ERASMUS, Desiderius

Desiderius Erasmus was a Christian humanist who used his skills as a theologian to engage critically with biblical studies, doctrinal debate with Luther and in partial defence and partial satire of the Catholic church. He studied and taught in university centres such as Basel, Cambridge, Louvain, Oxford, and Paris and became the outstanding scholar of his time. His expertise included those of biblical translator, editor and interpreter of traditional Christian texts and satirist. He drew attention to the principle of reciprocity in medical ethics and to the ‘unnatural wickedness’ of war.

Life

• Brief BBC biography of Erasmus

• Entry on Erasmus in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Writings

• Works by Erasmus on Project Gutenberg