Posted by Chris Crawford on January 13, 19100 at 01:08:53:

In Reply to: Erasmus and Luther posted by stephen cobb on January 12, 19100 at 05:50:01:

There's a ton of information on this topic but none that I know of in machine-readable form. Very roughly, the main point of dispute between them was predestination, with Luther pro and Erasmus con. Erasmus had been avoiding challenging Luther directly, but he finally broke down in 1524 and decided to publish something. He choose the Achilles Heel of Luther's doctrine: predestination. Nobody had bothered to nail Luther on that point prior to Erasmus, but Erasmus pretty well demolished him in "On the Freedom of the Will". Luther fought back with "On the of the Will", which won many admirers at the time, but by our intellectual standards it was little more than a polemic. They differed on many other things as well: Erasmus espoused tolerance and irenicism, Luther was just as ready to burn people as the Catholic Church was. In character terms, Erasmus was a cool rationalist, and Luther was something of a hothead. Remember, though, that Erasmus' coolness would not have changed the Catholic church. Luther's actions did.

Chris

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• Re: Erasmus and Luther Brano 14:28:12 1/24/100 (2)
  • Re: Erasmus and Luther br. timothy 22:32:48 4/15/100 (0)
  • Re: Erasmus and Luther br. timothy 22:32:28 4/15/100 (0)

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