Book 3: Chapter 4, Erasmus and More Summary and Analysis

The Renaissance as part of the Reformation reached northern countries later than in Italy and differed through engaging more in virtue, Bible, and spreading learning. The new learning in France, England, and Germany involved no theological controversy.

The exemplars in that time where Erasmus and Sir Thomas More, who opposed scholastic philosophy. While neither of them were philosophers, both questioned systematic theology.

Erasmus (1466-1636) came from Rotterdam. He was an illegitimate son of a priest who knew Greek, and his parents died before he reached adulthood. One of his guardians was a school-master, who encouraged him to become a monk at the monastery of Steyr. He became secretary to the bishop of Cambrai in 1493, Chancellor of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He could leave the monastery and travel. He also studied at...