Comparing The Beliefs Of Martin Luther And Erasmus

During the time of the Reformation, two men, Martin Luther and Desiderius Erasmus, attempted to reform the errors of the Roman Catholic Church. Erasmus and Luther saw Christianity as a form of inner devotion to Christ. These two men, along with others, felt as if the church needed reform. However, there was a great gap between the beliefs of Martin Luther and Erasmus. Luther was bound by the word of God, therefore scripture was more important to him. But, Erasmus did not hold the same value of importance towards scripture, he placed logic and reason above it. Furthermore, Luther loved the truth of God 's word and wanted a true reform of church doctrine and practices, whereas Erasmus focused on moral reform within the catholic church. On October 27, 1466, Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, was born into the world in which heaven and hell seemed extremely closer to people than they do today. Erasmus was born the bastard child of a priest, and despite his circumstances, his parents still loved and cared for him. At the age of fourteen, Erasmus lost his parents due to the Bubonic plague. As Erasmus got older he attended a monastic school in the Netherlands, which focused on inward spirituality and being devoted to Christ rather than church doctrine or dogma. This humanistic education that he

In 1501, he wrote The Handbook of the Christian Soldier, which argued that scripture was important to Christians and religion was generally a matter of inward devotion. In order to make the new learning possible for Christians, Erasmus began to acquire Greek language in order to make an improved edition of the New Testament. In 1516, this work was published, which included a preface that he wrote about his hope that someday God’s word would be available to all. Erasmus believed that all men and women should have access to scripture in their own