ERASMUS OF ROTTERDAM – THE TENSE BALANCE BETWEEN FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION

 

The greatest figure of Christian Humanism

Erasmus of Rotterdam, baptized Desiderius Erasmus, was born on October 28, 1466 in the city of Rotterdam. Dutch theologian and writer, he devoted his entire life to the cause of internal reform in the Catholic Church. His dream was a united spiritual Europe, with a common language that would bring all people together. The son of a religious and a woman from the bourgeoisie, he dedicated his life to theology, attending the Seminary of the Augustinian Monks. Later, however, he criticized monastic life, the clergy and the Church.

Acclaimed “Prince of Humanists”, Erasmus of Rotterdam was considered the greatest figure of Christian humanism. Humanists no longer accepted the values and ways of being and living of the Middle Ages. The source of aspiration of these authors was the cultural production of Greco-Roman antiquity.

In 1492 he was consecrated a priest, even criticizing the monastic life and the characteristics that he considered negative for the Catholic Church. In 1495, Erasmus secured a scholarship to Paris and entered the famous College of Montaigu, annexed to the Sorbonne. There he studied for the degree of Doctor of Theology. Dissatisfied with hostilities to the new ideas coming from Italy, he dropped out of the course. He began teaching seeking his independence.

His anticlericalism manifested itself in the form of a scathing critique of the religious life of his time, more specifically, of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, particularly the Roman curia. Humanists also disparaged the medieval scholasticism so widespread in their day. They preferred practical matters related to society and civic life to the philosophical and rationalist discussions that had taken hold in European universities.

Dedicated to reading the classics, he became one of the most cultured men of the time. For him, pagans like Cicero and Socrates deserved the name of saints much more than many Christians canonized by the pope. “Saint Socrates, pray for us”, was his famous motto.

All healthy education is education without religious control

Like other humanists, Erasmus believed that the moral advancement of humanity was possible through education. For him, moral conduct should be a kind of test of truth in matters of doctrine. For this reason, he is seen more as a moral reformer than a doctrinaire is.

Even though his life as a teacher was short, education remained, a lifelong interest and a central theme in his writings (see especially Margolin 1995). Erasmus trusted in the potential of human beings for the pursuit of improvement that, in his view, was a consequence of the acceptance of free will. The power of the will was preponderant in creation over nature. Therefore, it was the duty of parents and teachers to ensure that children fulfill their potential and of adults to live up to it.

Erasmus advocated ending religious dominance in education. He defended the knowledge of the classics as well as the autonomy of knowledge in relation to religion. He believed that the best way to solve the Church's problems was a smoother rebirth through the purifying benefits of education, knowledge, and prayer. These ideas were revealed in chapter 1504 of his book Enchiridion Militis Christiani (Handbook of the Christian Soldier).

His disagreements with theological dogmatism began early, still in Paris, at the Montaigu College. Like other humanists, he opposed the obscurantism and intolerance of religious orders, becoming one of the central figures of Renaissance Humanism.

Erasmus' liberalizing stance removed him for the last time from dogmatism and led him to a moderate reformist position, in which he made room for tolerance as the only viable basis for transforming the church.

Forerunner of Church Reformation

In 1499, in England, he met Thomas More and they became lifelong friends. He studied Greek at Oxford and became friends with the humanist John Colet. Erasmus idealized, together with Thomas More and Colet, the project of restoration of theology, with new editions of the sacred texts, from Greek and Latin.

Colet accelerated Erasmus' ambition to be a "primitive theologian," one who would expound Scripture not in the argumentative manner of the Scholastics, but in the manner of St. was still understood and practiced. He returned to the continent with a Latin copy of the Epistles of St. Paul and the conviction that “ancient theology” required mastery of Greek.

In 1500, he published Adagios, a collection of Latin quotations and proverbs. For the time, the work represented the maximum in popular literature and made the name of the author famous.

The wandering life took him back to Paris, where he devoted himself to the study of the New Testament. He returned to England in 1505. In 1506, already in Italy, he obtained the “papal dispensation of obedience to the customs and statutes of the Convent of Steyn”. In Rome, he frequented the intellectual circle of Pope Julius II, but confessed that he was horrified by the pope's triumphal entry into Bologna. Convinced that the bellicose Julius II was Caesar's successor and not Christ's, and with the expansion of papal power, he felt the need for reform in the church.

