Word: erasmus
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With good reason: Erasmus* has survived those centuries well. As a humanist of international eminence and a lifelong apostle of Christian renewal, he put a special mark both on the Renaissance and on the Reformation that followed it. More important, many of his ideas about reform and the Christian life seem remarkably relevant today, and the best scholarship on Erasmus has been the work of 20th century historians. The most recent example is Erasmus of Christendom (Scribners, $6.95), an affectionate appreciation by Yale Reformation Historian Roland H. Bainton, best known for his biography of Martin Luther, Here I Stand...
...illegitimate son of a Dutch priest, Erasmus was sent as a young boy to study with the Brethren of the Common Life in the town of Deventer. The Brethren were an anomaly in the 15th century church: laymen who lived like monks, they took no permanent vows but observed a strict discipline and worked zealously among the poor. Erasmus was greatly attracted by their spirituality, even though he eventually joined a more conventional religious order, the Augustinian Canons...
...Although Erasmus remained a priest all his life, his interest in the Augustinians did not last long. Discipline interfered with his dedication to scholarship, and he eventually was dispensed from monastic rules. His central concern, apart from classical learning, was the true meaning of the Christian life. A follower of Christ, Erasmus thought, ought to be a spiritual soldier-a theme he explored in one of his first popular books, a volume that he dedicated hopefully to a sybaritic armaments manufacturer. His Enchiridion Militis Christian! (The Handbook, or "Dagger," of the Christian Soldier) failed to convert...
...monk without a monastery, Erasmus was free to travel. On visits to England, he found close friends in Sir Thomas More, John Colet and other noted English humanists. In Italy, he learned Greek, published an extensive anthology of ancient Adages, and was appalled at the wars of Pope Julius II against neighboring Christian states. In Bologna, he witnessed Julius' triumphal entry with "a mighty groan," wondering whether the Pope was the successor of Jesus Christ or Julius Caesar...
...spottily-though sometimes handsomely-represented. There are two Titians, a Raphael Resurrection of Christ, a Mantegna St. Jerome, a commanding Velásquez portrait. There are also some diverting minor works, such as Quentin Metsys' Contract of Marriage, a droll example of genre by a Flemish contemporary of Erasmus, showing a young man dutifully snuggling up to an ugly but rich old wife...