Erasmus Praise Of Folly Analysis

In Praise of Folly – This is, to put it mildly, a satirical work from 1509 that has Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam as its author. To give a general overview of this excerpt, it is a humorous attack on various groups such as the clergy, the monastics, and the theologians of the medieval period and into the beginning years of the Reformation. Erasmus is a member of the Church of Rome, although his attitude in this piece suggests that he is ashamed to be so. The first group that he pokes fun at is the group of people who call themselves theologians. Erasmus is of the opinion that the theologians think more highly of themselves than they should. They are arrogant, convinced that they are destined for the highest realms of heaven, and every single one of them of the opinion that they are correct in their beliefs. Furthermore, Erasmus illustrates how they can argue over the little things that serve no importance in the lives of the lay-people. The time that Jesus spent time in the womb of the Virgin Mary could serve as an example. When confronted about this questionable behavior, however, Erasmus warns readers to be wary of the angry theologians who have an arsenal of proofs and

All men of Erasmus’s recent history are more preoccupied with making as much money as they can rather than actually serving the people of the church. They, especially the popes and priests, shirk their responsibilities in hopes that someone else will do the manual labor, so to speak, while they are free to languish in the delusion of their own splendor. They are more concerned with war and desire times like the crusades where Christianity was fought for with the sword and not with service of good deeds to the needy. It is for these reasons that Erasmus claims that there is no one more deadly to the church than those of impious