Erasmus' greatest theological contribution and the real spark of what would become the Protestant Reformation was, of course, the publication of his edition of the New Testament in Greek, in 1516. He intended, with it, to replace that of Jerome. However, his ambition to become a revived Jerome was thwarted by the Council of Trent, which in 1559 condemned the Latin translation. Even so, he achieved immortality, as his editing of the Greek text was the basis for different Protestant translations and became known as the Textus Receptus.

Johann Froben, his editor, as the first published Greek edition, marketed Erasmus’ edition. Erasmus expressed, in the preface to the work, that he wanted every person to have the chance to read the Bible.

Although it is considered the first modern edition of the New Testament in that language, a bilingual (Greek and Latin) edition of the entire Bible, which was printed two years earlier and became known as the Completeness Polyglot, preceded it.

His effort to publish the New Testament in the original language came about because of the humanist influences that existed at the time. This Renaissance movement, which began in Italy, fueled enthusiasm for the study of classical art. For this reason, there was a peculiar interest in “returning to the sources”, prioritizing literary works in their original language.

He possibly, contributed the most to laying the foundations of the Protestant Reformation movement. While he gave significant impetus to the study of the Bible, he also exposed monastic fanaticism and ignorance, as well as ecclesiastical abuses.

Despite this, he never declared himself a reformer in the Protestant sense of the term. He even announced “war” against Luther. Although he continued to disagree with Rome in many respects, he did not dissociate himself from it. His desire was a reformation within the church and the papacy.

Erasmus anticipated in his literary works several concepts that would later be considered typical principles of the Protestant Reformation, such as religious individualism; that is, the notion that true religion consists of inward devotion rather than outward symbols of ceremonies and rituals.

Because of his positions in relation to the Church, he acquired enemies on both sides, which brought him bitterness at different times in his life. However, none of this prevented him from becoming highly respected throughout Europe. His life, works and theological opinions are necessary objects of study for anyone who wants to know more deeply the origins of the Protestant Reformation.

Erasmus versus Luther

Erasmus' relationship with the Lutheran Reformation was complex. At first, he favored changes in the church and sympathized with criticisms of it by the radical reformer Martin Luther. He also disagreed with those who, in addition to Luther, emphasized the dependence of human agency on the divine will. In 1524, he published his famous essay on free will De Libero Animal (Of Free Will), opposing Luther, for whom people did not freely choose their salvation but were the subjects of predestination. Luther responded with violence and this caused a rift between them.

Erasmus wrote the work when he was in Basel, Switzerland, living there since 1521. The city became such a hotbed of radical reformers that Catholic worship was banned there. In 1529, he moved to Freiburg, Germany, where he worked at the Catholic university. He returned to Basel in 1535.

Erasmus did not attach great importance to Luther's 95 theses nailed to a church door, but he agreed with the criticism of the sale of indulgences. In many of his works, he had already formulated Luther's convictions, against the mechanical practice of rites and the fetishistic cult of saints and relics, which replace religion based on piety.

Erasmus piously believed in the Bible and revered it as divine revelation. For him, Scripture was the true source of theology and devotion. However, he lacked a deeper understanding of sin and grace. These doctrines occupied Luther's thought most closely. Indeed, Erasmus and Luther differed in several respects. “Erasmus was eighteen years older than Luther, and he was at the height of his fame when the reformer began his work. He differed from Luther as Jerome differed from Augustine […]. Erasmus was essentially a scholar, Luther a reformer; the first was absorbed in Literature, the other in religion. Erasmus aimed at enlightenment, Luther at reconstruction. The former developed the intellect of an educated person; the second touched the hearts of the people. Erasmus fought for freedom of thought; Luther, for liberty of conscience” (History of the Christian Church, v. 7, p. 412).

Praise of Madness

Installed in the house of his friend Thomas More, in London, he wrote, in 1509, Praise of Madness. The work brings a critique made in an ironic, but objective and direct way, to the customs of the Christian faith preached by the Catholic Church of the time, without attacking anyone personally. Erasmus presents Madness as a goddess who calls herself the great responsible for the delights that the human being wants to obtain in the world. In addition, it is Madness who speaks in his name, who places herself in an unassailable position and allows him every audacity.

