Fatal Discord
Page 103
Luther was returning: Brecht, Martin Luther, 48; Bainton, Here I Stand, 15, 25.
“gate of Paradise”: Heer, Medieval World, 62.
he held a farewell dinner: Brecht, Martin Luther, 50.
CHAPTER 7: BACK TO THE FATHERS
The troubles that Erasmus encountered: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 1, no. 119, to Jacob Batt [February 1500], 236–246.
“very tired from traveling”: Ibid., 245.
“My readings in Greek”: Ibid., no. 123 [March 1500], 249.
“to buy some Greek authors”: Ibid., no. 124, to Jacob Batt, April 12 [1500], 252.
“only consolation”: Ibid., no. 131, to Augustin Vincent [September 1500], 277.
caused Erasmus to grow weak: Ibid., 250.
got the idea of gathering adages: Ibid., no. 126, to William Blount [June 1500], 255–266.
“gardens of the classics”: Ibid., 257.
he had 818 proverbs: Ibid., 255. See also Barker, Adages of Erasmus, xii; Margaret Mann Phillips, The “Adages” of Erasmus: A Study with Translations, 41–45, 54; Huizinga, Erasmus, 39.
“Twice-cooked cabbage is death”: Barker, Adages of Erasmus, xv–xvi.
“the one-eyed man is king”: Ibid., 276–277.
“Pandora’s box” and “to call a spade a spade”: Ibid., xxxix, 32–34, 170.
to give public lectures: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 1, 269.
a hundred copies disappeared: Ibid., vol. 1, 281–284.
meager and formulaic: Ibid., vol. 2, 139, and vol. 4, 236; see also Schoeck, Erasmus of Europe, 214.
occupy him for the rest of his life: Phillips, “Erasmus and the Northern Renaissance, 1.
“If anyone had taken me”: Quoted in ibid., 1.
“ferreting his way”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 1, 287.
documented in his letters: Ibid., vol. 1, nos. 128, 129, 130, 138, 139.
Lady Anna van Borssele: Ibid., vol. 1, 157.
sent back detailed instructions: Ibid., vol. 1, no. 139, to Jacob Batt [c. December 12] 1500, 300–306; quote, 301–302.
wrote to Lady Anna directly: Ibid., vol. 2, no. 145, January 27, 1501, 12–18; quote, 15. Huizinga (Erasmus, 38) calls Erasmus’s instructions to Batt “shameless.” By contrast, Harbison (Christian Scholar, 80) finds a “kernel of integrity” in his actions; while “others had had to sacrifice comfort, family, and pleasure to finish a work of scholarship,” Erasmus “had to sacrifice his self-respect.”
his “good fortune”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 2, no. 149 [March 16? 1501], 24–27.
the underlying Greek: Since the original language of the Psalms is Hebrew, the Greek itself was a translation.
served as the scriptural foundation: Bruce M. Metzger, The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations, 285; G. Henslow, The Vulgate: The Source of the False Doctrines, vi.
full of spelling mistakes: Bruce M. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 76 and chap. 7, “The Causes of Error in the Transmission of the Text of the New Testament,” 186–206.
the name of the pool: Bentley, Humanists and Holy Writ, 83.
introduced another level of distortion: Metzger, Early Versions of the New Testament, 365ff; Arthur Vööbus, “Early Versions of the New Testament,” Papers of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile (Stockholm, 1954), 59; Henslow, Vulgate, vi, 2, 72ff.
so unnerved conservative churchmen: Rummel, Humanist-Scholastic Debate, 108.
considered schismatic: Bentley, Humanists and Holy Writ, 15.
have a profound impact: Simon Goldhill, Who Needs Greek? Contests in the Cultural History of Hellenism, especially chap. 1, “Learning Greek Is Heresy! Resisting Erasmus,” 14–59.
“we are perfectly satisfied”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 2, 26.
second only to Scripture itself: Cantor, Civilization of the Middle Ages, 66.
the most elegant stylist: The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 1, 517.
During his lifetime: The year of Jerome’s birth is a subject of debate. The standard biography, J. N. D. Kelly, Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies (1), gives it as 331, but most historians believe it occurred sometime in the middle to late 340s.
the center of an ardent cult: Eugene F. Rice Jr., Saint Jerome in the Renaissance, 49–83.
began reviving Jerome’s image: Ibid., 84, 102ff, 113.
one of the four richest caches: F. A. Wright, introduction to Select Letters of St. Jerome (Loeb Classical Library, vol. 282), xiii.
showed how scholarship and devotion: Rice, Jerome in the Renaissance, 91–95.
copied out all of Jerome’s letters: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 61, xiii; Rice, Jerome in the Renaissance, 116.
