1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Clarifying KJVO

Discussion in 'Bible Versions & Translations' started by Jordan Kurecki, Jul 4, 2018.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. tyndale1946

    tyndale1946 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2001
    Messages:
    11,184
    Likes Received:
    2,489
    Faith:
    Baptist
    He's one of the most interesting I've seen so far, being KJV myself... There was one fellow on another site that believed the KJV had some intrinsic magical properties, now he was somewhat strange:confused:... Enjoyed the OP Jordan, very informative!... Now if all excuse me I have to go to my tent and read my KJV... Brother Glen:Biggrin
     
    • Like Like x 2
  2. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2003
    Messages:
    38,981
    Likes Received:
    2,616
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Which one 1611 or 1769?:Whistling
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  3. Logos1560

    Logos1560 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2004
    Messages:
    6,604
    Likes Received:
    464
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Likely a post-1900 KJV edition with over 400 changes or differences with an actual 1769 Oxford edition.
     
  4. tyndale1946

    tyndale1946 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2001
    Messages:
    11,184
    Likes Received:
    2,489
    Faith:
    Baptist
    You know Salty that all depends... I have palm size Holman, a large print Nelson and the big boy is my Thompson-Chain... But the one I revere the most and rarely use, is the one handed down by my great, great, great, great, great grandpa signed by King Jimmy... Brother Glen:Whistling:D
     
    #24 tyndale1946, Jul 7, 2018
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2018
  5. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Many churches now have switched over the Esv, as seems to be the preferred choice among reformed and calvinists! I like to use the esv, and the Nas/Nkjv
    I can see Christians using for profit several different translation, so no problem when any of us are preferring any Greek text/translation, just no textual/biblical support to have one being the "Only" position!
     
  6. Rippon

    Rippon Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2005
    Messages:
    19,715
    Likes Received:
    585
    Faith:
    Baptist
    That settles it JK, if you agree with the words above by DC you are :
    Up the creek without a paddle.
    Your cheese has slid off your cracker.
    You're not playing with a full deck..
    The lights aren't on in your belfry.
    You've taken one too many hits to the head.


    Take your pick.
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  7. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    How about someone who loves the scriptures, but has misguided zeal for the kjv version?
     
  8. Rippon

    Rippon Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2005
    Messages:
    19,715
    Likes Received:
    585
    Faith:
    Baptist
    No, when he calls textual critics of the New Testament "out-and-out heretics, he needs to be rebuked --just as much as you do when you go on for eight years saying entirely false things about translations and translators. You and JK are standing shoulder to shoulder in God-dishonoring practices.
     
  9. Jordan Kurecki

    Jordan Kurecki Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2013
    Messages:
    1,925
    Likes Received:
    130
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Prove that what I said is not true. I challenge you to disprove my statements about the textual critics I mentioned being heretics.
    I believe you are the one saying false things here sir.
     
  10. robycop3

    robycop3 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2000
    Messages:
    14,396
    Likes Received:
    672
    Faith:
    Baptist
    The KJVO myth is phony as a Ford Corvette,
    Proof?

    All true Christians believe SCRIPTURE is our highest earthly authority in all matters of faith/worship. But the KJVO myth is NOT found in Scripture, even in the KJV itself, by the least quark of the slightest implication. Therefore, KJVO calls for a 2ND AUTHORITY to justify it.

    We recently went through a whole thread over that FACT, and NOT ONE KJVO dared try to supply that authority! Therefore, we can dismiss the whole KJVO myth as FALSE. After all, it IS man-made.
     
  11. Logos1560

    Logos1560 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2004
    Messages:
    6,604
    Likes Received:
    464
    Faith:
    Baptist
    You would have the responsibility to prove your allegations or claims to be true, not to assert that it is up to someone else to prove them wrong.

    Can you demonstrate that you apply your measures/standards concerning textual critics consistently and justly?

    Would a consistent, just application of your claims make the textual criticism that would be the basis for the KJV the work of heretics? Was Erasmus a heretic? The makers of the KJV made some textual criticism decisions. Would a consistent, just application of your assertions make the doctrinally-unsound Church of England makers of the KJV into heretics? Would their acceptance of the Church of England's doctrine of baptismal regeneration make them heretics so that you would be accepting the textual criticism decisions of heretics?
     
