Erasmus and St. Paul

• In Event: Erasmus

Abstract

Erasmus' admiration for St. Paul was not unqualified. He considered St. Paul to be "the heavenly orator" and "the supreme interpreter of our religion," but he also remarked that "This apostle of ours is always skillful and slippery...such a squid, such a chameleon—he plays the part of Proteus." This paper will investigate Erasmus' admiration for Paul, how he adopted Paul as a model for his own work, and how he cited Paul in his battle of books with Martin Luther.

Author

• Willis Goth Regier, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign