Christian Ruth

and

John Jarboe

Erasmus

Born in Rotterdam, Holland in (possibly 1466)

Illegitimate son of a Catholic priest and a daughter of a physician

Cared for by his parents until their deaths in 1483 from the plague

Attended a Latin school in Deventer, Holland where he excelled in both Greek and Latin

Early Life of Desiderius Erasmus

Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, Holland

Poverty forced Erasmus to be ordained as a priest in 1491

While in the canonry passionate letters between him and a fellow cannon Servatius Rogerus were transferred

He then began working as a secretary for the Bishop of Cambrai due to is excellence in Latin styles

Canonization and Starting in the Church

Bishop Henry allowed Erasmus to attend the University of Paris, studying theology

After his base studies, he traveled between Paris, Leuven, England, and Basel, becoming an independent scholar

Began teaching divinity at Cambridge where he also began researching and becoming skilled at Greek writing

Theological Education and Teaching

Became somewhat of a homeless scholar, travelling from city to city, taking professor jobs

Received a Doctorate of Divinity at Turin University and began spending more time involved at publishing houses

Became a master of Latin and began writing on literature and religion, getting all of his works published through colleagues he had made

Rise to Intellectual Significance

At this point, Erasmus was a world renown scholar and writer, publishing many works through his network of acquaintances

He worked on a Greek translation of the New Testament which was heavily critiqued and criticized

During the rise of Protestantism, Erasmus and reformation leader Martin Luther had a famous correspondence over reformation of intellectualism and theology

Major Works

Novum Instrumentum omne

Erasmus wrote heavily in Latin, as well as Greek, which was an uncommon thing for the time period.

The style of Latin prose that Erasmus used was heavily personalized, which garnered him the criticisms of other, then modern Latin writers.

The most common Latin style was that of Cicero, but Erasmus used non-Ciceronian words of ecclesiastical Latin in his texts in order to better communicate modern ideas and phrases that classical Latin did not include.

The Ciceronianus was a response by Erasmus that addressed the critics of his writing style.

Writing Style

Written in 1509.It was a critique of Church policy, and advocated

a simplification of Christian doctrine. In the book, Folly is personified and gives lengthy praises to lying and adopts a satirical tone when discussing the corruption within the Catholic Church.

The Folly is also a book that was something of an homage to Thomas More, the Englishman who was a close friend of Erasmus, and who also shared Erasmus’ classical leanings. Much of the Folly is full of hidden, satirical meanings.

The Praise of Folly

A book published by Erasmus in 1500.It was an attempt to amass both

commonly used colloquial and ancient proverbs and adages from his time period.

Among the 800 proverbs in the early editions was the phrase:

In regione caecorum rex est luscus.“In the land of the blind, the one-

eyed man is king.”Similar modern notions continue the

idea of this and other of Erasmus’s collected proverbs.

Collectaena Adagia,or the Collection of Adages

Erasmus helped to translate an edition of the New Testament into Greek.

A publisher wanted to defeat a rival by printing a copy of the New Testament into Greek first, and hired Erasmus to do so as quickly as possible.

The first translation was widely read, but the speed with which Erasmus had translated the text, along with the poor quality sources he had available, resulted in miss-translations that caused controversy.

New editions were rapidly reproduced, and the poor quality translation became the most commonly read Greek New Testament for several centuries.

Greek New Testament

One of the works of Erasmus that addressed his pacifist tendencies; others include the Pangyreic, the dulce bellum, and the Institutio.

A dramatic dialogue that involved the anthropomorphic personification of Peace discussing the downsides of human reasoning in achieving lasting accord.

Querela Pacis or the Complaint of Peace

Peace tries to find scholars and intellectuals, as well as clergy who should be advocating for peace and reason, but is unable to.

Peace concludes that only in Christ can humanity find true peace, since war is inhumane and opposes Christian doctrine.

As he grew weaker, he accepted a permanent job from the Queen of Hungary

On his way moving, he died of dysentery at the age of 69

His last words were “lieve God”, Dutch for “Dear God”

Erasmus’ Death

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/erasmus/#PolPachttp://www.egs.edu/library/desiderius-erasmus/biography/http://www.kjvonly.org/doug/kutilek_erasmus.htmhttp://idiomation.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/the-one-eyed-

man-is-king/http://

capital-flow-analysis.info/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/normal_blind.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Praise_of_Folly

Works Cited