Desiderius Erasmus was a Dutch humanist philosopher and theologian, the illegitimate son of a priest and was himself forced into a monastic life by his guardians. In the monastery at Steyr, his lifelong passion for Latin began and he quickly outstripped the ability of his tutors. He escaped the monastic life in his late twenties and proceeded to broaden his horizons by travelling and studying extensively. He eventually came to England and struck up a friendship with Thomas More, which lasted until the latter's death at the hands of Henry VIII (SLE). It was whilst making his way to England on a subsequent visit from Italy that he conceived his best known work, In Praise of Folly. Arriving at More's house in London, he quickly committed it to paper with More's support, in 1509.In Praise of Folly, Erasmus wrote this work with two intentions in mind; to satirize and inveigh against the offices and institutions of the Church, for which he had developed a deep hatred of during his time at Steyr. He attacks the monastic orders and their conception of worship as consisting in "the precise number of knots to the tying on their sandals". With more venom he goes on to say, "It will be pretty to hear their pleas before the great tribunal: one will brag how mortified his carnal appetite by feeding only upon fish: another will urge that he spent most of his time on earth in the divine exercise of singing psalms... but Christ will interrupt: 'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, ...I left you but one precept, of loving one another, which I do not hear anyone plead that he had faithfully discharged.'" What is perhaps most prominent in Erasmus' work, is his unconventional approach to his studies and taking a peculiar interest in idiosyncratic works. Within these works, Erasmus satirizes the importance of doctrine and viewpoints in Christianity and instead makes a broad argument that the purpose of religion is to instil personal development and virtuous qualities. Interestingly enough, this and Erasmus' pursuit of multiple interests with the intention to foster his own personal development throughout the course of his life is in line with Delta values, more specifically with I+R in the Ego Block.
This introduces the central theme of Erasmus' In Praise of Folly, namely his concern with religion as a worship 'from the heart' that has no need of the offices and intermediaries supplied by the Church. Erasmus insists that true religion is a form of Folly, in the sense that it is simplistic and direct, not convoluted with unnecessary sophistication and dogmatic doctrine. For Erasmus, religion is based on a thorough-going humanism, understood in its classical sense as a confidence in human reason to know and worship God. In a similar vein, Erasmus was no friend of scholasticism, nor indeed the philosophical fathers of his day, Plato (IEI) and Aristotle (LIE). Erasmus' hero was Augustine (IEI), from whom he took the doctrine that reason must be the servant of faith. Apart from In Praise of Folly, and later his Colloquia, much of his work consisted in Greek and Latin translations of the Bible. From this excerpt; "Due to limited financial resources, and with urging from his caretaker, Erasmus entered an Augustinian monastery a few years after his parent's death. This was most certainly not the life-style for him and may have precipitated his independent future. He disliked rigor and severity but it did provide the time for independent attention to his studies and the beginnings of his prodigious education." the sensitivity of Erasmus surrounding social rules brought him great stress out of fear that it may limit his freedom. This is a common fear for L4 types, when the creation of rules and structures actually limit personal development and understanding for this type. Furthermore, Erasmus' travels always kept him occupied and busy, with paying very little attention to trying to keep himself comfortable in living in one area, almost always absorbed in his work and giving little thought to his lived experience. As such, S5 is fitting for Erasmus - he hardly ever engaged in comforting activities and managing a clean household - despite the fact that he wished for such a lifestyle that benefited him and made him feel comfortable after have already completed his work.
Erasmus strongly favored the lifestyle of achieving in a broad variety of areas, working independently in his research and not showing any sort of bias in religion or ideology. Nevertheless, Erasmus still had little issue with the intellectual dirty work; fact checking and examining primary source material - it still meant that his work had a stronger foundation compared to the poorly sourced works of other Christian scholars. Despite Erasmus' certitude in factual accuracy, it was perhaps more clear that this became more of a sore spot for him as his colleagues carried a stronger hold on the importance of factual accuracy in the advancement of humanism. Erasmus had used the information he gathered to simply support his ideals of humanism in religion. As such, there is a strong parallel between Erasmus' role in Christian humanism and the role of P6 types as information gatherers, gathering a large amount of information on a topic before quickly moving on to something new.
Erasmus had an enormous influence on ushering in the Reformation, but surprisingly, in the struggle between Catholics and the Protestants - the latter of whom were undoubtedly closer to Erasmus' religious ideas - he eventually sided with the Catholics. This apparent contradiction of values best illustrates Erasmus' somewhat timid nature, he could not condone the violence of the Lutherans, preferring to attack the Catholics with his words instead of his actions. When More was executed by Henry the VIII for refusing to accept his supremacy over the Pope as head of the Church of England, Erasmus is quoted as saying, "Would More have never meddled with that dangerous business and left the theological cause". This quote brings into sharp relief between his idealistic and faithful nature and the uncompromising and corruptible nature of More. A more illuminating account of Erasmus' personality would be from this excerpt from his biography from an archive on European history: "He proudly could be called the 'mover and shaker' of Europe, a citizen of a world he created for himself. This roving international man of letters networked his way through life with his superior intellect and his penchant for 'a good fire, a good dinner, a pile of amusing correspondence and a handsome research grant.' His charm and humor and amazing ability to keep up a massive correspondence with hundreds of fans, scholars and friends continued unabated throughout his lifetime." This account gives a better perspective on an individual with Strong E, likely E8.
Thus far what has been mentioned about Desiderius Erasmus points to Strong I and R, L4, S5, P6 and E8. In conclusion, I believe Erasmus is a timeless representative of the IEE type of information metabolism.
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