“filled with mistakes”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 2, 26–27.
critical to his own career: Ibid., vol. 61, xxxiii–xxxv.
would have to refashion him: See Lisa Jardine, Erasmus, Man of Letters: The Construction of Charisma in Print, especially chap. 2, “The In(de)scribable Aura of the Scholar-Saint in His Study: Erasmus’ Life and Letters of Saint Jerome,” 55–82.
Jerome got his charge: Kelly, Jerome, 80–87. See also “Jerome as Biblical Scholar,” in The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 1, 513.
was in disarray: The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 1, 527; Metzger, Early Versions of the New Testament, 285–330.
scribal errors were introduced: Metzger, Early Versions of the New Testament, 322–330; Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament, xi–xii, 3–4, 24–29.
a “living text”: Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism, 69–71.
“almost from the very cradle”: Quoted in The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 1, 510.
sampled the city’s pleasures: Kelly, Jerome, 21.
“half-barbarous banks of the Rhine”: Quoted in ibid., 25.
a violent blowup that blackened his reputation: Ibid., 33–35.
had a dream: Jerome, Letter 22, written in 384, at www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001022.htm, section no. 30. See also Kelly, Jerome, 41–44.
citing as justification: Letter 70, written in 397, at www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001070.htm. See also Rice, Jerome in the Renaissance, 5–6; Kelly, Jerome, 43. The reference is to Deuteronomy 21:10–13.
ferry his requests: See Letter 5, written about 374, at www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001005.htm.
would describe his torment: Letter 22, section 7.
Like many early Christians: Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity, 428–446.
“frenzy” of the Arians: Letter 16, written in 377 or 378, at www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001016.htm.
Eusebius’s famous Chronicle: Kelly, Jerome, 72–75.
In his reply: Letter 18, written in 381, at www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001018.htm. See also The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 1, 513.
largely unknown in the West: The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 1, 513.
“Is there a man”: “Prefaces to the Vulgate Version of the New Testament—The Four Gospels,” at www.newadvent.org/fathers/3002.htm.
“there are almost”: Ibid.
proceeded with caution: Rice, Jerome in the Renaissance, 11–12.
in some 3,500 places: Metzger, Early Versions of the New Testament, 353.
Jerome was often inconsistent: Ibid., 353–354; The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 1, 523–6; Vööbus, “Early Versions of the New Testament,” 59; Kelly, Jerome, 87.
craved female company: Kelly, Jerome, 91ff.
a sixteen-thousand-word letter: Letter 22, at www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001022.htm; “Assuredly no gold,” section 23; “may be lost,” section 5; “women pale and thin,” section 17; “I praise wedlock,” section 20.
part of
an ardent campaign: Kelly, Jerome, 106, 335; Rice, Jerome in the Renaissance, 139–140.
Ambrose and Augustine: Kelly, Jerome, 102; Cantor, Civilization of the Middle Ages, 68–69.
Mary’s perpetual virginity: Rice, Jerome in the Renaissance, 46.
first protests were raised: Kelly, Jerome, 110.
“two-legged asses”: Letter 27, written in 384, at www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001027.htm.
“the detestable tribe of monks”: Quoted in Kelly, Jerome, 108.
“Let Rome keep her bustle”: Letter 43, written in 385, in Wright, Select Letters of St. Jerome, 175, 177; “I thank my God,” Letter 45, written in 285, 187.
set up a monastic community: Kelly, Jerome, 129.
these pilgrims helped spread: Ibid., 139–40.
visited only at night: Metzger, Early Versions of the New Testament, 332.
the Septuagint: “Scripture, Privileged Translations of,” in The Encyclopedia of Judaism. As this entry notes, the Septuagint is actually older than the standard Hebrew Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible and so in some passages may offer a more reliable reading.
discussed it with Jews: Jerome, Letter 57, written in 395, at www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001057.htm, section 11.
the Hebraica veritas: The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 1, 515; Kelly, Jerome, 158.
