Desiderius Erasmus

1. Desiderius Erasmus

2. Desiderius Erasmus • Born in Rotterdam about 1466 died 1536. • He was raised a Dutch Roman Catholic. • In his early schooling he distinguished himself as a genious. • In 1492 he was ordained a priest and set off to Paris to study literature and theology. • His travels where extensive; Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland and England. • He taught the children of Nobles and Kings.

3. Desiderius Erasmus • “Erasmus’ fame now exceeded the fame of any other scholar in Europe. Wherever he went, he was received with great honours. Princes joined scholars and prelates in doing him homage… Erasmus was the prince of humanists and the most influential and useful scholar of his age.” (Phillip Schaff, History of the Christian Church) • His time had been spent mainly in monasteries, convents, and churches; and he delighted to expose the dishonesty and immorality of priests, monks, and popes. Expressed in his early writings, Praise of Folly (1510) and Familiar Colloquies (1518).

4. Desiderius Erasmus • At many times his criticisms of the Catholic Church were stronger then the Reformers. But Erasmus did not desire to break from the Catholic Church as Luther had to do. • But Erasmus lacked conviction. • On a visit to England he became “Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity” at Cambridge University and the main teacher of Greek (1509-1514)

5. The Greek New Testament • It was while in England that his thoughts turned to creating a New Testament Greek text but nothing happened. • It was in Basle (Switzerland) that a long time friend John Froben encouraged Erasmus to print copies of the New Testament Greek Text (1515). • It was about 1502 that there was a push in Spain from Roman Catholic Cardinal Ximenes to complete a New Testament Greek text. It in fact had been completed there about 1514 but had not been yet published. It finally was published in 1520. It was a multi lingual Bible.

6. The Greek New Testament • It was because of this that John Froben encouraged Erasmus to get to work to finish the text to have it ready for print. • Erasmus headed the encouragement and commenced work. • He gathered all the Greek manuscripts he could find in Basle. He found only five manuscripts, no one which contained the complete the entire Greek Testament and no two which were perfectly agreed. The manuscripts where of about 12th Century origin. • He had no manuscript of Revelation but later received one from his friend, Hebrew Scholar, Reuchlin. But this didn’t cover the last few verses of Revelation so Erasmus was left no choice but to translate them from Latin to Greek.

7. The Greek New Testament • This first edition text was published in 1516 alongside his daring new Latin translation. He dedicated the text to Pope Leo X. It contained 672 large pages. But due to the poor quality of printing press in had contained typographical errors. • In the next few years the text would undergo five more revisions, but with no consultation from any additional text. • It was by no means a perfect Greek text but it was extremely important to the reformation as it exposed to them that salvation be by grace through faith. • Erasmus in essence was a brilliant Textual Critic. He compared each of the manuscripts with diligence to bring about as close as possible the original word used in the Greek.

8. The Greek New Testament • This is not yet the TextusReceptus. Robert Estienne was a royal printer and editor of Francis I of France who had printed four Greek editions of the Greek New Testament between 1546 to 1551. Estienne had access to at least 15 manuscripts which was more than Erasmus. His third edition became the accepted text in England. • Theodore Beza was a successor to John Calvin at Geneva. He had published nine editions of the Greek New Testament between 1565 to 1604. Although not any advancement were made in these editions, it was the translation that the Translators of the KJV had before them.

9. The Greek New Testament • Bonaventure Elzevir and his brother Abraham, Dutch Printers set about a commercial venture in which they published other editions of the Greek New Testament. In 1633, 22 years after the publication of the KJV, these two brother published their second edition. Upon this edition carried an advertising blurb which read, “Textum ergo habes, nunc ab omnibus receptum: in quo nihilimmutatumautcorruptumdamus.” Which is translated, “You have therefore the text now received by all, in which we give nothing altered or corrupt.” • The TextusReceptus is the received text of Erasmus/ Estienne/ Beza tradition in 1633 • It had become the basis for all English translation till the publication of the English Revised Version in 1881.

10. The Greek New Testament • Martin Dorpius wrote to Erasmus encouraging him to not go ahead with the translation of the Greek. • Ulrich Zwingli was asked in his latter years what he thought the besis of the reformation was? He replied, “To know Greek, to study the Gospels in the original language.” • Erasmus established a system of pronunciation for his students and proved his prowess in the language by translating the Greek classics producing editions of the Greek church fathers.