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Sep 27, 2017 · He embraced the humanistic belief in an individual’s capacity for self-improvement and the fundamental role of education in raising human beings above the level of brute animals. The thrust of Erasmus’ educational programme was the promotion of docta pietas, learned piety, or what he termed the “philosophy of Christ”.
Sep 22, 2008 · Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1467?–1536) was the most famous and influential humanist of the Northern Renaissance, a man of great talent and industriousness who rose from obscure beginnings to become the leading intellectual figure of the early sixteenth century, courted by rulers and prelates who wanted to enhance their own reputations by association with the greatest scholar of the age.
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- Overview
- Desiderius Erasmus
- The French humanists
Desiderius Erasmus was the only humanist whose international fame in his own time compared to Petrarch’s. While lacking Petrarch’s polemical zeal and spirit of self-inquiry, he shared the Italian’s intense love of language, his dislike for the complexities and pretenses of medieval institutions both secular and religious, and his commanding literary presence. More specifically, however, his ideas and overall direction betray the influence of Lorenzo Valla, whose works he treasured. Like Valla, who had attacked biblical textual criticism with a vengeance and proved the so-called Donation of Constantine to be a forgery, Erasmus contributed importantly to Christian philology. Also like Valla, he philosophically espoused a kind of Christian hedonism, justifying earthly pleasure from a religious perspective. But he was most like Valla (and indeed the entire rhetorical “arm” of Italian humanism) in giving philology prominence over philosophy. He described himself as a poet and orator rather than an inquirer after truth. His one major philosophical effort, a Christian defense of free will, was thunderously answered by Martin Luther. Although his writings are a well of good sense, they are seldom profound and are predominantly derivative. In Latin eloquence, on the other hand, he was preeminent, both as stylist and theorist. His graceful and abundant Ciceronian prose helped shape the character of European style.
Eloquent, humane, and profoundly sensible, Erasmus earned a golden reputation that has not forsaken him since his death. His good repute owes much to his magisterial prose style, which is infused with judiciousness and self-control. His one brief easing of this control, however, produced his most original achievement. In 1511 he composed his Ciceronian rhetorical manual De copia verborum et rerum (On Copia of Words and Ideas) and published his satirical Moriae encomium (Praise of Folly). These two works have much in common. De copia concerns the stylistic strategy of creating abundant variations on common ideas. Praise of Folly is a case in point: a book-length set of variations on the idea of folly. In applying the copia strategy to human affairs, Erasmus found not only an attractive literary device but also a powerful medium of discovery. Praise of Folly is a true flight of fancy, a revelry of imagination that explores an unruly domain of topics, attacking a variety of social institutions and at times stretching the limits of then-permissible expression.
Desiderius Erasmus was the only humanist whose international fame in his own time compared to Petrarch’s. While lacking Petrarch’s polemical zeal and spirit of self-inquiry, he shared the Italian’s intense love of language, his dislike for the complexities and pretenses of medieval institutions both secular and religious, and his commanding literary presence. More specifically, however, his ideas and overall direction betray the influence of Lorenzo Valla, whose works he treasured. Like Valla, who had attacked biblical textual criticism with a vengeance and proved the so-called Donation of Constantine to be a forgery, Erasmus contributed importantly to Christian philology. Also like Valla, he philosophically espoused a kind of Christian hedonism, justifying earthly pleasure from a religious perspective. But he was most like Valla (and indeed the entire rhetorical “arm” of Italian humanism) in giving philology prominence over philosophy. He described himself as a poet and orator rather than an inquirer after truth. His one major philosophical effort, a Christian defense of free will, was thunderously answered by Martin Luther. Although his writings are a well of good sense, they are seldom profound and are predominantly derivative. In Latin eloquence, on the other hand, he was preeminent, both as stylist and theorist. His graceful and abundant Ciceronian prose helped shape the character of European style.
Eloquent, humane, and profoundly sensible, Erasmus earned a golden reputation that has not forsaken him since his death. His good repute owes much to his magisterial prose style, which is infused with judiciousness and self-control. His one brief easing of this control, however, produced his most original achievement. In 1511 he composed his Ciceronian rhetorical manual De copia verborum et rerum (On Copia of Words and Ideas) and published his satirical Moriae encomium (Praise of Folly). These two works have much in common. De copia concerns the stylistic strategy of creating abundant variations on common ideas. Praise of Folly is a case in point: a book-length set of variations on the idea of folly. In applying the copia strategy to human affairs, Erasmus found not only an attractive literary device but also a powerful medium of discovery. Praise of Folly is a true flight of fancy, a revelry of imagination that explores an unruly domain of topics, attacking a variety of social institutions and at times stretching the limits of then-permissible expression.
Erasmus’s associates in France included the influential humanists Robert Gaguin, Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples, and Guillaume Budé (Guglielmus Budaeus). Of these three, Budé was most central to the development of French humanism, not only in his historical and philological studies but also in his use of his national influence to establish the Collège d...
Erasmus was an indefatigable correspondent, controversialist, self-publicist, satirist, translator, commentator, editor, and provocateur of Renaissance culture. He was perhaps above all renowned and repudiated for his work on the Christian New Testament. He was not a systematic thinker, and he did not found a system or school of philosophy.
Sep 26, 2020 · Abstract. Erasmus was the most important humanist of the sixteenth century. His work in theology and education deeply influenced the European culture of his times and of subsequent centuries. In theology and ecclesiology, he was a reformer, criticizing the doctrine of sacraments and condemning the existence of the religious orders and the role ...
Expert Answers. Erasmus played an important role in providing some of the intellectual foundations for the Reformers' attacks on the Church. Though Erasmus never became a Protestant himself, he ...
Aug 11, 2023 · Why are plants so important? Plants supply food to nearly all terrestrial organisms, including humans. We eat either plants or other organisms that eat plants.
