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Erasmus attitude toward learning embodies important aspects of cultural change in the 16 th century. He was a man of deep religious feelings and conviction, an independent thinker, greatest philologist of his time and one of the greatest of all times, a staunch defender of human reason, opposed Luthers teachings, religious reformer, and a fearless critic (Runes p. 184). Erasmus did and thought many things in his lifetime. His philosophy was mainly based on God and the Church. He was a true man of letters, he wrote and translated tirelessly; arguing, teaching, and campaigning for the purification of the Church.
People believed he was a variety of things, but he conceived of himself as a preacher of righteousness and was convinced that what was needed to regenerate Europe was sound learning. He was a man who hated ignorance as much as Luther and Calvin hated sin. Desiderius Erasmus was born in October of 1469 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His father, Gerard, was a priest and his mother was a daughter of a physician. His childhood was apparently very unhappy, and so was his youth. He mentioned it with bitterness.
He had a mother named Margaret and a brother named Peter. It was said that he had hated his brother. He did not claim his father, and denied using his name. Since he was born out of wedlock, his birth was not blessed. His parents story is a unique one. His fathers parents pressured him into priesthood, but he was living with a view to marriage with Erasmus mother, Margaret.
His family harassed him so much that he left Margaret pregnant, and fled to Rome. His family sent him word that she had died and he returned home only to find that he had been deceived, for Margaret was still alive. His parents love affair was the base of Charles Reads novel The Cloister and the Hearth (Erasmus p. 8). Many major historical events happened in his time, such as the Luther Reformation.
Erasmus was involved a lot in the reformation of the Roman-Catholic Church. Most of the books written about Erasmus have a lot to say about the disagreements between Luther and Erasmus. Also, the French-Burgundism wars began shortly before Erasmus was born and lasted all the years that he lived in Holland. Where he lived was a dull and oppressive place because of the collapse of civil order during the war. He could not even walk with friends to explore because of all the madness. From his earliest years he had a passion for learning.
He had the life of a poor schoolboy and it was not an easy one either. In Gouda, was his first schooling, taught by a man named Peter Winkel. He remained there only for the short time of a year. His father paid for most of his education after that.
He attended Brethren of Common Life in Deventer from 1475 through 1483. It was here that his taste for humanism was awakened. After the death of his parents, his schooling there was terminated. His guardians sent him and his brother to the seminary at the Brethren of Hertogenbosch. He also studied theology at the University of Paris from 1495 to 1498. The Bishop of Cambrai paid for his education in Paris.
Right before this the bishop ordained him priest at Utrecht in 1492. Erasmus considered politics a branch of ethics and insisted that the prince should recognize his moral obligations to his people. He believed that the ruler should protect and serve their peoples. He made many attacks upon the monarchy and to praise, upon occasion, the republican institutions of some of the European cities. He castigated those rulers who rendered their people miserable by their haughty demeanor, ruthless ambitions, and disregard of justice.
He agreed with Luther that the tyranny of the princes was a lesser evil than the anarchy of the mobs. Erasmus stood alone with his forceful expression to his pacifism. He believed that an unjust peace was preferable to a just war and that every attempt should be made to solve differences by arbitration. He points out the necessity of education for any ruler. The object of this education would be to teach him that his main duty is not to fight or found monasteries, but to care for his people.
Most of Erasmus writings were on Jesus Christ. He was a priest for the Roman-Catholic church. He believed in Jesus Christ most definitely. Erasmus attacks the behavior of church leaders at the highest levels. The bishops lived like princes and he said the word bishop signifies that they are to labor, care, and trouble.
However, they seem to be more concerned with financial gain (Erasmus 6). Erasmus attacks Christian rituals involving prayers to the saints. One such superstition involved the sale of indulgence certificates by the Catholic Church. He refused to give dogma primary importance, placed piety above tenets, moral righteousness above orthodoxy and nothing above true and perfect friendship, dying and living with Christ. He learned that the pure philosophy of Christ was inwardly related to all the truths of antiquity, to the Stoic mastery of self and faith in predestination, to the Platonic idealism and other worldliness. Erasmus at times would be an irreverent mocker and satirist of religion, and at other times was a witty but deeply serious moralist offering scriptural founded recipes for human social conduct.
