Erasmus
Pious humanist who
sparked the Reformation
"Would
that the farmer might sing snatches of Scripture at his plough and that the
weaver might hum phrases of Scripture to the tune of his shuttle, that the
traveler might lighten with stories from Scripture the weariness of his
journey."
When I get a little money I buy books," wrote Erasmus of Rotterdam, who took the name Desiderius in his adult life. "If any is left … I buy food and clothes."
This
illegitimate son of a Dutch priest lived in search of knowledge, in pursuit of
piety, in love with books, and oppressed by the fear of poverty. Along the way,
his writings and scholarship started a theological earthquake that didn't stop
until western European Christendom was split.
No fan of monasticism
Born
in Rotterdam, orphaned by the plague, Erasmus was sent from the chapter school
of St. Lebuin's—which taught classical learning and the humanities—to a school
conducted by the monastic Brethren of the Common Life. He absorbed an emphasis
on a personal relationship with God but hated the severe rules of monastic life
and the intolerant theologians. They intended to teach humility, he later recalled,
by breaking the pupils' spirits.
But
he was poor, and both he and his brother had to enter monasteries; Erasmus
decided to join the Augustinians. He wanted to travel, gain some academic elbow
room, and leave behind the "barbarians" who discouraged him from
classical studies. And as soon as he was ordained a priest in 1492, he did,
becoming secretary to the bishop of Cambrai, who sent him to Paris to study
theology.
He
hated it there too. The dorms stank of urine, the food was execrable, the
studies mechanical, and the discipline brutal. But he was able to begin a
career in writing and traveling that took him to most of the countries of
Europe. Though he often complained of poor health, he was driven by a desire to
seek out the best theologians of his day. On a trip to England in 1499, he
complained of bad beer, barbarism, and inhospitable weather, but he also met
Thomas More, who became a friend for life.
On
the same trip he heard John Colet teach from the Scriptures, not the layers of
commentaries he had studied in Paris. Colet, who would later become the dean of
St. Paul's, encouraged the Dutch scholar to become a "primitive
theologian" who studied Scripture like the church Fathers, not like the
argumentative scholastics.
Thereafter
Erasmus devoted himself to the Greek language, in which the New Testament was
written. "I cannot tell you, dear Colet, how I hurry on, with all sails
set, to holy literature," he soon wrote to his new friend. "How I
dislike everything that keeps me back, or retards me."
The
result was his most significant work: an edition of the New Testament in
original Greek, published in 1516. Accompanying it were study notes as well as
his own Latin translation—correcting some 600 errors in Jerome's Vulgate.
In
the preface, Erasmus said he undertook the project so everyone could finally
read the Bible: "Would that these were translated into each and every
language … Would that the farmer might sing snatches of Scripture at his plough
and that the weaver might hum phrases of Scripture to the tune of his shuttle,
that the traveler might lighten with stories from Scripture the weariness of
his journey."
Two
of the most noteworthy praises of Erasmus's work came from Pope Leo X and from
a German monk named Martin Luther—who, one year later, would launch the
Protestant Reformation.
"Foolish" critic
Before
that turning point—which would eventually consume the humanist (which at the
time meant student of the humanities, not one who praises humanity above all
else)—Erasmus became famous for his other writings. And there were plenty for
him to be famous for. By the 1530s, between 10 and 20 percent of all the books
sold had his byline.
He
said he wrote to "correct the errors of those whose religion is usually
composed of … ceremonies and observances of a material sort and neglect the
things that conduce to piety." He became famous for his biting satire, In
Praise of Folly, which attacked monastic and ecclesiastic corruption. He
lambasted miracles supposedly performed by images, indulgences, and what he
felt were useless church rites.
The
books brought him fame, as did his Bible. This and his attacks on a church
caught Luther's attention, who wrote asking for support.
Between Scylla and Charybdis
The
two never met, but their fates were entwined for all history. Erasmus's enemies
accused him of inspiring the schismatic Luther. And indeed, Erasmus found much
he liked in the German's writings, describing him to Leo X as "a mighty trumpet
of gospel truth." At the same time, he privately told his printer to stop
printing Luther's writings because he didn't want his own efforts tangled with
the Reformer's.
For
four years, Erasmus pleaded moderation to both sides. But when pressed, he sided
with the pope. "I am not so made as to fly in the face of the Vicar of
Christ," he assured Leo.
Still,
he hated the bickering and intolerance of both sides: "I detest dissension
because it goes both against the teachings of Christ and against a secret inclination
of nature. I doubt that either side in the dispute can be suppressed without
grave loss. It is clear that many of the reforms for which Luther calls are
urgently needed."
His
mediating position, however, didn't satisfy either side: "My only wish is
that now that I am old, I be allowed to enjoy the results of my efforts,"
he wrote. "But both sides reproach me and seek to coerce me. Some claim
that since I do not attack Luther I agree with him, while the Lutherans declare
that I am a coward who has forsaken the gospel."
Indeed,
Luther attacked him as a Moses who would die in the wilderness "without
entering the promised land." And the Roman Catholic church forbade his
writings. "Had I not seen it, nay, felt it myself," he wrote, "I
should never have believed anyone who said theologians could become so
insane."
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