Editing Erasmus (section)

=====Dispute on free will=====
{{Main|De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio}}
{{Further | Works of Erasmus#On Free Will (1524)}}
By 1523, and first suggested in a letter from Henry VIII, Erasmus had been convinced that Luther's ideas on necessity/free will were a subject of core disagreement deserving a public airing, and strategized with friends and correspondents<ref>{{cite web |last1=Emerton |first1=Ephraim |title=Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47517/47517-h/47517-h.htm#FNanchor_152 |website=Project Guttenberg |access-date=30 April 2023 |archive-date=30 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430060431/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47517/47517-h/47517-h.htm#FNanchor_152 |url-status=live }}</ref> on how to respond with proper moderation<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alfsvåg |first1=Knut |title=The Identity of Theology (Dissertation) |date=October 1995 |pages=6, 7 |url=https://www.alfsvag.com/onewebmedia/IdentityofTheology.pdf}}</ref> without making the situation worse for all, especially for the humanist reform agenda. He eventually chose a [[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio#Background|campaign]] that involved an irenical 'dialogue' ''The Inquisition of Faith'',  a positive, evangelical model sermon ''On the Measureless Mercy of God'', and a gently critical 'diatribe' ''On Free Will''.

The publication of his brief book ''On Free Will'' initiated what has been called "The greatest debate of that era",<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Costello |first1=Gabriel J. |title=Erasmus, Luther and the Free Will Debate: Influencing the Philosophy of Management 500 Years on-whether we realise it or not! |journal=Conference: Philosophy of Management Conference University of Greenwich |date=2018 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325127081 |access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref> which still has ramifications today.<ref name=massing>Massing, 2022 ([https://www.harpercollins.com/products/fatal-discord-michael-massing?variant=39387603533858  publisher's abstract])</ref> They bypassed discussion on reforms which they both agreed on in general, and instead dealt with authority and biblical justifications of [[synergism]] versus [[monergism]] in relation to salvation.

Luther responded with [[w:On the Bondage of the Will|''On the Bondage of the Will'']] ({{lang|la|De servo arbitrio}}) (1525).

Erasmus replied to this in his lengthy two-volume ''Hyperaspistes'' and other works, which Luther ignored. Apart from the perceived moral failings among followers of the Reformers—an important sign for Erasmus—he also dreaded any change in doctrine, citing the long history of the Church as a bulwark against innovation. He put the matter bluntly to Luther:

{{Blockquote|text=We are dealing with this: Would a stable mind depart from the opinion handed down by so many men famous for holiness and miracles, depart from the decisions of the Church, and commit our souls to the faith of someone like you who has sprung up just now with a few followers, although the leading men of your flock do not agree either with you or among themselves – indeed though you do not even agree with yourself, since in this same ''Assertion''<ref>A reference to Luther's {{lang|la|Assertio omnium articulorum per bullam Leonis X. novissimam damnatorum}} (''Assertion of all the Articles condemned by the Bull of Leo X'', 1520), [[Weimar edition of Martin Luther's works|WA]] VII.</ref> you say one thing in the beginning and something else later on, recanting what you said before.|source=''Hyperaspistes'' I<ref>''Collected Works of Erasmus, Controversies: De Libero Arbitrio / Hyperaspistes I'', Peter Macardle, Clarence H. Miller, trans., Charles Trinkhaus, ed., University of Toronto Press, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-8020-4317-7}} Vol. 76, p. 203</ref>}}

Continuing his chastisement of Luther – and undoubtedly put off by the notion of there being "no pure interpretation of Scripture anywhere but in Wittenberg"<ref>{{cite book|author=István Pieter Bejczy|title=Erasmus and the Middle Ages: The Historical Consciousness of a Christian Humanist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MxLV1yVyT7sC&pg=PA172|year=2001|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-12218-4|page=172}}</ref> – Erasmus touches upon another important point of the controversy:

{{Blockquote|text=You stipulate that we should not ask for or accept anything but Holy Scripture, but you do it in such a way as to require that we permit you to be its sole interpreter, renouncing all others. Thus the victory will be yours if we allow you to be not the steward but the lord of Holy Scripture.|source=''Hyperaspistes'', Book I<ref>''Hyperaspistes'', Book I, ''Collected Works of Erasmus'', Vol. 76, pp. 204–05.</ref>}}