The Stoic Origins of Erasmus' Philosophy of Christ

The Stoic Origins of Erasmus' Philosophy of Christ
Author: Ross Dealy
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2017-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1487500610

"This study focuses on Erasmus' two-dimensional grasp of Stoicism evident in his edition of De officiis (1501) and the huge implications he saw for religion. The author argues that "The Philosophy of Christ' for which Erasmus is famous is a Christian version of Stoicism."--

Before Utopia

Before Utopia
Author: Ross Dealy
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2020-02-24
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1487534493

Before Utopia demonstrates that Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) is not, as is widely accepted, a rhetorical play of spirit but is instead built from a particular philosophy. That philosophy is not Platonism, but classical Stoicism. Deeply disturbed in his youth by the conviction that he needed to decide between a worldly and a monastic path, Thomas More was transformed in 1504 by Erasmus’ De taedio Iesu and Enchiridion. As a consequence, he married in 1505 and wholeheartedly committed himself to worldly affairs. His Lucian (1506), written after working directly with Erasmus, adopts the Stoic mindset; Erasmus’ Praise of Folly (1511) shows from beginning to end the workings of More’s life-changing Stoic outlook. More’s Utopia then goes on to systematically illustrate the Stoic unitary two-dimensional frame of thought within an imaginary New World setting. Before Utopia is not just a book about Thomas More. It is a book about intellectual history and the movement of ideas from the ancient world to the Renaissance. Ross Dealy emphasizes the continuity between Erasmus and More in their religious and philosophical thought, and above all the decisive influence of Erasmus on More.

Suffering in the World

Suffering in the World
Author: Augustin Kassa, S.M.A.
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2019-04-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1644925826

The undeniable reality of suffering in the world often leaves humanity perplexed about its source. The struggle to make sense of pain usually leaves people wondering what they have done to merit the agony of suffering. It is hence not bizarre to hear a person in suffering ask, "What wrong have I done to be suffering this much?" "Why is God punishing me?" It is not uncommon to hear some people like Edward Schillebeecks exempt God from any responsibility in the suffering of humanity. Shillebbeeckx unequivocally suggests that God is not responsible for the suffering of humanity just as he wasn't responsible for the suffering of his Son more than two thousand years ago. In his words, "[N]o one should ascribe to God what has, in fact, been done to Jesus by the history of human injustice." But how can a tragic event like the death of the Son of God and, by extension, suffering in the world be laid solely on the shoulders of humanity? Doesn't putting the responsibility of pain and suffering in the world on humanity rob God of his all-powerful nature? To avoid this quandary vis-à-vis the nature of God, classical theologians like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas proposed the principle of the two evils, that is, evil-suffered and evil-done. They also maintained that while God may not be responsible for pain and suffering in the world, he certainly does permit or allow it for a greater good. If God only permits or allows suffering, what do we make of Marthe Robin's experience that suggests that the Risen Lord, God the Son, appeared to her, asking her, "Do you want to be like me?" And upon the question made her live the suffering and pain and carry the wounds of the Crucified Lord. According to her, she was "the little victim of the Lord."

The Christology of Erasmus

The Christology of Erasmus
Author: Terence J. Martin
Publisher: CUA Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2024
Genre:
ISBN: 0813238021

"The purpose of this book is to distill the Christological elements from his voluminous corpus in a manner that shows the range, the coherence, and the value of Erasmus' thinking on matters Christological. While Erasmus works within the broad parameters of orthodox teaching, his critical skills with languages, accent on rhetoric in theology, keen sense of irony, appreciation for the limits of human knowledge, incipient sense of history, emphasis on the welfare of humanity, and passionate defense of peace, give his work a distinctive stamp and thereby make a singular contribution to the history of Christology"--

Erasmus

Erasmus
Author: Nathan Ron
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 123
Release: 2021-07-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 3030798607

This book is a sequel to Nathan Ron's Erasmus and the “Other.” Should we consider Erasmus an involved or public intellectual alongside figures such as Machiavelli, Milton, Locke, Voltaire, and Montesquieu? Was Erasmus really an independent intellectual? In Ron's estimation, Erasmus did not fully live up to his professed principles of Christian peace. Despite the anti-war preaching so eminent in his writings, he made no stand against the warlike and expansionist foreign policies of specific European kings of his era, and even praised the glory won by Francis I on the battlefield of Marignano (1515). Furthermore, in the face of Henry VIII’s execution of his beloved Thomas More and John Fisher, and the atrocities committed by the Spanish against indigenous peoples in the New World, Erasmus preferred self-censorship to expressions of protest or criticism and did not step forward to reproach kings of their misdeeds or crimes.

