Erasmus illustrated - in the Netherlands and Relation to Anabaptism

 Erasmus Roterodamus, Desiderius 

According to Wikipedia, Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was born in Rotterdam and died July 12, 1536, in Basel, Switzerland. He was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic theologian, educationalist, satirist, and philosopher. Other sources suggest he might have had significant influence on the thinking of early Anabaptist leaders.

In Gouda there is an Erasmusplein, or square, adjacent to the south side of the Turfsingel, a canal on the southwest side of the older city (see map below)

According to the Gouda tourism placard #4 at the Catarina Gasthuis (see above), Erasmus “spent a large part of his youth in late-medieval Gouda. He became the most important writer and thinker of his time and is one of the best-known Dutch people worldwide.”

“This Catharina Gasthuis’, so the placard continues, “was the Middle Ages hospital.” It speaks of times when “there were periods when the plague raged and there were many casualties.” The placard indicates Catharina,  Margaretha Rogerius, was Erasmus’ mother and she died in Deventer, where Erasmus and his brother were studying. The boys returned to their father, Roger Gerard, evidently a priest in Gouda, but he also shortly died. Quoting from this poster again ”Three guardians were assigned, but they seemed more interested in the family fortune than in either boy. Erasmus, under protest, eventually joined the Stein monastery.”

Since he was born in Rotterdam, possibly October 27, 1467, there are a couple of sculptures of him in the city. Its newest, most modern bridge is named the Erasmusbrug, but nicknamed “The Swan” for its appearance. You can see photos of it here and its location on the map below.

Also in Rotterdam is the Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC), affiliated with Erasmus University and home to its faculty of medicine, the largest and one of the most authoritative scientific University Medical Centers in Europe (Google) (photo below).

In Ghent there is an Erasmus Hotel northeast of the old town, at the east end of the Patersol neighbourhood, just north off the Leie River (see map top of next page).

First free-standing statue in the Netherlands

The statue of Desiderius Erasmus was made by Hendrick de Keyser and unveiled on 30 April 1622. The bronze statue replaced earlier sculptures of the Rotterdam humanist made of wood and stone. The statue is special because it is the first free-standing statue in the Netherlands and the first statue in Europe that was not erected for a royal or military figure. Over the years the statue has stood at various locations in Rotterdam. Since 1963 it stands in front (west) of the Laurenskerk. There is also a so-called monument to Erasmus across the street to the south of the church (see photos below).

Influenced by: Martin Luther, Thomas More, MORE

Known for: New Testament translations and exegesis, satire, pacifism, letters, best-selling author and editor, and influencer

Parents:, Roger Gerard and Margaret Rogerius

Awards: Counsellor to Emperor Charles V. (hon.)

Erasmus and Anabaptism

The following is based on my reading ab out Erasmus and the Anabaptists from many sources including Wikipedia, GAMEO, The Canadian and Brittanica Encyclopedias and papers found online on the subject Roma variety of websites, as well as Abraham Friesen’s book, Erasmus, the Anabaptists, and the Great Commission.

Although Erasmus wrote clearly and strongly against the corruption plaguing the established Christian church of his time, the Roman Catholic, he managed to evade persecution and martyrdom. This is not to say that he was not called on the carpet on occasion. Indeed, it seems he moved to Basel to escape the atmosphere of persecution in the Low Countries and elsewhere at the time.

Erasmus was the prominent Christian thinker of his day. He further developed the concept of humanism that was appearing in the Renaissance period and earlier into a Christian form. Besides what was mentioned at the beginning of the last pragraph, he wrote on baptism, seeming to favour the biblical and rational form of adult baptism. However, ultimately, he still bowed to the churches’ - Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed - insistence on infant baptism. The concern of these denominations was what would happen to the population if all European infants were not baptized at birth. 

He also wrote strongly on pacifism, which it was more difficult to disagree with him on in principle and in face of Christ’s words and the apparent beliefs and practice of the Early Church before Constantine. He also had words to say with respect to the swearing of oaths. Perhaps more to the point, he wrote on what is known as Christ’s Great Commission to teach all nations and make disciples of believers. He especially focused on the last, saying that the church was failing badly in this area. People were not being taught how to live as believers, and their leaders, like the Old Testament ‘shepherds’ so roundly criticized by the Hebrew prophets, were far from being models worthy of imitation, unlike the Apostle Paul, who felt confident enough in his actions to call new believers to imitate Christ, but also himself (I Thessalonians 1).  

Erasmus’ writings were widely disseminated and read, thanks to the presence of printing presses. Thus, it is known from their own words and the historical record that he was read by Uldrich Zwingli, the reformer in Zurich, and a number of our Anabaptist forebears. It is not so clear whether he and our Anabaptist forebears in Switzerland were reading him simultaneously or even together in the study sessions some of them were a part of with him before the break in 1525. This break was sealed by the mutual baptisms performed on one another by Felix Manz, Conrad Grebel, George Blaurock and others in Manz’s home in Zurich on January 21 of that year. This date is regarded as the beginning of the Anabaptist movement. We also know from his writings that Menno Simons read him.

