Erasmus: Live Learn Love Essay examples

Candide was one of Voltaire’s major works, and is considered the most important by many historians and literary analysts. Throughout Candide, there are many scathing attacks, mostly through satire, irony, and absurd characters (Voltaire). Candide explores the hypocrisy that was rampant in the Church. Voltaire writes about the inhumanity of the clergy, most notably the Inquisitor, in hanging his fellow citizens over mere philosophical differences. The Inquisitor in Candide orders the flogging of Candide for merely “listening with an air of approval” (“Voltaire | Author and Philosopher”). Church officials are depicted as being the most sinful characters of all. Voltaire directly attacks the Church using examples of the hypocrites that could often be found within the Church at that time. Attacks against the

Erasmus ridiculed those who thought this way, a tactic he used skillfully in order to gain more followers. He published a book named Encomium Moriae, translated as The Praise of Folly. The book was originally created to amuse Erasmus’s friend, Thomas More. The book includes a bantering tone and clearly attacks theologians of this time period. The mere thought of this book angered the priests and of course, this did not stop Erasmus from spreading his statements of ridicule across the lands of which he travelled. It did not take long for Erasmus to target Pope Julius II, nicknamed “The Fearsome Pope” and “The Warrior Pope”. Erasmus produced a skit that was created to ridicule Pope Julius II to all extents; it was named Iulias exclusus. Soon after Pope Julius II’s death, the skit spread like wild fire amongst the communities, quickly becoming the hot topic of various cities. The Roman Curia of the Holy See were very displeased with Erasmus and his actions. The Curia acted in the name of Pope Julius II, so when they learned of Erasmus’s cruel jokes, they longed for Erasmus to stop his nonsense and spend the rest of his days in remorseful piety (Manchester 126).

The period of Roman time between the 5th and 15th century is known as the middle ages, this certain period in time involved the fall of the Roman Empire and the evolution of the renaissance period. The renaissance was a time of rebirth during which massive changes occurred which would subsequently impact the Catholic Church. This later period is known as the Reformation. The Reformation was quite the violent time period in Europe. In the wars of religion, family members were often in conflict. Both the Protestants and Catholics thought they were a hundred percent correct and that the other religion was part of the 'devil's work'. There were many influential people in relation to the Reformation, one of them being Martin Luther. This essay

Martin Luther’s Concerning Christian Liberty and Desiderius Erasmus’ The Praise of Folly are about the different lines of attack on the Catholic Church. Martin Luther was a North German Augustinian friar, a Catholic priest, and a professor of theology who protested the abuses in the Church and called for reform. Erasmus was German by birth, interested in acts of good, wanted to find common factors between reason and Christianity, focused on the bible in its original papal form, believed in human correct ability, and did not believe in original sin. He highly criticized the Catholic Church at this time and called for reform, as well. They both attacked the Roman Catholic Church in their works; however, Martin Luther wanted reformation in practice and doctrine, while Erasmus wanted a moral reformation in the Church. Concerning Christian Liberty and The Praise of Folly were written in the early 1500’s and they both focused on the subject area of religion.

Christian humanism is an intellectual movement in Northern Europe that combined the interest in the classics of the Italian Renaissance with an interest in the sources of early Christianity. It helped pave the way to the protestant reformation by bringing the focus of old Christianity back into modern Christianity, which was a protestant ideal. Erasmus paved the way for Luther’s break with Rome and Catholicism by writing the Handbook of Christian Knight, stating his belief that Christianity should show people how to live good lives on a daily basis, not just to provide believes for them to be saved. This belief was shown also by Luther, it being his belief that a common man should be sanctioned to interpret the bible in his or her own way.

Northern Renaissance humanists placed more emphasis on early Christian history and works than their Italian counterparts. They studied the Holy Scriptures and the works of several early church fathers, such as Augustine and Jerome. They believed that the Christian church was much simpler than the church of their time. They were also noted for their reform program, in which they believed that they need to change the humans in order to improve society. Erasmus, a famous humanist, wrote that he “would [prefer] that even the lowliest women read the Gospels and the Pauline Epistles.” (Spielvogel 337). His quote reflected the attitude of many Christian humanists at that time. Christian humanists support the use of education since they believed

