To what extent did the works of Erasmus undermine the Church? ".
Desiderius Erasmus was one of the most significant Christian humanists in the 15-16 centuries. He was born in Rotterdam in 1467 and known classically as Erasmus of Rotterdam, whereas his real name was Gerrit Gerritzoon. According to his lifestyle, he did not have an outstanding wealthy life; conversely, he consumed a poor meal, slept in the uncomfortable hard bad and so on. But Erasmus had a huge knowledge of classical literature and writings of the early Church. Through his works, such as "Adages "(1500), "Handbook of a Christian Soldier "(2003), "Praise of Folly "(1511), "New Testament in Greek "(1516), "Freedom of the Will "(1524), he expressed his learning and interests, and reflect every aspect of Christian Humanism But there is a controversy whether Erasmus was a friend or an enemy of the Church. This essay will evaluate to what extent did the works of Erasmus undermine the Church.
On the one hand, there are some arguments for that the works of Erasmus undermined the Church. Firstly, he thought that people must have been more educated because he claimed that it was the method for making the change. For instance, his work "Adages ", which contained more than 4,000 sayings, reflected the mission of Erasmus to make classical learning open to a wider public. His aim was to make clear and understandable the bible for people and they were able to read it, to make the access to classical literature without reading whole books. Therefore, the role of Church became less important because people could easily teach themselves to get the holiness, which only the priest had taught them how to receive it before.
The second argument is that his works had a revolutionary impact because of the breaking the standards of the Catholic Church. He could not accept how the Church worked, the relationship between people and the Church, which was generally based on money.
