Erasmus’ thorough engagement with the New Testament, in particular his revision of the Vulgate translation, aroused much controversy, especially in the orthodox Roman Catholic country of Spain. Erasmus had to fight fierce polemics with several people, including two Spanish scholars, Diego López Zúñiga and Sancho Carranza de Miranda, who were both connected to the University of Alcalà. This quarrel lasted from 1520 to 1524, with a late response by Erasmus in 1529. The discussion started as a philological one, regarding "correct" Latin, but turned into a dogmatic-theological fight over the issues of whether the New Testament speaks of Christ as God, whether one can apply the term servus (servant) to Christ, and whether the sacramental character of matrimony can be deduced from Ephesians 5:32.

 

The six texts in this volume are here translated and annotated for the first time. With elucidating notes and an introduction, the volume offers wonderful insight into a fierce and fundamental polemic over the New Testament

Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536), a Dutch humanist, Catholic priest, and scholar, was one of the most influential Renaissance figures. A professor of divinity and Greek, Erasmus wrote, taught, and travelled, meeting with Europe’s foremost scholars. A prolific author, Erasmus wrote on both ecclesiastic and general human interest subjects.

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Jan Bloemendal is a senior researcher at the Huygens Institute and lecturer at Ruhr University Bochum.

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Alexander Dalzell is professor emeritus in the Department of Classics at Trinity College, University of Toronto.

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Erika Rummel has taught at the University of Toronto and WLU, Waterloo. She has lived in big cities (Los Angeles, Vienna) and small villaes in Argentina, Romania, and Bulgaria. She has written extensively on social history, translated the correspondence of inventor Alfred Nobel, the humanist Erasmus, and the Reformer Wolfgang Capito. She is the author of a number of historical novels, most recently The Road to Gesualdo and The Inquisitor's Niece, which was judged best historical novel of the year by the Colorado Independent Publishers' Association. In 2018 the Renaissance Society of America honoured her with a lifetime achievement award. She divides her time between living in Toronto and Santa Monica, California. The Loneliness of the Time Traveller is her eighth novel.

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Charles Fantazzi is a professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at East Carolina University and a professor emeritus in the Department of Classics at the University of Windsor.

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Stephen Ryle was a lecturer in the department of classics at the University of Leeds.

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Douglas H. Shantz is a professor emeritus of classics and religion at the University of Calgary.

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