Indignant at the pagan luxury of the popes' cities, where open criticism could lead to the stake, Erasmus used his madness to denounce all these abuses. He used to say how many material treasures the holy fathers would abandon, if judgment one day took possession of their spirit. Without a doubt, Praise of Madness is a masterpiece. It was published in 1511 and dedicated to his friend Thomas More.

While in Paris, Erasmus became known as an excellent scholar and speaker. One of his pupils, William Blunt, Baron Montjoy, granted him a pension, allowing him to adopt a life of independent scholar, from town to town teaching, lecturing and corresponding with some of Europe's most brilliant thinkers.

Erasmus died without coming to an understanding of many truths that would be restored during the following centuries. As the Bible mentions in Proverbs 4:18, the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until the perfect day. Although he was a great scholar and became the great expression of Christian humanism at the time, he also had his limitations. However, it is not possible to measure the value of his contribution, especially that of his publication of the Greek New Testament. God, in His infinite wisdom, knows how to use each person's talents.

Works by Erasmus of Rotterdam

Erasmus was a wise and avid reader. He wrote several literary, philosophical and religious works of which the following stand out:

• Christian Knight's Handbook
• Praise of Madness
• Christian Parents
• Family Colloquiums
• The Navigations of the Ancients
• Preparation for Death

Although Erasmus is not considered by many scholars to be a reformer in the strictest sense of the term, his influence on many reformers cannot be denied. His interest in the classical arts and languages, as well as his emphasis on education as a means of overcoming the low morality of his day, markedly influenced the theology of the Reformers and their message that each person should know the Bible for himself.

On his deathbed, he was visited by three friends, which reminded him of Job's experience. Erasmus died on July 12, 1536, and is buried in Basel Cathedral, Switzerland.

Used and suggested links

People in the Renaissance: Erasmus of Rotterdam

Desiderius Erasmus Short Biography

Erasmus of Rotterdam | The Men Behind Luther and the Reformation

Erasmus of Rotterdam - Godfather of Christian Humanism

Desiderius Erasmus

Brittanica

Biography

Stanford

World History

Erasmus

DANTE ALIGHIERI – HELL, PURGATORY AND HEAVEN IN THE DIVINE COMEDY

 

How Dante Influenced Humanism and the Renaissance

 

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), was one of the greatest poets of the Western literary tradition and is considered the national poet of Italy. He had a decisive impact on the development of Italian Literature with significant contributions to the early Renaissance. Later writers, artists, and thinkers developed many of his ideas and themes.

 

He helped to shape the poetry of the period and decisively changed the direction of Western literature. Dante (short for Durante) helped elevate the Tuscan dialect into Italy's national literary language. He established vernacular (vulgar) languages as literary languages and demonstrated that great writers did not need to use Latin. This was perhaps his greatest contribution to the Humanism and Renaissance.

 

A great admirer of the Sicilian school, he helped to popularize the sonnet, his most important style of verse. He also helped popularize the themes of Provencal poetry in Italy. This type of poetry originated in Provence, southwestern France. Provencal troubadours celebrated chivalry and especially courtly love, a style of poetry that extolled an unattainable love, very influential in Renaissance Italy. His work greatly helped to spread the ideas of courtly love across Europe from the 14th to the 16th century.

 

Dante's impact on the separation of religion and politics during the Renaissance

 

Although the subject of The Divine Comedy (1308-1320) is religion and salvation, its publication is often seen as the beginning of the Renaissance and the end of the late medieval period in Italy. It seems contradictory that the spirit of the Renaissance, which extolled the pleasures of this world and of the individual, began with a work devoted to religion. However, for Dante, this world had its value, merits, and was not an antechamber to the other world.

 

He did not think it was wrong to be happy and enjoy this life. He believed that eternal salvation and earthly happiness were not incompatible. Contributing to civic and political life was indeed a virtuous posture. This idea proved to be very influential on later humanists, who played a crucial role in the development of the Renaissance. Dante influenced great thinkers like Machiavelli. In his main political work, he argued that there should be a separation of Church and State. This contributed greatly to Renaissance political thought.

 

This separation of Church and State ensured that the humanists who succeeded him felt free to focus on the secular world, that is, on the condition of those who live in the century, between the things of the world and of life; the opposite of the religious state proper to those who have taken vows. He also made it clear that involvement in the secular world was not contrary to his hopes of future salvation.

