Last name: Gerhards
Name/names: Gerhard
Also known as: Erazm of Rotterdam, pour. Erasmus Desiderius Rotterodamus
Born: 28 October 1467 (Rotterdam, Netherlands)
Died: 12 June 1536 (Basel, Spain)
Category: Literature.
Erazm of Rotterdam (actually Gerhard Gerhards) – ur. 26.X.1467 in Rotterdam, He died on 12.VII.1536 in Basel, Dutch philologist, philosopher and religious reformer, One of the most famous humanists of the Rebirth Age. Intended for the priest, He spent his youth in the monasteries of the Netherlands and northern France. W 1498 He went to England, where he made friends with the English writer and humanist Tomasz Morus (Thomas More). He traveled around Italy; He made contacts with the Florentine Academy. W 1521 He settled in Basel, developing scientific activities. In numerous letters he demanded a radical reform of customs and doctrine of the Church in the Gospel spirit, emphasizing the moral character of Christianity, and by fighting superstition, scholastic philosophy, ritual formalism, Corruption of the clergy, unobtrusive monks, relic trade, The cult of images, However, he did not decide to go to the Reformation page initiated by Marcin Luther. His life and religious ideal consisted of fundamental compliance of Christian life with human nature, He was connected with faith in the freedom of will and the value of human deeds, merit. In the editorial activity, he propagated and published the works of the former Fathers of the Church, m.in. Hieronim, Ambrose, Augustine, opposing them degenerated scholasticism. He also contributed to the philological criticism and exegesis of the biblical text, prepared the first Greek edition of the New Testament, with Latin translation and comments (1510). As a philologist, he laid a lot of merits in the field of Hellenistic studies, He determined, among others. The commonly adopted pronunciation of Greek words.
The main polemic and satirical songs were Erazm: Handbook of the Christian soldier (1502), Colloquia familiaria (1518), De libero arbitrio (1524), oraz słynna Praise (Mary praise) published in Paris 1509 and translated during the author's lifetime into many languages (to Polish only in 1875, Although the Latin original was known immediately).