Erasmus

This paper is concerned with Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus. Johan Huizinga considered it as the one composition for which Erasmus was destined to be immortal, and apparently he was right, for this work is the one for which Erasmus is the most noted in the twentieth century. The idea for this book came to him in 1509, while he was traveling across the Alps on the way from Italy to England. Erasmus composed it in a short time while he was staying at the residence of Sir Thomas More, to whom it is dedicated, with a playful suggestion of appropriateness because moros means "fool."

The fools of Erasmus were those pilloried by the medieval preachers and moralists such as Geiler of Keyersburg and Sebastian Brand, who gathered in his Ship of Fools all those whom he intended to condemn. The unusual twist to Erasmus' creation is that Folly herself berates the fools. However, as the narrative continues, Folly turns out to be the fool in Christ, who seems to be a fool to everyone, who in their folly believe themselves to have wisdom. Pride is once again a great sin and the downfall of many persons. Humility before Christ is the one act which will bring salvation, if God wills.

Praise of Folly shows Erasmus' position as a Renaissance and Reformation scholar. Both of these movements were interested in reform. However, quite unlike many of the revolutionary currents of the twentieth century, the eyes of the Renaissance and Reformation gazed with no antago

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one is praised ironically, and the other is praised seriously. The serious type is displayed and demonstrated in Christian humility and love. Therefore, theology, no matter how elaborately intellectual, will never save a single soul. True Christianity should come from the heart, not the head. This view is very Protestant and in keeping with the spirit of the Reformation, even though Erasmus did not really go as far as Martin Luther. But Erasmus was a man of letters and he states through Folly: "All this surely points to the same thing: that all mortals are fools, even the pious. Christ too, though he is the wisdom of the Father, was made something of a fool himself in order to help the folly of mankind, when he assumed the nature of man and was seen in man's form . . ." (198-199). ERASMUS' ARGUMENTS Many of Erasmus' arguments consist of satirical attacks on various types of persons such as the ecclesiastics, merchants, grammarians, lawyers, and kings. For instance, with regard to the Papacy, Folly states: "Then the Supreme Pontiffs, who are the vicars of Christ: If they made an attempt to imitate his life of poverty and toil, his teaching, cross, and contempt for life, and thought about their name of Pope, which mea

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