 

According to him, politics was a skill and should not be constrained by theological precepts. His ideas also influenced some of the leaders of the Reformation. The exiled Florentine helped change the discourse on the role of religion in Europe. A great poet and religious theologian, his conception of the dual nature of man, one earthly and the other eternal, was decisive in the development of his political doctrine.

 

Dante's political thoughts and actions

 

Dante was also very involved in the political life of Florence, Tuscany region. In 1300, he was elected prior, one of nine members of the local government, for a period of two months. This office was the cause of his misfortune. He, like his family, belonged to one of the city's main factions whose politics were often bloody.

 

At that time, Italian cities were constantly on the brink of civil war between the Guelphs, close to the Pope, and the Ghibellines, favorable to the Holy Roman Empire.

 

The poet fought in the Battle of Campaldino (1289) when the city's Guelf faction defeated the Arezzo Ghibellines. After the victory, the Guelphs changed the constitution, and in order to remain a citizen, Dante had to enroll in a Guild, an association of merchants.

 

However, as was typical of rebellious politics in late medieval Italy, the Guelphs soon split along ideological lines and became two mutually hostile factions, the White Guelphs (Dante's party) and the Black Guelphs. Initially whites were in power and expelled blacks from Florence, but Pope Boniface VIII planned a military occupation of the city.

A delegation of Florentines, with Dante among them, was sent to Rome to verify the Pope's intentions. While he was in Rome, the Black Guelphs destroyed much of the city and established a new government.

 

In 1302, based on largely false and fabricated accusations, a judge ordered Dante and his allies to be burned alive if they attempted to return to Florence. The charges included fraud, extortion, corruption and even sodomy with a young man. Dante received word that his possessions had been confiscated and that he was considered a fugitive and sentenced to perpetual exile.

When the Pope made it possible for Dante to return to Florence, the city was under the control of Carlos Valois, an ally of the Pope. In the same year, he was sentenced to a heavy fine, on charges of corruption in the public office he held.

 

In 1315, the military officer who controlled Florence granted amnesty to Florentines in exile, but the city government insisted that returning expatriates must pay a large fine and do public penance. Dante refused, preferring to remain in exile.

 

The Divine Comedy – his masterpiece

 

In The Divine Comedy, his most important work, Dante completely changed the rules of the game. He was the first poet to write a book with such an impact on the Florentine vernacular (vulgar language), in the 14th century. This allowed the book to reach a much wider audience, contributing substantially to world literacy.

 

The poem represents the soul's journey towards God. In the epic, Dante is guided by the 'shadow' or spirit of the great Roman poet Virgil. It is an attempt to demonstrate how humans can align themselves with the love of God, seen as the fundamental force of the Universe.

 

Contrary to what many think, the poem takes the name of “Comedy” not because it makes use of humor resources. In fact, this term is the opposite of “tragedy”. The very name of the poem indicates that the story will have a happy conclusion for the protagonist.

 

Initially, the work was just called Comedy. Then it received the adjective Divine, through the poet Boccaccio. Considered the first work of Italian and world Literature, its greatness is not limited to its content but to its form, the quality of its poetry and its extraordinary rhymes.

 

Between 1200 and 1300, Italy was a nation divided into several small city-states. In each of them different dialects were spoken, called vulgar languages, that is, the language commonly spoken by the population. Everything was written in Latin and the vernacular was used only for writing things of little importance.

Why was The Divine Comedy so important to the Renaissance?

 

One of the distinguishing features of the culture of the Middle Ages was that Latin was considered the only language suitable for literary and philosophical works. Dante believed that vernaculars were valid vehicles for literary expression and suitable for certain genres such as comedy, poetry, and prose.

 

As we have already said, Dante wrote The Divine Comedy in Florentine, but he borrowed other regional Italian dialects and even Latin. Dante's great work helped make Florentine the literary language of Italy. Dante's influence during the Renaissance spread to the rest of Europe.

 

This persuaded many writers and poets, such as Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio, to abandon Latin and write in their native language. This shift had consequences that went far beyond the literary world. This is how the Florentine vernacular became not only the most popular dialect in Italy but also the most famous and prestigious. So much so, that in the rest of Italy speaking Florentine was considered a sign of great refinement. This helped to develop a national consciousness during the High Renaissance in particular, which is evident in Machiavelli's works.