Knowledge of scripture leads to a way of Christian living and understanding which is transformative, enabling the individual to earn a glimpse of the transfigured Lord. And it should be relatively easy to appreciate who Erasmus vision is underlain by the influence of ancient philosophy, a philosophy which, for Erasmus, offers the key to practical lay piety. It is not easy going, but it is deeply moving. Erasmus stated that all human evils were rooted in ignorance. The chief evil of the day is formalism, a respect for traditions, a regard for what other people think essential, but never a thought of what the true teaching of Christ may be. Forms are not in themselves evil.
It is only when they hide or quench the spirit that they are to be dreaded. He wrote In Praise of Folly to point out the evils and per foibles of his day somewhat in the fashion of Lucian. Folly was the amiable woman who personified human weakness, he said she should not be condemned, but praised because without her men would not marry and procreate, and governments and other institutions would not survive, literature would not flourish and the church would lose its following. With your own free will and you use it to choose the evil and refuse the good. Man has a conscience which might have guided him right if he attended to it.
He prefers his own pleasure, and falls into sin. Free will, it enables men to concern themselves with matters of salvation among other things, or to disregard them. This was one of the most widely discussed issues in the church. Erasmus had a positive stand on free will, he believed with much passion that humanism meant the exaltation man, a belief in human perfectibility, in freedom, individuality, the efficacy of learning and human values. He believes that his Maker gives him free will. Maker of us expects everyone to do right, holds him guilty and liable to punishment if he falls short, and gives him originally a free will which enables him, if he pleases to do what he is required to do.
Erasmus wrote Discussion of the Free Will in 1524. In this book he came as close as anyone ever had to solving the problem of the free will. Some theologians believed that the will was only free to sin, but then others denied the existence of free will altogether (Erasmus 204). When writing this, he used the Bible as his sole authority, Erasmus showed that many scriptural passages were difficult to understand. For example, he didnt know how much salvation depended on grace, and how much grace we obtain by our own deeds (Erasmus 205). Finding the solution to these questions will have to wait until the Last Judgment.
In sacred literature there are certain sanctuaries into which God wills that we shall not penetrate further, Erasmus stated. Erasmus thought that education was the best thing for everyone. He once said that all human evils were rooted in ignorance and infatuation and therefore education of humanity was an essential task of life. Education was his goal, the printing press his instrument (Erasmus p.
bib). He said that in human life, the child has many falls, bodily and spiritual, before he learns to walk and he is naturally willful, selfish, ignorant, violent, or timid. Education means the curing of that. Erasmus wrote in a letter that we have but to assume that right moral action is learnt by teaching and practice like everything else. Some persons are more gifted than others, some have happier dispositions, some are better educated, some are placed in more favourable circumstances. The pains which we take in training children; the allowances which we make and are compelled to make, for inherited vicious tendencies, for the environment of vice and ignorance in which so many are brought up, prove that in practice we act, and must act, on this hypothesis.
In my opinion, Erasmus was the greatest philosopher of his time. He took a stand for what he believed, even though many did not think the same. He was sick of everyday Christians who were just satisfied with routine. He believed that Jesus Christ renewed your life and refreshed your soul. Even though he disagreed with mostly everything Luther said, he did not put him down or make him feel like less of a person. Experiencing a discontented childhood, he could have been bitter, but he was a wonderful righteous man and was famous for his ironic and cynical attitude towards issues.
People thought he was too critical, but in reality it was them who couldnt handle the truth. He knew that education was the key to success. If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don't do it, and it won't happen, stated Erasmus (Quotes 5). (This had to do with his thoughts on people). How they always thought about making a life for themselves but they never got around to it. He changed society with his writings and remarks. He made a major impact on how many of us think today.
WORKS CITED 1. Runes, Dogobert Pictorial History of Philosophy. Stein and Day/Publishers/New York. 2. Smith, Preserved Erasmus: A Study of His life, Ideals and Place in History Dover Publications, Inc.
New York 1962. 3. Bainton, Roland H. Erasmus of Christendom CHARLES SCRIBNERS SONS/ New York. 4. Faludy, George Erasmus STEIN AND DAY/ Publishers/ New York 1970. 5.
Froude, J. A. Life and Letters of Erasmus CHARLES SCRIBNERS SONS/New York 1912. 6. Erasmus 1466 - 1536. AOL Search: Erasmus. 2001. < http; // web 7. Erasmus and the Philosophy of Christ.
google. com. 7 October 1995. < web 8. Erasmus, Desiderius In Praise of Folly downloads. com web 9. Quotes brainy quote.
com 2001 < web
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