    #31 Logos1560, Jul 8, 2018
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2018
  12. Jordan Kurecki

    Jordan Kurecki Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2013
    Messages:
    1,925
    Likes Received:
    130
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I already have proved my claims about the textual critics in the OP, anyone who wants to double check can easily do so. Rippon simply wants to ignore the evidence and accuse me of slandering these men.

    As to Erasmus being a heretic:

    https://www.wayoflife.org/database/erasmus.html

    As to the KJV Translators believing in baptismal regeneration, Even if this were true, it’s a world of difference from using a translation by people who had some heresies on baptism, and using a text put together by principles developed by people who have rank heresies relating to bibliology such as inspiration, preservation, etc. that’s like trusting someone who writes a book on marriage that is a sodomite or polygamist.

    You are trying to make it appear to be a double standard, but you don’t seem to want to acknowledge the differences in what I am saying and what you are trying to say.
     
  13. Martin Marprelate

    Martin Marprelate Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 18, 2010
    Messages:
    8,916
    Likes Received:
    2,133
    Faith:
    Baptist
    It is simply the fact that several of the architects of the Critical Text did not believe in core doctrines of the faith. There is really no denying it since some of them openly admitted it. That does not necessarily make their work worthless, but it does suggest that their work should be looked at with a degree of suspicion.
    And if anyone needs to be rebuked it is you, since you continually blackguard your brothers in Christ and fail to read their posts properly before misrepresenting them..
     
  14. Martin Marprelate

    Martin Marprelate Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 18, 2010
    Messages:
    8,916
    Likes Received:
    2,133
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I think the point is that Erasmus (and Lancelot Andrewes), however faulty their beliefs may have been on other matters, believed in the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures. That is surely the sine qua non for a textual critic of the Bible? Also, Erasmus was prepared to go against the Church of Rome in publishing his new Greek Testament and Latin translation.
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  15. Logos1560

    Logos1560 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2004
    Messages:
    6,604
    Likes Received:
    464
    Faith:
    Baptist
    You do not demonstrate that your assertion is true.

    Richard Rolt wrote that Erasmus requested permission to dedicate his New Testament to Pope Leo X and that "the pope was pleased he should do it" (Lives of the Principal Reformers, p. 39). In their 1611 preface, the KJV translators even noted "that Pope Leo the Tenth allowed Erasmus' translation of the New Testament, so much different from the Vulgate, by his Apostolic Letter and Bull." Harold Grimm confirmed that Pope Leo X “commended” the New Testament of Erasmus “highly” (Reformation Era, p. 81). David Daniell wrote that “Pope Leo X admired and supported Erasmus, and wrote of his admiration for the Novum instrumentum” (Bible in English, p. 117). Arthur Pennington maintained that Pope Leo X issued “a brief stamping authority upon it [the second edition] (Life, p. 187). Frederic Seebohm noted: “Like its forerunner, this second edition went forth under the shield of Leo X’s approval, with the additional sanction of the Archbishops of Basle and of Canterbury” (Oxford Reformers, p. 454).

