Collected Works of Erasmus: Paraphrases on the Epistles to the Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians (review)

Volume 43 of the Collected Works of Erasmus: Paraphrases on the Epistles to the Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians offers readers a nuanced translation of Erasmus’s paraphrases of and insights into a central figure of Reformation debate, Paul. This addition to the fine Collected Works of Erasmus series is useful to general readers, students, and scholars and provides insight into the intricacies of Erasmus’s Reformation-era thought and its development. The superb notes provide an excellent supportive apparatus and will guide the reader to other important texts, both primary and secondary.

Erasmus’s Paraphrases on the New Testament emerged first in 1517, just as the Protestant Reformation began to rattle the intellectual and religious foundations of the Catholic Church. As the leading humanist and intellectual of his generation, Erasmus’s response to Luther’s challenge to the Church attracted great interest from contemporaries. While many historians have focused on Erasmus’s direct written encounters with Luther in the De libero arbitrio and the Hyperaspistes I and II, a great deal about Erasmus’s attitudes to the central theological themes of the Reformation debate can be found in his Paraphrases, which not only summarized scripture but also revealed Erasmus’s theological preoccupations in the form of a commentary.

Robert D. Sider’s brief but informative introduction makes clear that Erasmus wrote his commentaries on Paul’s Epistles just as he came to be troubled by challenges to his ‘advocacy of the humanities.’ Nevertheless, Erasmus was able to work on his Paraphrases, and the ones contained in this volume first appeared in 1519 and 1520. The editor and translators collated Erasmus’s 1532 edition with five other editions published during his lifetime, and they have helpfully noted changes that might have been made by Erasmus that appeared in the 1538 and 1540 editions published posthumously.

The 1532 edition included significant alterations to the text, and these are perhaps of the greatest importance to readers interested in the transformation of Erasmus’s theology during the Reformation. Paul’s letters played an important role in the Reformation debates over free will, justification by faith, and the role of the Church in human salvation, and Erasmus’s 1532 paraphrases reflected not only his preoccupation with these themes but also his reliance on the Church Fathers, Chrysostom in particular, to navigate the theological challenges of the Reformation. In the paraphrase of I Corinthians 13:2, for example, Erasmus offers a middle position on justification by faith, arguing that ‘if such faith were added that with its help I could also move mountains from their place, yet should charity be lacking, in vain are those things at hand that are of profit to no one’ (158 and 158n8); similarly, in the paraphrase of Philippians 3:11, ‘Faith alone can persuade us of these truths. Indeed it has persuaded us so well that, relying on the hope of the promises, I rejoice to enter into the partnership of his afflictions – in my turn bound and dying for the sake of his gospel just as he for our sake was beaten and crucified’ (383n35). The paraphrases, given their narrative format and personal tone, especially reveal Erasmus’s own theological journey as the stresses of the Reformation weighed on him personally, spiritually, and professionally.