Desiderius Erasmus was
born in Rotterdam in about 1466. He joined the Augustinian monastery
at Steyn in 1487 and was ordained in 1492.
Erasmus spent time in France
before moving to England where he taught at Oxford
University (1499) and Cambridge University
(1509-14) where he was Professor of Divinity.
Erasmus became the leader
of the movement of scholarship known as humanism. Erasmus believed
strongly in the human capacity for self-improvement through education.
He argued that world peace could be obtained by consensus and consent.
He published several books including a collection of proverbs, Adagia
(1500). This was followed by Handbook of
a Christian Soldier (1503) and Praise
of Folly (1509).
Erasmus advocated a tolerant
Christianity and was highly critical of the abuses of the Catholic
Church and his ideas helped to prepare the way for Martin
Luther and the
Protestant Reformation. However,
Erasmus disapproved of Luther's radical methods and criticized him
in his book De Libero Arbitrio
(1523).
Desiderius Erasmus died
in 1536.
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