Humanist, born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. After six years in an Augustinian monastery, he became private secretary to the Bishop of Cambrai, and a priest (1492). He went to Paris, where he lived as a teacher, then moved to England in 1498, and became professor of divinity and of Greek at Cambridge. Here he wrote his satire, Encomium moriae (1509, The Praise of Folly). After 1514 he lived alternately in Basel and England, then in Louvain (151721). His masterpiece, Colloquia, appeared in 1519, an audacious handling of Church abuses. He also made the first translation of the Greek New Testament into English (1516) and edited the works of St Jerome (1519). In 1521 he left Louvain, and lived mainly in Basel, where he was engaged in continual controversy, but enjoyed great fame and respect in his later years.
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (also Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam) (October 27, probably 1466 – July 12, 1536) was a Dutch humanist and theologian.
Erasmus was a classical scholar who wrote in a "pure" Latin style.
In his Treatise on Preparation for Death, he made clear his position that faith in the atonement of Christ—not in the sacraments and rituals of the Church—is the only guarantee of eternal life.
He prepared new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament and wrote The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight and On Civility in Children.
Biography
Early life
Erasmus was born with the name Gerrit Gerritszoon (Dutch for Gerhard Gerhardson) in or about 1466, probably in Rotterdam, although recent discoveries suggest he was actually born in Gouda, the Netherlands. Despite being illegitimate, Erasmus was cared for by his parents until their early deaths from the plague in 1483 and was then given the best education available to a young man of his day, in a series of monastic or semi-monastic schools. In 1487 Erasmus became deeply attached to a young man, Servatius Rogerus, whom he called "half my soul", writing, "I have wooed you both unhappily and relentlessly."
Ordination and monastic experience
In 1492, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and took Augustinian monastic vows at about the age of 25, but he never seems to have actively worked as a monastic priest, and monasticism was one of the chief objects of his attack in his lifelong assault upon Church excesses.
Education and scholarship
In 1495, with the bishop's consent and stipend, he went on to study at the University of Paris, in the Collège de Montaigu, a centre of reforming zeal, under the direction of the ascetic Jan Standonck, of whose rigours Erasmus complained.
Erasmus preferred to live the life of an independent scholar and made a conscious effort to avoid any actions or formal ties that might inhibit his freedom of intellect and literary expression.
His residence at Leuven exposed Erasmus to much petty criticism from those hostile to the principles of literary and religious progress to which he was devoting his life.
Erasmus's literary productivity began comparatively late in his life. It was this lifelong conviction that guided Erasmus as he regenerated Europe through sound criticism applied frankly and without fear to the Catholic Church. Erasmus held himself aloof from all entangling obligations, yet he was, in a singularly true sense, the center of the literary movement of his time.
Publication of the Greek New Testament
The first New Testament printed in Greek was part of the Polyglot Bible. While in England in 1515, Erasmus became aware of the Polyglot project and began a search for available manuscripts of the Greek New Testament with the goal of meeting the demand for a printed edition before the Polyglot Bible could be finished. Erasmus's rushed effort was published by Froben of Basel in 1516 and thence became the first published Greek New Testament, the Novum Instrumentum omne, diligenter ab Erasmo Rot. Erasmus used several Greek manuscript sources because he did not have access to a single complete manuscript.
In the 2nd (1519) edition the more familiar term Testamentum was used instead of Instrumentum. Erasmus had been unable to find those verses in any Greek manuscript, but one was supplied to him during production of the 3rd edition.
The 3rd edition of 1522 was the basis for the 1550 Robert Stephanus edition used by the translators of the Geneva Bible and King James Version of the Bible. Erasmus published a definitive 4th edition in 1527 containing parallel columns of Greek, Latin Vulgate and Erasmus's Latin texts. In 1535 Erasmus published the 5th (and final) edition which dropped the Latin Vulgate column but was otherwise similar to the 4th edition. Subsequent versions of Erasmus's Greek New Testament became known as the Textus Receptus.
Erasmus dedicated his work to Pope Leo X as a patron of learning and regarded this work as his chief service to the cause of Christianity.
Erasmus, Luther, and the beginnings of Protestantism
Tries to be impartial in dispute
Martin Luther's movement began in the year following the publication of the New Testament and tested Erasmus's character. Erasmus, at the height of his literary fame, was inevitably called upon to take sides, but partisanship was foreign to his nature and his habits.
Disagreement with Luther
Erasmus was sympathetic with the main points in the Lutheran criticism of the Church. He had great respect for Martin Luther, and Luther always spoke with admiration of Erasmus's superior learning. In their early correspondence, Luther expressed boundless admiration for all Erasmus had done in the cause of a sound and reasonable Christianity and urged him to join the Lutheran party. Erasmus declined to commit himself, arguing that to do so would endanger his position as a leader in the movement for pure scholarship which he regarded as his purpose in life. When Erasmus hesitated to support him, the straightforward Luther felt that Erasmus was avoiding the responsibility due either to cowardice or a lack of purpose. Erasmus, however, dreaded any change in doctrine and believed that there was room within existing formulas for the kind of reform he valued most.
