Triumph des Dichters: Gekrönte Intellektuelle im 16. Jahrhundert (review)
appeared during the last five years of Erasmus’s life, the last in 1536, the year of his death. It was during the period of all these commentaries that Erasmus was busy publishing editions of the Church Fathers: Jerome (1516, rev. ed. 1529), Cyprian (1520), Arnobius and Athanasius (1522), Hilary (1523), Irenaeus (1526, editio princeps), Ambrose (1527), Augustine (1528–29), Chrysostom (1530, Latin translation), Basil (1532, editio princeps of Greek edition), and Origen (1536, published posthumously). Their presence is palpable throughout, though Erasmus develops his own positions in relation to all of them. Erasmus published Hyperaspistes in 1527, his conclusive rejection of Luther’s doctrine of the bound will. But his commentaries on Psalms 22 and 33 avoid confrontation and use language that anticipates the double-justification doctrine that became the basis for an attempted theological reconciliation at the Colloquy of Regensberg in 1541. In his commentary on Psalm 22, Erasmus writes: “Righteousness is of two kinds, the first being the innocence to which we are restored through faith and baptism and the second the righteousness of faith working through love” (152; see n. 194 on the same page). During these years also Europe was threatened with invasion by the Turks. In 1526 Suleiman I (1520–66) defeated King Louis of Hungary in the battle of Mohács and in 1529 advanced on Vienna, though he abandoned the siege on 16 October. Erasmus’s commentary on Psalm 28 is an exposition of the Turkish war, which, however, focuses more on deficiencies in Christian attitudes and practices than it does on the Turks (in keeping with the views he expressed in the two adages discussed above). Classical scholar, preacher, and theologian: it was a rare accomplishment even during the Renaissance, and almost nonexistent now. Erasmus reminds us of one of the worlds we have lost. But he also connects us to traditions that — however fragmented — are still alive among us, and reading him enables us to rediscover our roots, at the same time renegotiating them. ALBERT RABIL, JR. State University of New York, College at Old Westbury, Emeritus