“filthy swine”: Quoted in Kelly, Jerome, 157.
a correspondence that offers: Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 274. Brown calls their long correspondence “a unique document in the Early Church,” showing “two highly-civilized men conducting with studied courtesy a singularly rancorous correspondence.”
Augustine wrote to Jerome: Augustine, Letter 71, written in 403, at www.new advent.org/fathers/1102071.htm. See also Kelly, Jerome, 263–272.
Jerome testily replied: Jerome, Letter 112, written in 404, at www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102075.htm; “for I have not followed,” section 20; Jerome guessed that it was his translation, section 22.
two models of Christian scholarship: Harbison, Christian Scholar, 18–19.
Jerome’s translation of the Old Testament: Kelly, Jerome, 162–163.
had serious defects: The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 1, 525–526, states that “what is most remarkable is the variety of Jerome’s renderings. Time and again he gives the impression that the last thing he would think of doing is to use a word or phrase twice in the same context if he could possibly avoid it.” In practice, he “translated very much as he happened himself to feel at any particular moment.” See also Metzger, Early Versions of the New Testament, 353–355.
most famous example: Kelly, Jerome, 301.
would spend his remaining years: Ibid., 225.
a mob, inflamed: Ibid., 322.
was working on a commentary: The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 1, 516.
much that Erasmus had to overlook: Rice, Jerome in the Renaissance, 133.
responsible for only part of the Vulgate: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 15, 278, notes that Erasmus always distinguished between the text of the Vulgate and the version of Jerome, which, he believed, had been lost.
This assessment is shared: The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 1, 519; Metzger, Text of the New Testament, 76.
many faults that had crept into the text: Metzger, Text of the New Testament, 76.
asked his court scholar Alcuin: Christoph de Hamel, The Book: A History of the Bible, 34–38; Frederic Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, 257–261.
led to the undoing: Metzger, Early Versions of the New Testament, 346; “Vulgate,” in Dictionary of the Bible.
another layer of corruption: H. H. Glunz, History of the Vulgate in England from Alenin to Roger Bacon, 253–254.
the trade in Bibles: The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 2, 145–154; Kenyon, Our Bible, 161–162; de Hamel, The Book, 130–139.
Roger Bacon: Beryl Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages, 329–333; Glunz, History of the Vulgate in England, 259ff, 284.
he used a Paris version: Laura Light, “The Bible and the Individual: The Thirteenth-Century Paris Bible,” in Susan Boynton and Diane J. Reilly, eds., The Practice of the Bible in the Middle Ages: Production, Reception, and Performance in Western Christianity, 228–246; de Hamel, The Book, 201.
“I am not unaware”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 2, no. 161, to Antonius of Luxembourg, July 18 [1501], 46–48.
drafted it at the request: Ibid., 51.
rereading Plato: Erasmus in this period was strongly affected by the Neoplatonist revival that was taking place in Italy and spreading to humanist circles in northern Europe; he was especially drawn to its stress on the divide between the body and the spirit. See Bainton, Erasmus of Christendom, 59–61; Carlos Eire, Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450–1650, 108.
Jean Vitrier: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 2, 50. See also Erasmus’s lengthy sketch of Vitrier, vol. 8, 226–232; “you would be,” 230. (The quotation has been slightly edited for clarity.)
unable to carry around: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 66, 9.
“There is really no attack”: John P. Dolan, trans., The Essential Erasmus, 36; “seek the invisible,” 61; “The entire spiritual life,” 62–63; “their greatest legacy,” 66; “if you live as if,” 65; “is in profiting,” 80. On the importance of the fifth rule, see Augustijn, Erasmus, 46.
“Monasticism is not piety”: Dolan, Essential Erasmus, 92. (Dolan gives pietas as “holiness,” but other accounts use “piety.”
“Just as Christ”: Ibid., 68.
lacks the snap: Heiko Oberman, in The Reformation: Roots and Ramifications (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 72, calls the Enchiridion “the most boring book in the history of piety, adding that “at least that was the judgment of his contemporaries, because it was a publishing failure.”
“no beast so ferocious”: Dolan, Essential Erasmus, 47.
