Spring/Summer 2009 - University of Toronto Press Publishing

m e d i e va l a n d r e n a i s s a n c e s t u d i e s
Exploiting Erasmus
The Erasmian Legacy and Religious Change in Early
Modern England
Gregory D. Dodds
Erasmus Studies
Desiderius Erasmus’
humanist works were
influential throughout
Europe, in various areas
of thought including theology,
education, philology,
and political theory.
Exploiting Erasmus examines
the legacy of Erasmus
in England from the midsixteenth
century to the
overthrow of James II in
1688 and studies the various ways in which his
works were received, manipulated, and used in
religious controversies that threatened both church
and state.
In viewing movements and events such as the
rise of anti-Calvinism, the religious politics leading
to the English civil war, and the emergence of the
Latitudinarians during the Restoration, Gregory
D. Dodds provides a fascinating account not only
of the reception and effects of Erasmus’ works, but
also of the early history of English Protestantism.
Exploiting Erasmus offers a critical new angle for
rethinking the theology and rhetoric of the time.
It is a remarkable study of Erasmus’ influence on
issues of conformity, tolerance, war, and peace.
Gregory D. Dodds is an associate professor in the
Department of History and Philosophy at Walla
Walla University.
Paraphrases on the Epistles to the
Corinthians, Ephesians, the Epistles to the
Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians
Edited by Robert D. Sider
Translated and Annotated by Mechtilde O’Mara
and Edward Phillips
Collected Works of Erasmus, Volume 43
As part of his effort to make the Bible an effective
instrument of reform in society, church, and everyday
life, Erasmus composed the Paraphrases. In these series
of texts, the Holy Scripture provides the core of a work
that is vastly expanded to embrace the reforming ‘philosophy
of Christ’ in all of its forms. This volume contains
two sets of Paraphrases, one on the Corinthian
letters (1519), and the other on the group of letters
from the Ephesians to the Thessalonians (1520).
The first set presents an epistolary narrative
which not only enlivens the events described but
revisits them from a sixteenth-century perspective.
The second set offers an interpretation of Pauline
theology with humanistic overtones that are distinctively
Erasmian. In these Paraphrases, we see the
craft of the philologist at work in the articulation of
the doctrine of the Trinity, the humanist depicting
Christ with an unmistakably human sensibility, and
the artist discussing familiar theological virtues of
faith and love in a new way.
Apart from providing the first complete English
translations of these Paraphrases since 1549, this
volume gives excellent insight into the fundamentals
of Erasmian theology and includes annotations
which highlight the historical and linguistic implications
of Erasmus’s original texts.
Robert D. Sider is the Charles A. Dana Professor
Emeritus of Classical Languages at Dickinson
College and an adjunct professor in the Department
of History at the University of Saskatchewan.
Mechtilde O’Mara is a retired professor in the
Department of Classics at St. Michael’s College,
University of Toronto.
Edward Phillips is a professor in the Division of
Humanities at Grinnell College.
Approx. 336 pp / 5¾ x 9 / March 2009
Cloth ISBN 978-0-8020-9900-6 £50.00 $80.00 E
Approx. 760 pp / 6¾ x 9¾ / April 2009
Cloth ISBN 978-0-8020-9296-0 £115.00 $175.00 E
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