On This Day February 1 1516

Remembering Desiderius Erasmus

By Khen Lim

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The Reformation limelight may have been for Luther to take but Desiderius Erasmus was the one who loaded the cannon and as the greatest scholar of the period, he fired two sizeable salvos into the barrel of the Reformation movement. And as they say, the rest is history.

The first was a publication called ‘The Praise of Folly,’ which he used to mock the errors of European Christendom, reminding his readers that Peter said to the Lord, “We have left everything for you.” But Folly boasted that, due to her influence, “there is scarcely any kind of people who live more at their ease” than the successors of the apostles.

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And of course, the second was the Greek New Testament in which centuries had established Jerome’s Vulgate as the de facto standard despite the gross deficiencies. In his deconstruct of the flawed Latin translation, Erasmus reconstituted the New Testament’s origins basing it on the original Koine Greek and then printed it but he also included a separate column where he featured the Latin translation.

In what some might view as a provocative taunt at the much-feared papacy, he incorporated copious notes concerning earlier translation errors. But he didn’t stop at that. Instead he also attacked Rome for not allowing priests to marry even if many by then had already been openly harbouring mistresses. He also denied popes the divine rights by challenging their claims. Erasmus also contested the wayward Catholic practices in which the Bible never supported like prayers to saints, indulgences and relic worship.

After working on it for years, he was finally ready to publish but there was a potentially dangerous corner to negotiate where he needed to avoid lest there was trouble ahead. To do that, he knew he had to link his work to some great man’s name.

On February 1 1516, Erasmus did just that by dedicating his New Testament work to Pope Leo X whose permission he had received a year earlier. That way, his work could escape persecution. If or when authorities were angered, he would conveniently point to ideas that were hardly new with him but instead, quoted long-gone Early Church Fathers who would have supported his corrections.

He sought to pre-empt any problems with the pope by writing to him a pacifying letter some months after the publication was released. In it, he said he meant no harm but instead he merely ‘amplified’ what was already a benchmark. He said, “We do not intend to tear up the old and commonly accepted edition (meaning, the Vulgate) but amend it where it is corrupt and make it clear where it is obscure.”

Without a doubt, Erasmus’ New Testament was also imperfect since he did not have access to the best manuscripts that were essentially kept by the papal authorities but the improvements were so crucial that Luther including (William) Tyndale and others had sought his translation.

More significantly, it was Erasmus’ translation that became the crucible for reform that eventually helped break tradition with the Roman Catholic Church. Because of the significance of his work, he warmed up to a friendship with Luther but it didn’t take long before the relationship soured. Erasmus was mortified by Luther’s oft-violent words and found it too difficult for him to accept. And when that happened, Luther went vitriolic and called him a ‘secret atheist.’ As for Erasmus, all of this was very disconcerting. He had always understood Christian living to be where one was at peace with Christ.

Because of what he had experienced, he was deeply hurt. By then, the scholar was caught in a pincer of conflict, with Luther’s accusations at one end and the very ruffled Church at the other. In short, he was in grave danger from either side. The Reformists accused him of being ‘too Catholic’ while the Catholics labelled him a traitor and blamed him for his destructive designs on papal authority. Under mounting pressure, Erasmus was forced to flee the Catholic Louvain to escape from being burned at the stake, which was the standard death sentence fit for a heretic during those days.

We don’t hear much of Erasmus these days. Modern churches (largely outside Europe) hardly ever pay much attention at who he is, much less his brilliant works. But there is no denying that the footprint he left is undeniable for the emergence of the Reformation and later the Protestant movement that swept England and paved the way for the English-language Bible to appear.

Yet today, only the Anabaptists, Zwinglians and Lutherans seem to honour him, calling themselves the ‘true children’ of Erasmus. It could be that we’re missing something here. Perhaps we too should learn to appreciate him more.