Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus

Erasmus (1466-1536) 

Despite a chronic shortage of money, he succeeded in learning Greek by an intensive, dayand-night study for three years.

Scholar and Reformer 

Erasmus felt called upon to use his learning in a purification of the doctrine and in a liberalizing of the institutions of Christianity.

Greek New Testament 

Erasmus dedicated his work to Pope Leo X as a patron of learning and regarded this work as his chief service to the cause of Christianity.

Martin Luther 

Only as an independent scholar could Erasmus hope to influence the reform of religion.

The Adages 

“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”

Education of a Christian Prince 

The prince should be loved, and he suggested that the prince needed a well-rounded education in order to govern justly and benevolently to avoid becoming an oppressor.

Pope Leo X 

“Nobody is further from wisdom than those people with their grand titles, learned bonnets, splendid sashes and bejeweled rings, who profess to be wisdom’s peak.”

The Reformation 

R.C. Trench wrote: “Erasmus laid the egg of the Reformation and Luther hatched it.”