The complicated sixteenth century: Difference between revisions
→Erasmus
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* Martin Luther | * Martin Luther | ||
== Erasmus == | == Erasmus, 1465-1535 == | ||
Considered a great figure in the northern Renaisance, humanism movement, as a Catholic leader, Erasmus is complicated. | Considered a great figure in the northern Renaisance, humanism movement, as a Catholic leader, Erasmus is complicated. He promoted "humanism," or a human-centric view of the world that emphasizes the human condition (especially happiness, liberty, peace), learning through Classical education focused on Greek and Roman philosophy and rhetoric), he called for Church reform in matters of monasticism ("Monkishmness is not piety"<ref>''Enchiridion'' </ref>) and formulatistic sacerdotalism (that relgious ceremony had become habit and doctrinially overly complex, even going so far as to accuse certain types of priests as being pharisitical), as well as the need for focus on the Sacred texts, with focus on language. | ||
, while holding to the necessity of Grace for salvation. | |||
Above all else, he opposed "scholasticism," and thus St, Thomas Aquinas, although not by name, attacking, instead, Aquinas' heirs, known as the Scholastics. He wrote popular but scathing satires and critiques about the Scholastics and about priests, and wrote, with both brilliance and borderline irreverance, his own translations of Scripture, along with commentary. Erasmus's dual Greek-Latin translation of the New Testament first issued in 1516 | |||
Erasmus defended Luther from charges of heresy<ref>His ''Inquisitio de fide'' argued that heretical beliefs were only those that violated essential doctrines such as the Creed.</ref>, but, while sharing their spirit of reform and humanistic views that had moved Luther and others into a break from the Church, Erasmus rejected the Lutherin and Calvinistic doctrines of ''sole fide'' ("belief only) and predestination, arguing that humans exercise free will (a view consistent with his upholding of the importance of the Sacrament of Reconcilation). | |||
This article, [https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/desiderius-erasmus Desiderius Erasmus | Catholic Answers Encyclopedia], offers a critical view of Erasmus and his humanism, which aligned him with Martin Luther in many respects. Erasmus never rejected the Church and, by the end of his life, he had distanced himself from Luther. Erasmus's close friend, (Saint) Thomas More shared 16th century humanistic views, but never strayed from Church orthodoxy. We may assume that Erasmus' friendship with More grounded him more firmly in the Catholic faith, as many of his contemporaries such as William Tyndale<ref>Tyndale was an English protestant reformer who translated the Bible into English based on the earlier work of John Wycliff, whose anti-Catholic followers were called "Lollards."</ref>, Martin Luther, and others were not. | This article, [https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/desiderius-erasmus Desiderius Erasmus | Catholic Answers Encyclopedia], offers a critical view of Erasmus and his humanism, which aligned him with Martin Luther in many respects. Erasmus never rejected the Church and, by the end of his life, he had distanced himself from Luther. Erasmus's close friend, (Saint) Thomas More shared 16th century humanistic views, but never strayed from Church orthodoxy. We may assume that Erasmus' friendship with More grounded him more firmly in the Catholic faith, as many of his contemporaries such as William Tyndale<ref>Tyndale was an English protestant reformer who translated the Bible into English based on the earlier work of John Wycliff, whose anti-Catholic followers were called "Lollards."</ref>, Martin Luther, and others were not. | ||