    Durant also observed that Pope Leo X approved of the New Testament of Erasmus and that "Pope Adrian VI asked Erasmus to do for the Old Testament what he had done for the New" (The Reformation, p. 285). Before he became the pope, Adrian had been a bishop and inquisitor-general in Spain. Rolt pointed out that Pope Adrian VI was an "old friend and school-fellow" of Erasmus (Lives, p. 78). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation stated that "the Popes, especially Leo X, had been favourable to him" [Erasmus] (p. 557). Kelley Sowards noted that "Leo's brief containing his enthusiastic and unqualified endorsement" of Erasmus's New Testament was printed in front of the second edition of it (Desiderius Erasmus, p. 76). Rolt observed that Pope Leo X and Cardinal Ximenes suppressed the books written by a Spaniard named Stunica against Erasmus and the first edition of his New Testament (Lives, p. 43). Charles Butler maintained that "the pope continued to speak both of the text and version with esteem" (Life of Erasmus, p. 175). In a letter to Henry Bullock discussing the New Testament he edited, Erasmus is translated as writing that his work “is approved by bishops, by archbishops, by the Pope himself” (Jackson, Essential Works of Erasmus, p. 275). In a letter to Thomas More, Erasmus wrote: “The New Testament is approved even by those whom I thought most likely to find fault; and the leading theologians like it very much” (Ibid., p. 264). The Dictionary of Catholic Biography noted that Erasmus "was upheld throughout his career by the popes, none of whom censured him" (p. 380). Rolt noted that Roman Catholic Cardinal Albertus and Cardinal Campegius wrote letters to Erasmus commending him concerning his New Testament, and they sent him presents (one a silver cup and the other a diamond ring) (Lives, p. 41). Sir Thomas More, who was later made a Catholic saint and who was a close friend of Erasmus, wrote three poems in praise of this New Testament (Ibid.). David Teems asserted that “this New Testament [of Erasmus] was received with applause, and by cardinals, bishops, even a pope or two” (Tyndale, p. 23). A pope did not condemn the writings of Erasmus until Pope Paul IV in the Index of 1559, over twenty years after the death of Erasmus. Thomas James asked: “Seeing his Apology satisfied the pope in his life-time, why should papists traduce him now he is dead?” (Treatise, p. xxx).
     
  16. Logos1560

    Logos1560 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2004
    Messages:
    6,604
    Likes Received:
    464
    Faith:
    Baptist
    B. Hall claimed that in the notes of Erasmus at Romans 9:5 and Philippians 2:6, Erasmus "undermined the value of their use against Arianism, and at 1 Timothy 3:16, he argued God had been added later to make the text explicit against the Arians" (Dorey, Erasmus, p. 102). Edward Hills pointed out that Calvin opposed "Erasmus' attack on the reading God was manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16)" (KJV Defended, p. 204). Hills affirmed that Calvin complained about Erasmus' refusal to admit that Philippians 2:6 taught the deity of Christ (Ibid.). In his commentary on Romans, Charles Hodge noted that Erasmus proposed at Romans 9:5 "to place a full stop after the words Christ came, and make all the rest of the verse refer to God" (p. 301). Jan Krans affirmed that “he [Erasmus] even treats passages such as Romans 9:5 in such a way that a clear statement of Christ’s divinity is ‘explained away’” (Beyond What is Written, p. 116). Robert Sider wrote that Zuniga had objected to the translations of Erasmus at Acts 4:27 "on the grounds that it invited interpretations leading to Arianism" (Paraphrase on the Acts, p. 192). Richard Trench wrote: "Erasmus, indeed, out of that latent Arianism, of which, perhaps, he was scarcely conscious to himself, denies that, at Jude 4, despotes is to be referred to Christ; attributing only kurios to Him, and despotes to the Father" (Synonyms, p. 97). In a discussion with Farel where Farel referred to 1 John 5:7, Arthur Pennington quoted and translated the following: “’I answered,’ says Erasmus, ’that the words, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, are in no ancient manuscript, and have never been cited by those Fathers who have disputed most against the Arians, as Athanasius, Cyril, and Hilary’” (Life, p. 267).

    James Tracy observed that "Antitrinitarian writers found in Erasmus's critical review of biblical proof-texts used by the Fathers against Arianism a basis for repudiating the doctrine of Christ's divinity" (Erasmus, p. 189). John McLachlan pointed out that readers that applied Erasmus's "method of biblical criticism found their belief in the doctrine of the Trinity undermined" (Socinianism, p. 31). Robert Drummond maintained that Erasmus “more than once betrays a strong leaning towards the Arians, and as he interprets all the texts usually relied on in proof of the doctrine of the Trinity in an Arian sense” (Erasmus, Vol. II, p. 362). Richard Marius stated: "In some texts and notes, he [Erasmus] seemed to challenge the traditional Christian faith in the Trinity of the godhead, and he minimized the horrific old teaching that an eternally burning hell awaited the damned souls in the next world" (Thomas More, p. 238). Robert Wallace maintained that “Erasmus has given occasion, both to friends and foes, to consider him an Antitrinitarian” (Antitrinitarian Biography, III, p. 639). Richard Rolt suggested that Martin Luther accused Erasmus of Arianism (Lives, p. 81).

