1466 - 1536

Nationality:
Dutch

Historical Period:
The Renaissance and the Reformation

Groups

• Goodrich Seminar Room

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) was a Christian, humanist scholar; the first editor of the New Testament; a classicist; and a leading voice in the theological debates of the early Reformation in northern Europe. He contended with the reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546), emphasizing the importance of free will in human actions against Luther’s belief in the absolute bondage of the will to sin.

Titles:

• Author: The Colloquies 2 vols.
• Author: The Colloquies vol. 1
• Author: The Colloquies vol. 2
• Author: The Complaint of Peace
• Author: In Praise of Folly
• Author: The Manual of a Christian Knight
• Author: The Works of Vicesimus Knox, vol. 5

Quotations:

• Erasmus argues that Philosophizing is all very well but there is also a need for there to be a Philosopher of the Kitchen (1518)
• Erasmus has the personification of Peace come down to earth to see with dismay how war ravages human societies (1521)
• The 3rd Day of Christmas: Erasmus stands against war and for peace on earth (16th century)
• Erasmus on the "Folly" of upsetting conventional opinion by pointing out the sins of kings and princes (1511)

View All People