Erasmus's Influence On The Protestant Reformation

There were many other factors that contributed to the Reformation, one being the new humanistic fashion of reading and writing that allowed people to become more insightful and critical. A popular literary humanistic method introduced during the Renaissance was the reading of ancient texts and analyzing them to increase knowledge and insight. Writing became a key way to communicate thoughts and opinions to others. Reading and writing affected the Protestant Reformation greatly because it allowed the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam, Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin to be able to gain insight on religious topics and express their opinions effectively. Erasmus of Rotterdam was a Christian humanist who lived from 1466-1536. He wrote in the Latin …show more content…
His Handbook of a Christian Knight showed how one could live secularly but still remain and ardent Christian (Palmer 72). In writing these books, Erasmus had an influence on the Protestant Reformation, because his works inspired many of the Reformation leaders such as Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin. Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin agreed with many of Erasmus’ views when satirizing the church. He was not technically considered a reformer because he did not attack the actual theology of the Catholic Church, just some of the traditions and corruption of the clergy. He, like the reformers, saw that the clergy were ignorant and lazy, and gained too much money to live a life of poverty as they were supposed to (Palmer 72). The fervor produced around Erasmus’ writing has even been considered great enough to have been able to have restored the church, but no one is sure that would have happened without the impact of Protestantism (Palmer 72). Erasmus’ skills in reading and writing abled him to accomplish many tasks and inspire many people. His views, though not as revolutionary as Luther’s, had a great impact on the Protestant