Editing Erasmus (section)

====Anti-scholasticism====
[[File:Thomas van Aquino inspireert zich op de geschriften van andere theologen Titelpagina voor D. Augvstini et SS. Patrvm de Libero Arbitrio Interpres Thomifticus Contra Ianfenitas (titel op object), RP-P-OB-7416.jpg |thumb|Thomas Aquinas inspiring himself on Free Will from the writings of previous theologians such as Augustine (1652)]]

{{blockquote|text=Erasmus did not have a metaphysical bone in his frail body, and had no real feeling for the philosophical concerns of scholastic theology. |source=Lewis W. Spitz<ref name=spitz>{{cite journal |last1=Spitz |first1=Lewis W. |title=Desiderius Erasmus |journal=Reformers in Profile: [essays] |date=1967 |url=https://archive.org/details/reformers-in-profile/page/n67/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|70}} }}

He usually eschewed metaphysical, epistemological and logical philosophy as found in [[Peripatetic school|Aristotle]]:<ref group=note>In the ''Adagia'', Erasmus quotes Aristotle 304 times, "making extensive use of the moral, philosophical, political, and rhetorical writings as well as those on natural philosophy, while completely shunning the logical works that formed the basis for scholastic philosophy". {{cite book |last1=Mann Phillips |first1=Margaret |title=The 'Adages' of Erasmus. A Study with Translations |date=1964 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}} Cited by {{cite book |last1=Traninger |first1=Anita |chapter=Erasmus and the Philosophers |title=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=45–67 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_005|isbn=978-90-04-53968-6 }}</ref> in particular the curriculum and systematic methods of the post-Aquinas Schoolmen ([[Scholastics]]){{refn|group=note|"However learned the works of those men may be, however 'subtle' and, if it please them, however 'seraphic', it must still be admitted that the Gospels and Epistles are the supreme authority." Erasmus, ''Paraclesis'', cited by Sider<ref name=sider>{{cite journal |last1=Sider |first1=Robert |editor-first1=Robert D. |editor-last1=Sider |title=Erasmus on the New Testament |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2 April 2020 |doi=10.3138/9781487533250  |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4875-3325-0 |s2cid=241298542 |language=en}}</ref>}} and what he regarded as their frigid, counter-productive [[Aristoteleanism]]:{{refn|group=note|Erasmus followed the tradition of proto-humanist [[Petrarch]], summarized as: "Aristotle was spiritually deficient, because although he could define virtue, his words lacked the power to motivate men to lead virtuous lives. It was not possible to know God adequately in this life, but it was possible to love him, which made virtue far more important than knowledge."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hitchcock |first1=James |title=The Age of Reformations by James Hitchcock |journal=Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity |url=http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=30-05-036-f |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|39}} }} "What has Aristotle to do with Christ?"<ref>{{cite book |title=The Erasmus Reader |chapter=Letter to Dorp |date=1990 |pages=169–194 |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1287x95.12 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1287x95.12 |isbn=978-0-8020-6806-4 }}</ref>{{refn|group=note|A narrowing of [[Tertullian#Other beliefs|Tertullian]]'s "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"}}

{{blockquote |They can deal with any text of scripture as with a nose of wax, and knead it into what shape best suits their interest.|source= ''[[The Praise of Folly]]''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foote |first1=George |title=Flowers of Freethought |date=1894 |url=https://web.seducoahuila.gob.mx/biblioweb/upload/FLOWERS_OF_FREETHOUGHT.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|75}}}}

Erasmus held that academics must avoid philosophical factionalism as an offense against Christian concord, in order to "make the whole world Christian".<ref>{{cite book |title=Collected works of Erasmus: an introduction with Erasmus' prefaces and ancillary writings |date=2019 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto, Buffalo (New Jersey), London |isbn=978-0-8020-9222-9}}</ref>{{rp|851}} Indeed, Erasmus thought that Scholastic philosophy actually distracted participants from their proper focus on immediate morality,<ref group=note>Rice puts it "Philosophy is felt to be a veil of pretense over an unethical reality&nbsp;... pious disquisitions cannot excuse immorality." {{cite journal |last1=Rice |first1=Eugene F. |title=Erasmus and the Religious Tradition, 1495–1499 |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |date=1950 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=387–411 |doi=10.2307/2707589 |jstor=2707589  |issn=0022-5037}}</ref><ref group=note>"For I am ready to swear that Epimenides came to life again in Scotus." ''Erasmus to Thomas Grey'' Nichols, ep. 59; Allen, ep 64</ref> unless used moderately,{{refn|group=note|"Like [[Jean Gerson]] before him, he recommended that (scholastic method) be practiced with greater moderation and that it be complemented by the new philological and patristic knowledge that was becoming available."<ref name=origenscheck>{{cite book |last1=Scheck |first1=Thomas P. |title=Erasmus's Life of Origen |chapter=Erasmus's Program for Theological Renewal |date=2016 |pages=1–42 |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |jstor=j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |isbn=978-0-8132-2801-3 }}</ref>{{rp|26}} }} and by "excluding the Platonists from their commentaries, they strangle the beauty of revelation."<ref group=note>"I find that in comparison with the Fathers of the Church our present-day theologians are a pathetic group. Most of them lack the elegance, the charm of language, and the style of the Fathers. Content with Aristotle, they treat the mysteries of revelation in the tangled fashion of the logician. Excluding the Platonists from their commentaries, they strangle the beauty of revelation." ''Enchiridion'', Erasmus, cited by {{cite journal |last1=Markos |first1=Louis A. |title=The Enchiridion of Erasmus |journal=Theology Today |date=April 2007 |volume=64 |issue=1 |doi=10.1177/004057360706400109|s2cid=171469828 |page=86}}</ref> "They are windbags blown up with Aristotle, sausages stuffed with a mass of theoretical definitions, conclusions, and propositions."<ref>Erasmus, ''The Sileni of Alcibiades'' (1517)</ref>

Nevertheless, church historian {{ill|Ernst Wilhelm Kohls|de|lt=Ernst Kohls}} has commented on a certain closeness of Erasmus' thought to [[Thomas Aquinas]]', despite Erasmus' skepticism about runaway Aristotelianism<ref name=cwe23/>{{rp|9}} and his methodological dislike of collections of disconnected sentences for quotation. Ultimately, Erasmus personally owned Aquinas' {{lang|la|[[Summa theologiae]]}}, the {{lang|la|[[Catena aurea]]}} and his commentary on Paul's epistles.<ref name=books>{{cite book |last1=Gulik |first1=Egbertus van |last2=Grayson |first2=J. C. |last3=McConica |first3=James |last4=Trapman |first4=J. |title=Erasmus and his books |date=2018 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto; Buffalo; London |isbn=978-0-8020-3876-0}}</ref>