The question of what role Erasmus played in the development of Anabaptism that is not entirely answered is whether the ideas he had quite clearly postulated as described above were the background for the beliefs th Anabaptists put forward, or whether they came to the same conclusions through biblical studies of their own. The comments of the previous paragraph would be taken by some to believe the former. Regardless, we know that Erasmus and the Anabaptists agreed in many key areas, even though he seems to have continued to renounce them. 

- Lorne Brandt 2024 5 21

The Big Comma

This morning the biblical passage for our denominational devotional book, Rejoice, referenced the beginning of John chapter 17, verses 1-5. My custom is to read the passage before I read the written devotional material. When I did so this morning, it struck me that Jesus stated in verse 4 that he had glorified his heavenly Father on earth by finishing the work that the Father had given him to do.

I was somewhat disappointed then when I turn to the actual writing of the devotional and found that the writer jumped right to the interpretation of verse 4 as being a reference to Jesus' death. I really do not think we have to come to or perhaps even can come to that conclusion. Let me explain.

Jesus was ostensibly praying this at the end of his Last Supper with his, by then 11, followers. To be sure, his death was imminent, and he is asking his Father to glorify his Son [in his death], but he is already saying that he had glorified the Father by "finishing the work that you gave me to do." It seems to me he is talking about work that was completed before he died.

It, therefore seems evident that the work that he was referring to was the preaching, teaching and healing that he had done over the previous years. This made me think of the remark made in a plenary session of our Mennonite Church British Columbia Annual Conference in 2013 by Anabaptist writer David Augsburger, professor of pastoral care and counselling in the School of Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in California in reference to what is generally known as the Apostle's Creed. As many of us know, it begins as follows:

I believe in God,

the Father almighty,

Creator of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried;

The Apostle's Creed is an item that is generally more known by the so-called mainline churches, in which it is often recited, as opposed to other more post-Reformation Protestant churches. One of the criticisms that these latter churches had of the mainline denominations, which led to the Reformation, that they did not put enough emphasis on what Jesus taught and also showed by his life's example how we ought to live. For over a millennia it had been by and large seen as sufficient to be baptized at birth, to attend mass and donate to the church. When the reformers, particularly our Anabaptist spiritual forebears, got their hands on the Bible and began to read it for themselves, their eyes were opened to how much was missing in what the church was teaching about Jesus.

Indeed, if all that was expected was to believe what the apostle's Creed states, it includes no mention of the importance of Jesus's whole life and practice. As you can see, it goes right from "born of the Virgin Mary," to "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried." It is that comma, after the word Mary, that was referred to as "What a comma!" It covers the whole life of Jesus: all that he taught about how we are to live as his disciples and followers. As Augsburger stated, “The comma is where it’s at! It’s that comma that you and I live by as disciples. It’s that comma that contains all the healing. And oh what a comma!” Let's give more credit to that, and pay more attention to what it hides for too many.

Telling Our Stories II - The Ones We Have Told

In the previous posting, I emphasized how and why we as Mennonites have not told our stories. However, that is not entirely true, as I alluded to there.  In fact, our early history from the 16th and 17th centuries is well and tragically recorded in the large volume known as The Martyrs Mirror. In fact, next to Fox's Book of Martyrs, which gruesomely recounts stories of martyrs for the Christian faith from earliest times onwards, this is probably one of the most prominent such collections. Somehow, and perhaps this speaks to the suppression of our storytelling, we had a volume of the latter at home, which I read in as a child, but not the former! I must confess that I still have not read the former. It can be an inspiration to others to see how people were willing to die for their faith, particularly as it documents many of their testimonies prior to and as they were dying. These were not just the educated or radical leaders either. They included very average people such as housewives and mothers.

However, as I indicated, that persecution led to the suppression of our storytelling. It was not until we began to move from the USSR to other parts of the world beginning in the late 19th century, but especially after the Russian Revolution and World War II, that we Mennonites found ourselves in environments where we were more free to tell our stories. The result has been a fairly large outpouring of stories of individuals, families, and our leaders. Their suffering in the USSR and elsewhere and how they saw God at work in leading them out of these situations are dominant themes in many of these books. Others, including a couple of my uncles, have written about how they saw God move in their own lives and their work in this country and elsewhere in this century and the last.  There are also now books written by and about the spiritual leaders of our faith where we ethnic Swiss/German/Dutch-origin Mennonites mostly have found ourselves in North America. However, I do not think many of them are no one much beyond our own circle. 

