Erasmus of Rotterdam ─ Advocate of a New Christianity

This book provides the first analysis of the development of Erasmus’ historical methodology and its impact on Roman Catholic and Protestant theologians. Combining a biographyof Erasmus with the larger theological debates and the intellectual history of his time, Christine Christ-von Wedel reveals many of previously unexplored influences on Erasmus, as well as hisinfluences on his contemporaries.

Erasmus of Rotterdam is a revised and considerably enlarged translation of Christ-von Wedel’s well-received 2003 study, originally publishedin German. Observing the influence of classical, biblical, patristic, scholastic, and late medieval vernacular and popular sources on Erasmus’ writing, the author provides comparisons withtheologians Agrippa, Lefevre d’Etaples, Eck, Luther, and Zwingli to demonstrate not only the singularity of Erasmus’ intellect, but also the enormous impact he had on theReformation. The result is a lively picture of the man and his time, in which Erasmus emerges as both a devout Christian and a critical seeker of truth who conceded the ambiguities that he couldnot resolve.