Christian. In fact, the first story in The Decameron has excellent Christian doctrine, and Boccaccio starts the narrative by invoking the Christian God. However, the Scriptures clearly teach that God is against the behavior of characters in The Decameron. God despises adultery and fornication. So the question is, in light of all the smut (porn) contained in The Decameron, why would Boccaccio invoke God in the beginning of the book?  

First, he may have done it for political purposes. Even though the Catholic Church was falling into disfavor, Christianity was still the national religion. Attacking Christianity outright would have been political suicide. However, the Pope and the clergy were no longer synonymous with Christianity. It was common for people to mock the inconsistent and debaucherous clergy. In fact, Boccaccio went so far as to call the clergy the scum of the earth in The Decameron. By attacking the administrators in the Christian religion, instead of the religion itself, Boccaccio protected himself from cultural criticism. The Catholic Church hated him for producing the book, but the literate readers loved the book and enjoyed kicking their heels into Catholicism. 

Secondly, Boccaccio claims to have been a Christian. Many writers from Ancient Greece and Classical Rome started their narratives by invoking the god(s) of their religion. Many books in the Bible start by doing the same thing. Seeing as how this was a common literary technique, it is understandable that Boccaccio did the same thing if he did believe in the Christian God. 

That brings one to the central question: Did Boccaccio fear God? Once again, there is very good Christian doctrine when searching through the pages of The Decameron. At the beginning of the first novel, Boccaccio says that salvation is only open to believers because of God’s mercy and goodness, not because of works. Moreover, he says that salvation is only gifted to the righteous who pray for salvation. There is nothing wrong with this doctrine. It is all correct. That is all fundamental Christian doctrine. From a doctrinal perspective, Boccaccio is speaking the truth. He understood Christian doctrine, but did he believe that Christian doctrine? It is one thing to be familiar with the words, but it is another thing to have genuine faith. As the apostle James says, “Works without faith is dead.”² What he means by this is that if someone has genuine faith, their works will testify to that faith. After all, nobody says what they do not think; nobody acts contrary to their heart. Yes, the righteous will stumble. However, actions testify to where the heart is. James’ point is that if someone claims to have faith, but their actions continually speak otherwise, their faith is most likely counterfeit. When it comes to applying this to Boccaccio, the first novel illustrates that he is clearly familiar with Christian doctrine. He clearly knows what it means to be a Christian and claims to be one. However, when all of the fornication involved in the rest of the book is evaluated, it becomes apparent that he did not care to follow God’s command to have a pure heart. And as after all, those who love God keep His commandments. ³

From this perspective, it is clearly possible to understand Christian doctrine without being a Christian, and the evidence seems to indicate that Boccaccio was not a Christian, or he was a shallow one. Regardless of the minute intricacies, this seems to imply that Boccaccio did not invoke God because he was a believer. Rather, Boccaccio likely invoked God for political purposes to help his message in undermining the legitimacy of the Catholic Church.

1.  Dr. Gary North, Ron Paul Curriculum, 10E156 ↩︎
2. James 2:14-26 (NKJV): What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. ↩︎
3. John 14:21 (NKJV): He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. ↩︎