    Will Durant maintained that Erasmus "obviously doubted the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Virgin Birth" (The Reformation, p. 288). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation in its article on humanism noted that the emphasis of Erasmus "on the exemplary, moral, and pedagogical roles of Christ could be developed into a rejection of the atonement or of the divinity of Christ" (II, p. 268). Alister McGrath stated that Erasmus "developed an essentially moral theology of justification" and that his view makes "justification dependent upon man's imitatio Christi" (Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation, p. 58). Arthur McGiffert observed that in Erasmus’ book on Free Will, “he maintained the traditional Catholic belief that salvation is the product of divine grace and human effort” (History, II, pp. 392-393). Garrett Eriks observed that "Luther rightly points out that Erasmus says man merits salvation" (Protestant Reformed Theological Journal, April, 1999, p. 46). He added: "A serious implication of the view of Erasmus is that he denies salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone" (p. 47). Arthur Pennington maintained that “we learn also from this treatise [Enchiridion] that he [Erasmus] held the meritoriousness of good works” (Life, p. 61). The Westminster Dictionary of Church History noted that "Erasmus interpreted the history of salvation as an educational process conducted by divine wisdom, in which man is led from flesh to spirit, from imperfection to perfection, from sinner to saint" (p. 305). Henry Sheldon wrote: "In place of justification by faith, as taught by the Reformer [Luther], he [Erasmus] preferred to insist that the way to salvation lies in the strenuous imitation of the graces of Christ" (History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3, pp. 32-33). Roland Bainton asserted that “the central point for him [Erasmus] was not, as for Luther, the doctrine of justification by faith, but the pattern of New Testament behavior, the exemplification of the Sermon on the Mount, the literal imitation of Christ” (Reformation of the Sixteen Century, p. 69). Arthur Pennington maintained that Erasmus “understood by faith in Christ, as we have already seen, the imitation of His example” (Life, pp. 307-308). He added that “we gather from various passages that he [Erasmus] considers that to be a Christian is not to be justified by faith in Christ, but to exhibit in the whole course of our life and conversation a transcript, however faint, of those graces and virtues which dignified and adorned the all perfect character of our Divine Master” (p. 308). In 1533 in his On Mending the Peace of the Church, Erasmus wrote: "Let us agree that we are justified by faith, i.e., the hearts of the faithful are thereby purified, provided we admit that the works of charity are necessary for salvation" (Essential Erasmus, p. 379). Thus, Erasmus seemed to advocate and defend the Roman Catholic view of the doctrine of justification. Halkin maintained that for Erasmus, the [Roman Catholic] Church was “the regulator of faith” (Erasmus, p. 159). Halkin also noted that “for Erasmus, baptism was essential” (p. 253). Erasmus as translated by Robert Adams wrote: “Baptism is a rite common to all Christians; by it we are born again in Christ, cut off from the world, and made members of Christ’s living body” (Praise of Folly, p. 99). Robert Drummond suggested that Erasmus “had never said a word against the authority of the sacraments” (Erasmus, Vol. II, pp. 254-255).
     
  17. Logos1560

    Logos1560 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2004
    Messages:
    6,604
    Likes Received:
    464
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Your posts suggest that you ignore a great deal of evidence so you may be guilty of what you accuse others.

    You ignore, avoid, or dismiss the evidence that conflicts with your unproven KJV-only claims.
     
  18. Logos1560

    Logos1560 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2004
    Messages:
    6,604
    Likes Received:
    464
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Do many KJV-only advocates avoid or evade the connections between Erasmus and Origen?

