Similarities Between Erasmus And Martin Luther

Due to their criticism of the church and the clergy, and the traditional teachings of the Christianity, it could be said that both Erasmus and Luther triggered a period of necessity for a reformation of the church. Being one of Europe’s most intellectual and enlightened man during the second half of the fifteenth century, Desiderius Erasmus helped prepare the way for the Reformation of Church through his Christian humanist ideas. Born in Holland, this linguist felt extremely preoccupied with religion and Church. Erasmus critiques the church in The Praise of Folly, describing monks and theologians as ignorant and short-tempered, and thus preluded the Church Reformation. Later on, Martin Luther, a German monk, spread his own ideas for a reformation,

To start off with, Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses can be perceived as an elaboration of Erasmus’s The Praise of Folly because they share similar conceptions. This can clearly be seen with their common idea that the buying of indulgences was a commercial transaction rather than a repentant of sin. Erasmus stated that this sort of procedure has deluded the people with imaginary pardons for their sins. Martin Luther also stated his discontent of indulgences in the Ninety-Five Theses and his letter to Archbishop Albrecht in 1517. Just like Erasmus, he believes that indulgences are not just. Paul Bishop, in his analysis of Ninety-Five Theses, states that “Luther went on to say that every repentant Christian has the right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without the letters of pardon, this being an act of God’s mercy alone.” In other words, it is stated that Christians are able to repent their sins because of God’s mercy not letters of pardon. Luther basically elaborates on Erasmus’s dissatisfaction of indulgences. Furthermore, Luther’s rejection of monasticism could have been influenced by Erasmus’s criticism toward the religious and monks, as he expressed in the Praise of Folly. He, with sincere frustration, attacks them by saying that they’re highly pleased with themselves, filthy, ignorant, and misnomers that stay as far away from religion as possible. Martin Luther, although a monk himself at one point of his life, later on rejected monasticism. This is because monasticism contradicted his belief toward justification by faith. Their good works and deeds did not lead to salvation, according to him. For that reason, Protest Reformation destroyed monasticism, as did Lutheranism. To conclude, Martin Luther’s reformation ideas are elaborations of Erasmus’s ideas in the prelude of the