CHRISTIAN HUMANISM and the CAREER OF ERASMUS
DESIDERIUS ERASMUS OF ROTTERDAM (1466-1536)
Education: 1) Brethren
of the Common Life, schools in Netherlands
Devotio moderna =
practical piety for laymen imitating Apostles
founder: Thomas
à Kempis (1380-1471) author Imitation of Christ (1427)
2) Collège de Montaigu,
Paris: studied scholastic theology, ordained as priest
1492
CAREER
Scholar of Latin and Greek: 1516
Greek New Testament
major contribution to the Reformation
Educator: Colloquies 1518-23
- texts for Latin classes in schools
Shipwreck: critique
of invocation of saints rather than God
Pilgrimage
for Religion’s Sake: critique of saints’ cults, relics
Christian reformer: The Praise of
Folly (Encomium Moriae) 1511
genre: panegyric = rhetorical format of praise; Folly as orator
extended learned joke, as Folly praises herself
-- critique of "externals" & religious ceremonialism as
superstitious;
against
saints cults, relics, pilgrimages, fasting – all are
adiaphora or non-essentials
--
anti-scholastic: Folly calls scholastic theologians her followers
Pacifist writings: The Complaint
of Peace Against War;
Julius Exclusus: Pope Julius II 1503-13 excluded from
heaven
because of military role as"warrior Pope”
Philosophical approach to Christianity:
Philosophia Christi = practical
philosophy of Christ as teacher of morals
Enchiridion Militis Christiani (Handbook
of the Christian Soldier)
Fideism: reliance
on faith in religion, element of skepticism
mistrust
of scholastic approach to reason
Debate
with Luther on Free Will - break with Luther
Erasmus 1524 Discourse on Free Will (De Libero Arbitrio)
Luther
1525 On the Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio)
Portraits by Albrecht Durer and Hans Holbein
PRINTING (invented circa 1450, in Mainz,
German e.g. Johan Gutenberg)
Chinese influences: block printing (wood cuts)
paper from rag replaces parchment (sheepskin) and
vellum (calfskin)
Initial impact of printing press as conservative
(incunabula or
“cradle” period 1450-1500)
effort to produce effect of manuscript books with
printing press
- printing called "the art of writing artificially without a pen"
clerical needs
for Latin Bibles, missals psalters occupy printers
- 100 editions of Latin Bible between 1450 and 1500
.
Long term revolutionary aspects
elimination of
scribal error, repeatability guaranteed,
citations possible (the birth of the footnote !)
scholarship becomes
more collective activity, often to more people
economic impact:
individuals can afford books, not just monasteries
change in
learning: print frees the memory
diffusion of
images (woodcuts)
spread of
Reformation: from 1517-20, Luther alone published 30 tracts in
300,000 copies
systematic censorship
of books: e.g. Index of Forbidden Books, 1559