    Peter Ruckman even acknowledged that the hero of Erasmus was Origen (King James Onlyism, p. 10). Irena Backus observed that Theodore Beza often referred to Erasmus as being "too much under the influence of Origen" (Reformed Roots of the English N.T., p. 39). Diarmaid MacCulloch referred to “Erasmus’s discreet fascination with Origen” (Reformation, p. 111). Eugene Rice pointed out that we "find Erasmus relying on the authority of Origen when he attacked Luther in 1524" (Saint Jerome, pp. 91-92). John Jortin maintained that Erasmus “declares that he found more christian philosophy in one page of Origen, whom Jerome had much studied, than in ten pages of Augustine” (Life of Erasmus, Vol. I, p. 133). John Gleason asserted that "Erasmus thought one page of Origen worth ten of Augustine" (John Colet, pp. 262-263). William Campbell wrote: “For Erasmus, Origen was first and Augustine last in preference” (O’Sullivan, Bible as Book: the Reformation, p. 104). Campbell also cited a quotation from Peter Gorday that the favourite patristic authority of Erasmus was “Origen” (Ibid.). In his Paraclesis to the N. T., Erasmus wrote: 'If you refer to commentaries, choose out the best, such as Origen (who is far above all others)" (Hexter, Traditions, II, p. 301). Leon-E. Halkin maintained that “the Paraphrase on the Gospel of St. Matthew” written by Erasmus “was strongly inspired by Origen” (Erasmus, p. 164). Arthur Pennington quoted Erasmus as writing: “With regard to commentators on the sacred volume, none will teach him better than Origen” (Life, p. 125). Louis Bouyer noted that Erasmus "showed repeatedly a strong liking for the Greek Fathers, particularly for Origen" (Erasmus and his Times, p. 149). MacCulloch maintained that Erasmus “frequently turned both to Origen and Jerome’s analysis” of Paul’s epistles to the Romans and Galatians (Reformation, p. 110). Rummel claimed that Erasmus in his Annotations cited "Origen most often to confirm a reading different from the standard text" (Erasmus' Annotations, p. 67). William Estep pointed out: "At the time of his last illness, Erasmus was living in Froben's home and working--as much as his waning strength permitted--on a new edition of Origen's works, a task that his death interrupted" (Renaissance, p. 92). Robert Sargent claimed that "the most influential agent in the corruption of the Biblical text" was Origen (English Bible, p. 115). What do the facts concerning Erasmus and Origen say for the spiritual discernment of Erasmus?
     
  19. Jordan Kurecki

    Jordan Kurecki Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2013
    Messages:
    1,925
    Likes Received:
    130
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Hugh Pope, a Romanist, said Erasmus expressed doubts on “about almost every article of Catholic teaching” (see Michael Maynard, A History of the Debate over 1 John 5:7-8, p. 329). Pope listed six dogmas in particular that Erasmus questioned, including the mass, confession, the primacy of the Pope, and priestly celibacy.

    Following is a quote from Erasmus’ “Treatise on the Preparation for Death”: “We are assured of victory over death, victory over the flesh, victory over the world and Satan. Christ promises us remission of sins, fruits in this life a hundredfold, and thereafter life eternal. And for what reason? For the sake of our merit? No indeed, but through the grace of faith which is in Christ Jesus. We are the more secure because he is first our doctor. He first overcame the lapse of Adam, nailed our sins to the cross, sealed our redemption with his blood ... He added the seal of the Spirit lest we should waver in our confidence ... What could we little worms do of ourselves? Christ is our justification. Christ is our victory. Christ is our hope and security. … I believe there are many not absolved by the priest, not having taken the Eucharist, not having been anointed, not having received Christian burial who rest in peace, while many who have had all the rites of the Church and have been buried next to the altar have gone to hell.”

    In the introductory notes to the third edition of his Greek New Testament, Erasmus advocated re-baptism for those who were already sprinkled as infants (Friesen, pp. 34, 35). “It is little wonder, therefore, that when the doctors of the Sorbonne took a look at Erasmus’s proposal in 1526, they censured it and wrote that to ‘rebaptize’ children would be to open ‘the door to the destruction of the Christian religion’” (Friesen, p. 35).

    Erasmus understood the necessity of uprooting the papacy, even though he did not have the courage to attempt it himself nor to openly join hands with those, like Luther, who were trying to do it. In 1518 he wrote the following remarks in his letters: “I see that the monarchy of the Pope at Rome, as it is now, is a pestilence to Christendom, but I do not know if it is expedient to touch that sore openly.” “We shall never triumph over feigned Christians unless we first abolish the tyranny of the Roman see, and of its satellites, the Dominicans, the Franciscans and the Carmelites. But no one could attempt that without a serious tumult” (Huizinga, pp. 141, 144).