Freedom of the will
Twice in the course of the great discussion, he allowed himself to enter the field of doctrinal controversy, a field foreign to both his nature and his previous practice. In response, Luther wrote his De servo arbitrio (On the Bondage of the Will) (1525), which viciously attacks the "Diatribe" and Erasmus himself, going so far as to claim that Erasmus was not a Christian.
As the popular response to Luther gathered momentum, the social disorders, which Erasmus dreaded and Luther deemed unavoidable, began to appear, including the Peasants' War, the Anabaptist disturbances in Germany and in the Low Countries, iconoclasm and the radicalization of peasants across Europe.
When the city of Basel was definitely and officially "reformed" in 1529, Erasmus gave up his residence there and settled in the imperial town of Freiburg im Breisgau.
The sacraments
The test question was the doctrine of the sacraments, and the crux of this question was the observance of the Eucharist. In 1530, Erasmus published a new edition of the orthodox treatise of Algerus against the heretic Berengar of Tours in the 11th century. The anti-sacramentarians, headed by Œcolampadius of Basel, were, as Erasmus says, quoting him as holding views similar to their own in order to try to claim him for their schismatic movement.
Writings
Erasmus wrote both on ecclesiastic subjects and those of general human interest.
His more serious writings begin early with the Enchiridion militis Christiani, the "Handbook of the Christian Soldier" (1503) (translated into English a few years later by the young William Tyndale). In this short work, Erasmus outlines the views of the normal Christian life, which he was to spend the rest of his days in elaborating. In his examination of the dangers of formalism, Erasmus discusses monasticism, saint worship, war, the spirit of class and the foibles of "society", but the Enchiridion is more like a sermon than a satire.
Erasmus's best-known work was The Praise of Folly, (Latin: Moriae encomium or sometimes Laus stultitiae), a satirical attack on the traditions of the Catholic Church and popular superstitions, written in 1509, published in 1511 and dedicated to his friend, Sir Thomas More.
The Institutio principis Christiani (Basel, 1516) was written as advice to the young king Charles of Spain, later Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Erasmus applies the general principles of honor and sincerity to the special functions of the Prince, whom he represents throughout as the servant of the people. Erasmus, on the other hand, preferred for the prince to be loved and suggested that the prince needed a well-rounded education in order to govern justly and benevolently and avoid becoming a source of oppression.
As a result of his reformatory activities, Erasmus found himself at odds with both the great parties. Notable among these was Ulrich von Hutten, a brilliant but erratic genius, who had thrown himself into the Lutheran cause and had declared that Erasmus, if he had a spark of honesty, would do the same. In his reply, Spongia adversus aspergines Hutteni (1523), Erasmus displays his skill in semantics.
The most important work of this last period is the Ecclesiastes or "Gospel Preacher" (Basel, 1535), in which he comments on the function of preaching.
Legacy
The extraordinary popularity of his books, however, has been shown in the number of editions and translations that have appeared since the 16th century, and in the undiminished interest excited by his elusive but fascinating personality. The greatest names of the classical and patristic world are among those translated, edited or annotated by Erasmus, including Saint Ambrose, Aristotle, Saint Augustine, Saint Basil, Saint John Chrysostom, Cicero and Saint Jerome.
Today in his home town of Rotterdam, the University has been named in his honor. Research in 2003 showed that most Rotterdammers believe Erasmus was the designer of the "Erasmusbridge" in Rotterdam. This shocking information led to the founding of the Erasmushuis (Erasmushouse), a house dedicated to celebrate the legacy of Erasmus. Nowadays in Rotterdam, three famous moments in the life of Erasmus are celebrated annually. On October 28, the birthday of Erasmus is celebrated. And, in the summer, the night of Erasmus celebrates the lasting influence of his work in contemporary days.
However, Erasmus's reputation and the interpretations of his work have varied greatly over time.
The Catholic Counter-Reformation movement often condemned Erasmus as having "laid the egg that hatched the Reformation."
Protestant views of Erasmus fluctuate largely depending on region and period, with continuous support in his native Netherlands and in cities of the Upper Rhine area. However, following his death and in the late 16th century, Reformation supporters see Erasmus's critiques of Luther and lifelong support for the universal Catholic Church as damning.
By the coming of the Age of Enlightenment, however, Erasmus increasingly returned to become a more widely respected cultural symbol and was hailed as an important figure by increasingly broad groups.
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