Erasmus’ Paraphrases on the New Testament and the Presentation of Christ’s Teaching

Abstract

Erasmus wrote his Paraphrases on the New Testament (1517–1524) at the climactic point of his literary career, just after his new edition of the New Testament, the humanistic edition of the Adagia and his edition of the works of St Jerome. This lecture asks why Erasmus gave so much time to paraphrase at such a key moment, what he hoped his paraphrase would give to early sixteenth-century Christians, and how his paraphrase clarifies, dramatizes and adds to the Biblical text. It analyses quotations from the paraphrases on Romans and the Gospel of Mark, relating to his historicization of the text, his criticism of the contemporary church, and his presentation of issues of law, grace and faith, the appropriate attitude to civic authority and Christian love. It compares Erasmus’ approach to teaching from the New Testament to his hero Rudolph Agricola’s Oration on Christ’s Nativity (1484) and to Philipp Melanchthon’s approach in the first version of his Loci communes (1521).