I want to call to our remembrance one of the great names of the Renaissance, the Christian humanist, Erasmus Desiderius. He is often called Erasmus of Rotterdam because he was born in that Dutch city in 1466. Erasmus became an Augustinian canon and later a priest. He remained a loyal Catholic all of his life, although he functioned as a scholar and writer, not a clergyman.

Erasmus was a humanist in that he believed, like many of the intellectuals of his time, in the dignity and essential goodness of human beings. Unlike the many secular humanists of his time, who endorsed the ancient Greek belief that man was, and is, the measure of all things, Erasmus and other Christian humanists, believed that the essential goodness and potential excellence of human beings was rooted in the nature of God, their creator and sustainer. Like all Renaissance humanist scholars, Christian humanists studied the writings of the ancient world. Although they valued the works of the great minds of Greece and Rome, they were even more interested in the manuscripts which illuminated the early history of Christianity. One of Erasmus' greatest services to the Christian faith was that he compiled ancient biblical manuscripts and then published a fresh Greek text of the New Testament.

Christian humanists like Erasmus could not help but contrast the early Christianity which they saw afresh in the scholar's edition of the Greek New Testament (and the new Latin translation he made from it) with the Catholic Church in the age of the Renaissance. In several books, including his famousThe Praise of Folly, Erasmus criticized the monks, priests, bishops, and popes of his day for their immorality and their addiction to wealth and power. He also called into question many church practices and beliefs which he considered superstitious.

Erasmus viewed doctrines that were difficult to understand and explain as best understood as mysteries and deplored the fact that such teachings were being fought over (in a very literal sense) by contending and contentious Christians. He urged tolerance of persons who held religious views that differed from those of the majority. Erasmus did not hold to an extremely literal interpretation of Scripture and seemingly called into question, at least at times, orthodox doctrines regarding the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Virgin Birth. Many of his writings made Church leaders uncomfortable, and the Council of Trent, meeting a few years after Erasmus' death, forbade Catholics to read his works, branding them as heretical.

Erasmus summed up his theological emphasis in the phrase, "the philosphy of Christ," by which he meant following the teachings of Jesus in the Bible about living a disciplined life of love and service for God and other people. True religion to Erasmus, did not depend on dogma, ritual, or clerical power. Rather, it was an imitation of Jesus as revealed in the Bible, the result of which was peace and happiness in this life as well as the life to come.

Erasmus' life was not, as it turned out, to be one of peace. He lived through the early stages of the Protestant Reformation. Although he agreed with many of Luther's criticism of Catholic practices, he did not break with the Church. Erasmus did not want to split the Church into warring factions. He was a man of peace, not a religious warrior, as was Luther and some of Luther's opponents in the Church of Rome. Protestants and Catholics alike attacked Erasmus. The former charged that Erasmus had led them to the brink of religious revolution, inspired them to jump, and then taken to his heels. Catholic leaders charged that, with his strong criticism of the leadership of the church, Erasmus had "laid the egg which Luther later hatched." Erasmus died in Basel, Switzerland, June 12, 1536. Just before expiring, he repeatedly invoked the names of Mary and Christ.

What, if any thing, does the life and work of Erasmus have to say to us. There probably is no answer that is universally applicable. Some people will applaud his tolerance. Others may suggest that he should have been willing to go the distance to a true reformation of his religion. To such people, there are times for quiet reflection, understanding and tolerence, and there are times to take a stand for what one believes and to be intolerant of what one believes to be false. Liberal Christians have found much to praise in Erasmus' writings, but theological conservatives owe much to his work. His Greek New Testament was the basis for much of the renewed emphasis on the Bible as the source of doctrine and practice and also for the theological ferment which resulted in a renewal of emphasis on Paul's writings about the sovereignty of God, the seriousness of sin, and salvation by grace. Christian pacifists take heart from his gentleness and calls for peaceful solutions to ideological conflict. Christians today continue to wrestle with many of the issues which concerned Erasmus and his contemporaries and with many of his teachings as well.

Regardless of one's reaction to the life and work of this complex man and very significant figure in the history of human thought, perhaps we could all profit from his comment on Matthew 11:30: "Truly the yoke of Christ would be sweet and his burden light if petty human institutions added nothing to what he himself imposed. He commanded us nothing save love for one another. . . . . Would that men were content to let Christ rule by the laws of the Gospel . . . ."

Amen.

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