Erasmus The Praise Of Folly

Desiderius Erasmus' The Praise of Folly

Firstly written for private circulation, the Praise of Folly, by Desiderius Erasmus, describes the abuses and follies of the various classes of society, but especially the ones from the church. It is a cold inspiration, deliberate attempt to discredit the church, and its satire and harsh comment on ecclesiastical conditions were so repetitive that a reader can easily realize that the main purpose of Erasmus writing this masterpiece was to persuade the people to start questioning the manners of the Romanists’ religious authority. The Praise of Folly, takes on a very diverse form of life during 1509, sixteenth century Europe, and it is a demostration of how Erasmus could turn his literary
Erasmus wished only for a reformation of priestly morals and conduct, not of Roman theology. As Christian Humanist, he desired this religious reform of the church through educational and social change; however, Erasmus believed that a religious revolt led to anarchy, therefore he took the side of neither the Pope, nor the reform radical of Martin Luther; instead, as mentioned before, he hoped to provoke people into questioning their confidence in religious authority through his writings, as opposed to speaking out directly against the Romanists, which was the specific strategy utilized in The Praise of Folly. The desire for new spiritual complemet was great in many parts of Europe, and movements of thoughts which gave intellectual content to what in so many ways was an initial search for God. This explained why the Reformation took root and led to a permanent division within the church. The Reformation maintained itself wherever the lay power favored it; it could not survive where the authorities decided to suppress it. For this was the age of uniformity, an age which held at all times and everywhere that one political unit could not comprehend within itself two forms of belief or worship.Consequently, there is no doubt that Erasmus lived during a time when many learned people were critical of various Christian
In my opinion, he is one of the most fascinating and unforgettable characters in history and many people believe without discussion that he was a genius and he proves this with The Praise of Folly. The historical and cultural evidences in this book indicate that it could not have been written during any other period except sixteenth century Europe, and as mentioned before, The Praise of Folly is a book where Erasmus makes his points through insinuations, and writes satirical attack on the traditions of the Catholic Church and popular superstitions, focusing in the foolishness of the humanity. Even though Erasmus implicated that foolishness was the state that hypnotized the people to do wrong things, there is one advantage that he mentioned about foolishness: the freedom to speak the truth. In the Praise of Folly, Erasmus put this freedom to reminde his readers that in the earth one cannot serve both at the same time, God and demons. In addition, he found that the need for harshness was necessary to explain to a society greatly corrupted by worldly concerns, that the values of Christianity and the Holy Scriptures were at that moment overwhelmed by greed and