Of course, we must now always keep in mind that because of our missionary efforts around the world, telling us that our storytelling has not been suppressed as much in some parts of the world as it is where we come from, there are more non-ethnic Swiss/German/Dutch Mennonites in the world by far than in the former and original category. Yes, with some of the religious freedom given in Russia and subsequently in North America, missionaries began to go out in the 19th century. Others actually also went from the Netherlands, where the Mennonite church was still quite active prior to World War II. Sadly, since then, along with much of the church in Europe, as people questioned where God was through all of the horrors of 2 world wars, the Mennonite church in the Netherlands is very much on the wane. that has been a stronger presence maintained, although to a small degree, in Switzerland, where are movement began. In Germany, with the advent of many Mennonites moving there who escaped from Russia/the USSR, during and after World War II, there has been somewhat of a revival of Anabaptism, although some of it very conservative and not that true to some of the original teachings and values.

Another form of storytelling, if we can call it that, that has become very prominent in Mennonite circles is collecting family trees and genealogies. However, too often, the majority of these volumes are taken up by pages and pages of schematic diagrams of who descended from who and who married who etc. I always have to think of a scriptural quote from Titus 3:9 in connection with this: "But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain." (KJV) What the writer is referring to here is a point that we need to keep in mind. We can say all we want about the wonderful faith of our forefathers, but if we do not make it our own, it loses its value for ourselves.  So, as much as I like to know my genealogy, and have even worked on it, I always have the thought at the back of my mind, that this interest is not something we should overdo. I have always wished that GE's genealogies contained much more of the space stories of the members whose names are on those many pages. That would have so much more meaning and hopefully impact on the descendants who even bother to look at those volumes nowadays. For too many of our Mennonite descendants, many of whom still like to call themselves Mennonite even though they openly say they are not members of a Mennonite church, these genealogies may pique their interest in determining their roots, but they don't really care about the faith stories either.

It is the faith stories that I am more interested in.

Telling Our Stories I - or - Why We Don't Tell Them

This morning's devotional in our Mennonite Church publication Rejoice urged us to tell our stories as witnesses where God has acted in our lives. This is something that I have also frequently talked and perhaps written about. Indeed, I have even given related sermons. Indeed, there are writers in society at large to mourn the decline of storytelling. Like so many things in our world, including music and sports, storytelling is something that is relegated to professionals as in movies and novels.

There are those in our Mennonite circles who have written and continue to write about where God has acted in their lives. Much of this has focused on their deliverances from untenable living situations in the USSR. Many of those storytellers are passing on, and many untold stories with them.

Sometimes stories are not told because the telling is too painful. At other times, it is because we think our stories are such that no one else would be interested in hearing, or understanding them. Some people are not sure they have a listener.  When it comes to we as Mennonites telling our stories, we have sometimes talked about how this function has declined in our circles because, in order to live peaceably, we agreed, in essence, at various places and times in our history, as we moved about to escape persecution, not to tell our stories, at least not to those beyond our circles.  The larger world and the dominant church in the world in those days in particular, meaning either Catholic, Reformed or Lutheran  denominations, was not interested in our version of how God worked in the world and in our lives.  So, we became known, amongst ourselves at least, as "Die Stille im Lande,"  "The quiet in the land."

In our Western society today, with its emphasis on pluralism and tolerance, religious freedom and separation of church and state etc., telling such stories continues to be frowned on. It is one thing to have one's own belief, and that is accepted, but it is not accepted to tell others about it, particularly if there is a motive of wanting them to convert to your religion. We often hear the expression in our society that religion and politics are 2 topics that are kept out of polite conversation. Indeed, in many parts of the world, such activity is outlawed and Christians are put to death for breaking those rules. 

A prominent Canadian lawyer recently epitomized the view in Canada when he clearly stated, as a well-trained lawyer would do, that in Canada we accept the right of people to believe what they want. However, when it comes to acting on those beliefs, the laws of the land supersede because those actions might impinge negatively on others. He was speaking about a recent situation in BC where Trinity Western University (TWU) continues to fight for the freedom to educate professionals in a Christian setting where they are requested to abide by certain covenants that govern behavior. The one in question here was to refrain from homosexual activity. A number of lawyers and provincial law societies do not want TWU-trained lawyers to be able to practice simply because their training is in a school where that is part of the code of conduct. As representatives of the school have said, that does not mean that homosexuals cannot attend their school, and indeed due in graduate. 

This lawyer's attitude, in my mind, illustrates a basic misunderstanding of the role of religion in a person's life. Indeed, sometimes I think we should leave the word religion to refer to certain faith-based practices, rituals and celebrations, that the religious can do amongst themselves, without really at risk of infecting others. Indeed, sometimes these aspects have come to be seen as more cultural and accepted as expressions of that, then arising from religion.  For such reasons I have sometimes said that we really should not use the word religion when we are talking about our faith and way of life.  

True religion, as we Anabaptists know, includes a way of life. That was one of the big differences between our spiritual ancestors and the church at the time. There was little emphasis on living a life of discipleship as Jesus taught. Some have pointed to how the accepted creeds of the day fostered this by referring to the Trinity, God is creator, then Jesus' miraculous birth at the beginning,  before jumping to refer to his death and resurrection, saying nothing about the years in between and all of his actions and teachings and what the meaning of all of that was.