 

Until today, the epic poem is seen as a reference for writers, editors and screenwriters, being considered one of the masterpieces of all history. Unlike the epic poems of Homer and Virgil, which recounted the great historical deeds of their people, Dante's The Divine Comedy is a somewhat autobiographical work, set in the time in which he lived and populated by contemporary figures.

Guided first by the character of Virgil and then by his beloved Beatrice, Dante wrote about his own path to salvation through Hell – the place of sinners – Purgatory – the  place of sinners awaiting judgment and Heaven – the place of purification – which means holiness offering philosophical and moral judgments along the way.

 

Dante took advantage of The Divine Comedy to settle accounts with many of his enemies, among them Pope Boniface VIII, for whom he reserved a place in hell. Due to the monumental influence that the work had on countless artists, Dante is considered one of the greatest writers who ever lived. As the poet TS Eliot wrote, "Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them, there is no third."

 

Dante's long exile

 

For strictly political reasons, Dante was accused of administrative improbity, sentenced to pay a fine of five thousand florins, to remain confined for two years, and forbidden to hold public office for the rest of his life (1303). As he refused to pay the fine or justify himself, he was sentenced to death, beginning his long life in exile. From Siena he left for Verona and then for Bologna (1304-1306).

 

The exile may have been difficult, but it made him extremely productive. He strongly believed that his relevance on the literary scene would be enough for the exile to be revoked and he could return to Florence. However, no matter how successful he was, his exile was never ended.

Dante accepted an invitation from the ruler of Ravenna to stay in that city. It was in Ravenna that the poet finished the last of his great works and died in 1321 of malaria contracted in the swamps of Venice. In Ravenna, he was buried with great honors. His remains were never returned to Florence.

 

Platonic love and marriage

 

Beatrice Portinari, who appears in The Divine Comedy, was his great platonic love. She was only 9 years old and she was almost the same age when they first met. Beatrice was adopted as an inspirational muse throughout his work. When he turned 16, he found her again, presenting her with the first of his love sonnets.

 

However, at age 12, Dante married Gemma Donati, a wife who bore him three children. Common practice at the time, Dante and Gemma's marriage was already agreed between the families when both were still children.

 

In 1290, Beatrice died. With the premature death of his beloved, he took refuge in the study, dedicating himself to the reading of Christian and classic authors such as Boethius, Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, Ovid and Lucan, going through a period of maturation that led him to several changes in his artistic production. Two years later, Dante wrote Vita Nuova (New Life) as a song of praise for his true love.

 

Literary and philosophical works

 

La Vita Nova (The New Life), is the prose and verse account of Dante's love for Beatrice Portinari, written in the first person. The narrative starts from the moment he saw her for the first time when he was nine years old and she was almost the same age as him. In the prose text and in the poems Dante describes his feelings on several occasions. After the death of Beatrice, in 1290, the story continues narrating the suffering for the irremediable loss and the doubts and anxieties of the poet until he decides to say nothing more until he can talk about her “as it has never been said about any woman”.

 

De Monarchia (The Monarchy) – important well-known political treatise written in Latin. It was unique for the time because Dante advocated a Universal Monarchy and the separation of Church and State. The work is composed of three books, but the most significant is the third, in which Dante more explicitly confronts the theme of the relations between the Pope and the emperor.

 

Il Banquete (The Banquet) – Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio are called "the three fountains" or "the three crowns". May they come and may we all sit together at a table for the Feast! Written in his final days, it presents many of his most compelling thoughts on how a life of maturity and civility should be led.

 

De vulgari eloquentia (On vernacular eloquence) – essay written in Latin, initially thinking with four books, but abandoned in the middle of the second. The first book deals with the relationship between Latin and the vernacular, and the search for an illustrious vernacular in Italian territory. The second is an analysis of "canto", or song, a literary genre.

Used and suggested links

History-Makers: Dante

A Brief History of Dante Alighieri

"Why Every Person in the World Should Read Dante's Commedia" - Professor Bill Cook

How to read Dante's Divine Comedy | Wes Callihan

How did Dante influence the Renaissance

Poets.org

Stanford.edu

World History

The Divine Comedy Synopsis