Before Utopia

Before Utopia
Author: Ross Dealy
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2020-03-03
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1487506597

This book explores the influence of Stoicism on the evolution of Thomas More's mind, asserting that More's engagement with the work of Erasmus radicalized his understanding of Christianity and shaped the writing of Utopia.

A Companion to Erasmus

A Companion to Erasmus
Author: Eric M. MacPhail
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2023-02-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004539689

The authors strive to illuminate every aspect of Erasmus’ life, work, and legacy while providing an expert synthesis of the most inspiring research in the field. There is no volume to compare or to compete with this compendium of all Erasmian knowledge.

Analogia

Analogia
Author: Archimandrite Ephraim of Vatopaidi
Publisher: ST MAXIM THE GREEK INSTITUTE
Total Pages: 124
Release: 2022-03-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

Analogia is a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the scholarly exposition and discussion of the theological principles of the Christian faith. A distinguishing feature of this journal will be the effort to advance a dialogue between Orthodox Christianity and the views and concerns of Western modes of theological and philosophical thought. A key secondary objective is to provide a scholarly context for the further examination and study of common Christian sources. Though theological and philosophical topics of interest are the primary focus of the journal, the content of Analogia will not be restricted to material that originates exclusively from these disciplines. Insofar as the journal seeks to cultivate theological discourse and engagement with the urgent challenges and questions posed by modernity, topics from an array of disciplines will also be considered, including the natural and social sciences. As such, solicited and unsolicited submissions of high academic quality containing topics of either a theological or interdisciplinary nature will be encouraged. In an effort to facilitate dialogue, provision will be made for peer-reviewed critical responses to articles that deal with high-interest topics. Analogia strives to provide an interdisciplinary forum wherein Christian theology is further explored and assumes the role of an interlocutor with the multiplicity of difficulties facing modern humanity.

The Renaissance of Feeling

The Renaissance of Feeling
Author: Kirk Essary
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2024-01-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1350269808

Offering a re-reading of Erasmus's works, this book shows that emotion and affectivity were central to his writings. It argues that Erasmus's conception of emotion was highly complex and richly diverse by tracing how the Dutch humanist writes about emotion not only from different perspectives-theological, philosophical, literary, rhetorical, medical-but also in different genres. In doing so, this book suggests, Erasmus provided a distinctive, if not unique, Christian humanist emotional style. Demonstrating that Erasmus consulted multiple intellectual traditions and previous works in his thoughts on affectivity, The Renaissance of Feeling sheds light on how understanding emotions in late medieval and early modern Europe was a multi-disciplinary affair for humanist scholars. It argues that the rediscovery and proliferation ancient texts during the so-called renaissance resulted in shifting perspectives on how emotions were described and understood, and on their significance for Christian thought and practice. The book shows how the very availability of source material, coupled with humanists' eagerness to engage with multiple intellectual traditions gave rise to new understandings of feeling in the 16th century. Essary shows how Erasmus provides the clearest example of such an intellectual inheritance by examining his writings about emotion across much of his vast corpus, including literary and rhetorical works, theological treatises, textual commentaries, religious disputations, and letters. Considering the rich and diverse ways that Erasmus wrote about emotions and affectivity, this book provides a new lens to study his works and sheds light on how emotions were understood in early modern Europe.

Scala Christus est

Scala Christus est
Author: Giovanni Tortoriello
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2023-05-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3161614720

Since the nineteenth century, scholars have debated the controversial relationships between humanism, the Renaissance and the Reformation. Challenging the dominant narrative on the subject, Giovanni Tortoriello reconstructs the debates that characterized the early Reformation movements. He shows that Martin Luther's theology of the cross developed in reaction to the irenic tendencies of the Renaissance. With the spread of Platonism, Hermeticism, and Kabbalah in the fifteenth century, the identity of Christianity shifted and the boundaries between the different religions thinned. In response to this attempt to minimize the differences among the various religions, Luther reiterated the centrality and uniqueness of the salvific event of the cross. Confessional biases and theological prejudices have obliterated the role that Platonism, Hermeticism, and Christian Kabbalah played in the early Reformation debates. The author reconstructs these controversies and situates Luther's theology of the cross in this historical context.