“I would prefer”: Ibid., 71.
more than fifteen printings: See the Universal Short Title Catalogue (ustc.ac.uk/index.php); Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 66, 4–7; Smith, Erasmus, 57–58.
the tribune of liberal religious reform in Europe: Bainton, in Erasmus of Christendom (65), says that the Enchiridion made Erasmus “the mouthpiece of liberal Catholic reform.” Phillips, in Erasmus and the Northern Renaissance (44), writes that with the Enchiridion, Erasmus began “his work of liberation.” See also the discussion by Augustijn, who writes (Erasmus, 55) of the spirit of individualism that permeates this work.
to offer Erasmus a lectureship: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 2, 58–59.
“The study of Greek”: Ibid., 59–60.
“a Delian prophet”: Ibid., 108.
“The shortness of life and the limitations”: Ibid., 87.
“The most enjoyable sport”: Ibid., 89.
found a codex by Lorenzo Valla: Ibid., no. 182 [about March] 1505, 89–97.
Of particular consequence: Bentley, Humanists and Holy Writ, 186. See also Lorenzo Valla, De Collatione Novi Testamenti, Matthew 3:2, and 2 Corinthians 7:10.
gave Erasmus the idea: The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 2, 495.
“I do not really believe”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 2, 94.
we can see a line extending: See Harbison, Christian Scholar, 84; The Cambridge History of the Bible, vol. 2, 494–496.
a letter he sent in late 1504: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 2, no. 181 [about December] 1504, 85–89.
back in his beloved England: Ibid., 98–99.
CHAPTER 8: ANGRY WITH GOD
“dead to the world”: Luthers Werke, Tischreden, vol. 4, no. 4707, 440.
the Augustinian Hermits: Brecht, Martin Luther, 52–53; “Hermits of St. Augustine,” in The Catholic Encyclopedia at www.newadvent.org/cathen/07281a.htm.
not a monk but a friar: Kenneth Hagen, “So You Think Luther Was a Monk? Stop It!” Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology, 19(2): 35–37, Eastertide 2010; Diarmaid MacCulloch, “The World Took S
ides,” London Review of Books, 38(16): 25–27, August 11, 2016.
he “went crazy”: Quoted in Brecht, Martin Luther, 58.
was led to his cell: It is today possible to see Luther’s cell (and to stay at the guesthouse) in the former monastery in Erfurt, now a pilgrimage site for tourists.
the Rule of Augustine: George Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule, 75–109; Friedenthal, Luther, 42–43; Brecht, Martin Luther, 60.
“unchaste hearts”: Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule, 89.
the canonical hours: Bainton, Here I Stand, 27–28; Friedenthal, Luther, 43; Brecht, Martin Luther, 63–64.
four to five hours a day in church: John M. Todd, Luther: A Life, 31.
alive in the heart: Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule, 85; Brecht, Martin Luther, 64–65.
“horrible temptations to pollution”: Luther’s Works, vol. 54, “Table Talk,” no. 3921, 295.
pride, impatience, and anger: Friedenthal, Luther, 35.
cleaning the latrines: Brecht, Martin Luther, 91.
“among the choir of angels”: Quoted in Fife, Revolt of Martin Luther, 96.
the yoke of obedience: Brecht, Martin Luther, 61.
the habit of the order: Ibid., 63; Friedenthal, Luther, 39.
“how peaceful and quiet Satan”: Luther’s Works, vol. 44, 387.
Gabriel Biel: Brecht, Martin Luther, 71; Friedenthal, Luther, 60.
such emissions were so frequent: Luther’s Works, vol. 54, “Table Talk,” no. 3921, 295.
the best of books: Ibid., no. 3722, 264; Bainton, Here I Stand, 30; Ozment, Age of Reform, 231–232.
said to have committed a great crime: Luther’s Works, vol. 14, 294–295.
made a grand entrance: Ibid., vol. 54, “Table Talk,” no. 1558, 156; Friedenthal, Luther, 47.
Taking his place: Luther’s Works, vol. 54, “Table Talk,” no. 1558, 156; no. 3556a, 234; no. 4574, 354; Bainton, Here I Stand, 30–33.
“With what tongue”: Quoted in Bainton, Here I Stand, 30.
“Don’t you know”: Luther’s Works, vol. 54, “Table Talk,” no. 623, 109; no. 4574, 354. Luther also later recalled this exchange in a letter to his father, vol. 48, no. 104, November 21, 1521, 332. See also Friedenthal, Luther, 47.
was especially troubled: See Luther’s 1545 preface to his Latin writings, in John Dillenberger, ed., Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings, 11; Luther’s Works, vol. 54, “Table Talk,” no. 3232c, 193–194.