    Though Erasmus was not a separating reformer after the fashion of a Luther or a Zwingli or a Tyndale, he desired the Scriptures to be placed in the hands of every man. This sentiment alone set him apart dramatically from that which prevailed among Catholic authorities of that day, and it was a sentiment that was severely condemned by Catholic authorities. From the days of Pope Innocent III in the early 13th century, the Roman Catholic Church had forbidden the Bible to be translated into the common tongues and had put men to death for translating and reading the Bible.
     
    • Informative Informative x 2
  20. Jordan Kurecki

    Jordan Kurecki Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2013
    Messages:
    1,925
    Likes Received:
    130
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Erasmus first expressed his desire for every Christian to understand the Scripture in his Enchiridion militis Christiani of 1501. “... within this scope Erasmus finds an opportunity, for the first time, to develop his theological programme. This programme calls upon us to return to Scripture. It should be the endeavour of every Christian to understand Scripture in its purity and original meaning” (Erasmus, Huizinga, p. 51).

    Erasmus developed this theme boldly in his Paraclesis (meaning “a summons or exhortation” and referring to his summons for Christians to study Holy Scripture) which was published as a preface to the first edition of his Greek and Latin New Testament of 1516. “Indeed, I disagree very much with those who are unwilling that Holy Scripture, translated into the vulgar tongue, be read by the uneducated as if Christ taught such intricate doctrines that they could scarcely be understood by very few theologians, or as if the strength of the Christian religion consisted in men’s ignorance of it. The mysteries of kings, perhaps, are better concealed, but Christ wishes His mysteries published as openly as possible. I would that even the lowliest women read the Gospels and the Pauline Epistles. And I would that they were translated into all languages so that they could be read and understood not only by Scots and Irish but also by Turks and Saracens. ... Would that, as a result, the farmer sing some portion of them at the plow, the weaver hum some parts of them to the movement of his shuttle, the traveler lighten the weariness of the journey with stories of this kind! Let all the conversations of every Christian be drawn from this source. ... I think, and rightly so, unless I am mistaken, that that pure and genuine philosophy of Christ is not to be drawn from any source more abundantly than from the evangelical books and from the Apostolic Letters. ... If we desire to learn, why is another author more pleasing than Christ Himself? ... And He, since He promised to be with us all days, even unto the consummation of the world, stands forth especially in this literature, in which He lives for us even at this time, breathes and speaks. I should say almost more effectively than when He dwelt among men. ... We preserve the letters written by a dear friend, we kiss them fondly, we carry them about, we read them again and again, yet there are many thousands of Christians who, although they are learned in other respects, never read, however, the evangelical and apostolic books in an entire lifetime. The Mohammedans hold fast to their doctrines, the Jews also today from the very cradle study the books of Moses. Why do not we in the same way distinguish ourselves in Christ? ... Let us all, therefore, with our whole heart covet this literature, let us embrace it, let us continually occupy ourselves with it, let us fondly kiss it, at length let us die in its embrace, let us be transformed in it ... We embellish a wooden or stone statue with gems and gold for the love of Christ. Why not, rather, mark with gold and gems and with ornaments of greater value than these, if such there be, these writings which bring Christ to us so much more effectively than any paltry image? The latter represents only the form of the body--if indeed it represents anything of Him--but these writings bring you the living image of His holy mind and the speaking, healing, dying, rising Christ Himself, and thus they render Him so fully present that you would see less if you gazed upon Him with your very eyes” (quoted from John Olin, Christian Humanism and the Reformation: Selected Writings of Erasmus).

    As we have noted, this sentiment was 180 degrees contrary to the position of the Catholic Church in that day. In 1428 Rome had dug up the bones of English Bible translator John Wycliffe and burned them to express its outrage with his work. The Council of Toulouse (1229) and the Council of Tarragona (1234) had forbid the laity to possess or read the vernacular translations of the Bible. The Council of Toulouse used these words: “We prohibit the permission of the books of the Old and New Testament to laymen, except perhaps they might desire to have the Psalter, or some Breviary for the divine service, or the Hours of the blessed Virgin Mary, for devotion; expressly forbidding their having the other parts of the Bible translated into the vulgar tongue” (Allix, Ecclesiastical History, II, p. 213). The declarations of these Councils were still in force in Erasmus’ lifetime.
     
    • Informative Informative x 2
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
Loading...