“Desiderius Eramus of the Netherlands was the most prominent of the Christian humanist” (“Humanism” 1). Eramus was famous and known as the prince of Humanist. He wrote the New Testament in both Greek editions and Latin editions (“Renaissance Humanism”3). “Eramus became famous all over Europe, living mostly in Holland, England, and Italy. While being compassionate to Martin Luther’s criticism of the Catholic Church, Eramus never forsaken Catholicism (“Renaissance Humanism”3). “Eramus refused the educational methods of the University of Paris as well as worked for the enhancement of modern-day civilization by means of criticizing the troubles of the day judged next to Christian knowledge” (“Humanism” 1). Eramus was born in Rotterdam Netherlands, in 1466. At nine years old he went to school at Deventar ran by a humanist named Hegius. Eramus went there and studied theology. Eramus first major was called “Enchiridian Militis Christian”, which came out in 1502. This book was about true religion and piety, while throwing some criticism at the church. To pursue his studies, Eramus was spurred by poverty to enter a monastic order in 1486 (Melton 1). Eramus tried to fight for his rights with the churches. Ermaus argued for reformation, that wouldn’t bother the leader of the church. He disagreed with Luther’s excommunication, but Eramus

It may seem odd or different to admire and acclaim Folly, but there is a definite benefit to foolishness: the freedom to tell only factual information. In Praise of Folly, Erasmus put this independence to good use in repeating to the readers, a civilization significantly besmirched by mature worries, that a person is unable to serve both God and Mammon. He leveled over his irony by promising us that "there is merit in being attacked by Folly" (7), and closed with the recap that "it's Folly and a woman who's been speaking" (134), a renunciation that permitted him to be as brutal as he desired to be in his condemnation. He definitely found necessity for severity,

Erasmus even includes himself as a subject of this whimsical criticism showing that it is meant to be constructive not harshly judgmental as it was taken by his many critics. His criticisms of wise men, Seneca, women, and pedantry all apply to himself and he jokes about them all (xvi). He knows that, in her first and most humorous voice, Folly is criticizing aspects of life that are of small significance in comparison to her later targets, and Erasmus takes no shame in admitting his participation in such minor foolishness. With Folly’s first voice, Erasmus points out the insignificant foolishness that plays into every person’s life, including his own, with

Being accused of heresy and his ideas said to be dangerous deviations from the church he had to defend himself from opposition. (C/S 436) He once proclaimed “the bible teaches us how to get to heaven, not know how heaven goes” in his defense. (C/S, 438)

My understanding of Voltaire’s main concerns as shown in “Candide” deepened through class discussions and oral presentations. The discussions on Voltaire’s critique of organized religion aided in my comprehension of the main idea by exercising the thought that Voltaire did not castigate religion itself, but rather the institution of religion. This can be seen throughout “Candide” when Voltaire tries to highlight the hypocrisy and corruption committed by the religious individuals. Instances in the novella include the friars having sex with prostitutes, the use of autos-da-fé in order to appease God, the spread of syphilis by a friar, etc. Many of these examples show how the author attempted to critique the way society had a false adherence to religion, not religion itself. Voltaire’s critique of organized religion consequently demonstrated how he wished to criticize the malpractices of humanity and society throughout “Candide”.

Love has many different meanings to different people. For a child, love is what he or she feels for his mommy and daddy. To teenage boy, love is what he should feel for his girlfriend of the moment, only because she says she loves him. But as we get older and "wiser," love becomes more and more confusing. Along with poets and philosophers, people have been trying to answer that age-old question for centuries: What is love?

Love is difficult to define, difficult to measure, and difficult to understand. Love is what great writers write about, great singers sing about, and great philosophers ponder. Love is a powerful emotion, for which there is no wrong definition, for it suits each and every person differently. Whether love is between family, friends, or lovers, it is an overwhelming emotion that can be experienced in many different ways.

Love is a powerful feeling; it makes you do crazy thing. Many people spend years trying to find it, others give up thinking they’ll never find it. Love has been defined as an intensive feeling of a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone. Of course, Love doesn 't have to romantic and/or sexual. People who are ace, as in asexual, aromantic and agender, can still be in relationships that are satisfying for them without the needs of a romantic relationship. Familial love is also non-romantic-sexual. However, in this paper, we will be talking about romantic-sexual love, what it is, and why I believe it’s so important to understand and experience.

Erasmus believes in the need of a universal language, both in verse and prose. He was well versed in Latin and in Greek. Erasmus and Thomas More were both staunch Catholics, opposed the reformation  as proposed by Martin Luther but thought the church needed 'adjustments'.  Erasmus differed from some of More's ideas, for instance he believed in free will of the individual,  whereas More did not. They all advocated social reform and were interested in improvement for society. Erasmus thought science unworthy of a gentleman. "Erasmus appeared as a responsible and constructive critic of society. He attacked the superstition and formalism of late medieval religion, offering in their place a simple piety that could appeal to all levels of society."(Wilcox)