Hilarious. Very mad I didn't have time to read every sentence.

Member of a noble tradition that spans from Solomon to Flannery O'Connor, from Alpha to Omega: the foolishness of God confounds the wise; the Word is humbled and made flesh.

This is my second reading of The Praise of Folly. My first reading was in college as I was a Political Science/History major. I wanted to see how my experience would be now, since I didn't recall that much from my college years. I will say, one thing that I did remember was the many footnotes in the text, as Erasmus uses a lot of references to writers, philosophers, and myths from the ancient world, and these are explained in the footnotes.

Erasmus wants to show through his tongue in cheek writing how people are always acting foolishly. But that's okay, it's in human nature to display our foolishness, and rather than that, we should embrace our love of folly. Erasmus goes on to show in his writing, how the people of society who are thought to be the pillars of society are really just as guilty, or more so, as acting the fool than the common people, they just won't admit it because of their pride or stubbornness. In this way, Erasmus can take a gentle swipe at European society in the years right before the Reformation started. Erasmus himself wanted to see the church reform itself, but he was cautious about being too openly critical of the church or any secular leaders. He, like his good friend Thomas More, wanted to see the Catholic church reform itself. Then came Luther and Europe was about to go through a sea change. This is a picture of Europe at the tail end of the Renaissance.

Essentially just the Erasmus collection, everything he wrote that we still have is in this book. It is debated whether or not he wrote Julius excluded from Heaven, but I think by the time you make it that far into the book you can clearly see that the same messages he has in his other writings are there, and written in the same style. The Praise of Folly is a masterful approach to the well intentioned (at some times anyway) but at times poisonous fastidiousness enforced by the papacy and Catholic philosophy. Being the first of the main Renaissance philosophers, Erasmus shows the need we have for folly and genuine effort and genuine mistake in our lives, rather than false and feeble-hearted stoicism only for the sake of appearing to be more perfect than you let on. From The Praise of Folly it is argued that those who move forward in their lives with honesty rather than hollow aspiration are happier. Of course this is a subjective argument as someone’s happiness level is subjective, but there is still plenty to take away from this:

“I'm going to make this clear, not with the enthymemes of the stoics, but by a plain and obvious example. Tell me, by all the gods, is anyone happier than that class of men whom we commonly call fools, idiots, morons, and simpletons-names, in my opinion, of exquisite beauty? On the face of it, you may think what I am saying is eccentric or even absurd, but I assure you it's absolutely true. In the first place, they are free from the fear of death-not the least of evils, by heaven! They suffer no remorse of conscious, they are not haunted by ghost or fightened by bogies and banshees; they endure no agonies of fear over impending punishments, nor are they tantalized with expectations of future rewards. In short, they are exempt from a thousand ills to which this life is subject. They know neither shame nor fear, neither hope, nor hate, nor love.”

There is truth to the message of Folly, but I think carrying it to its extreme is dangerous. For a person such as myself who grew up religious and obedient,(and still is this type of person) this is an important perspective that was birthed by the Renaissance, and Erasmus gives us a great opportunity to be introspective. By no means have I thrown out the discipline that this lifestyle has given me, but the perspective that Folly gave me is important too, and I think that it invites me to broaden and enrich my life in an honest way, without throwing away my religious beliefs.

The complaint of Peace touches on mans unwavering tendency to disrupt the peace and bring down ethical bulwarks that uphold society. Erasmus’ words need no introduction here, anyone could read them verbatim, and I think everyone would agree unequivocally: “Now see how much of that plenty you lack; you scarcely possess as much as what your district alone used to produce. You wanted to capture some little town of the enemy; how many different siege-engines did you need, how extensive a blockading camp! You had to make an imitation city in order to destroy a real one; but in fact it would have been cheaper to erect a second real one. To keep the enemy penned up in his city, you had to sleep yourself on the cold ground. Building new walls would have cost less than battering old ones down. I won't even pause to calculate how much money has slipped away as it passed through the hands of the tax collectors, the quarter masters, and the captains-general-certainly not the least part. When you could have calculated all these expenses, if you don't find that peace could have been had for just one-tenth of what war cost, you can show me the door forever, and I won't protest.”

Much needed and well articulated teachings from Erasmus in these his two main books, and his other writings are pleasing and helpful as well. This has been one of my favorite and most needed books ever.

I read this many years ago but confess I didn't 'get' most of it. There were many inside jokes about historical figures of the age which I think I would understand a lot better now that I know the history of the period much better. As such I am anxious to reread. I remember at the time finding it very acerbic.

I didn't read many of Erasmus's other writings, but "In Praise of Folly" is delightful - lots of poking fun at lawyers, the clergy, and the upper-class. This playful satire is all in the service of Erasmus's ultimate aim, which is making the Bible available and accessible to lay people, so there's undeniable depth here, as well. Overall, this is a dynamic and witty piece of writing, sub-textually present in a lot of early modern fools.

"The Praise of Folly simply drips with delight in creation. We see that even in the title, this is a work of 'praise.' Erasmus gives us a light-hearted spoof of those who have no sense of humor and continually take themselves, their professions, and the world entirely too seriously. We all know someone like that- and if you don't, the odds are that es homo."

Read the rest here: http://coyleneal.blogspot.com/2013/03...

highlights: From the introduction "Erasmus's skill in composing Latin verse won him an appointment as secretary to a bishop and, in time, the chance to move to the University of Paris. Though disgusted by the austerity and bad food at his college, he mastered enough scholastic theology to know he disapproved of its method."

So, hating university food is a really old trope huh. I like this guy. On the book itself, it is surprisingly dark and layered.

"[Pythagoras] came to the conclusion that no creature is more miserable than man: for all others are satisfied with their natural limitations."

"these folk [the fools, morons] are free from all fear of death [...] They are not tormented by dread of impeding evils, and they are not blown up with hope of future good. In short, they are not vexed by the thousand cares to which this life is subject. They do not feel shame or fear, they are not ambitious, they do not envy, they do not love."

A little over my head. The old English was difficult to understand, and there were many references that were completely foreign to me. The author is making some lucid points about the absurdity of society. But the complicated wording made it a slog to get through.

The satire of Erasmus while praising folly would certainly put him into hot water today, I can imagine the way some feminists would scream blue murder at the mention of his name. Truly enjoyable!!!

I don't love the Folly as much as the adages, but the colloquies in this edition are astounding, and Erasmus is always funny and delightful.

There’s no portent waiting in the curtains to bestow honour on me to recap this book; no one could say anything better than Erasmus on his own topics as, simply put, he rules and well. So I won’t try. I was charmed by his letter writing, entertained by the Colloquies, and riveted by “In Praise of Folly,” and then I was bewildered at “In Complaint of Peace” and “Julius Excluded from Heaven.” My romance with Erasmus dwindled, feeling he was restricted by his own belief in Christianity. How much larger a thinker could he have been had he lived in a different era? Probably the sky could have been the limit. The arguments in “Julius Excluded from Heaven” reveal his weaknesses. As a modern day reader I felt, as I read along: a. In order for such evil to exist there has to be b. the presence of Christ to acknowledge and annihilate evil from the world to c. therefore Christ is also, unwittingly or not, the giver of evil. And this went in circles, all those dutiful references to Christianity. That religion, Christianity or other, can bring the world to peace is in my humble opinion, unfathomable and there ends my love with the good man’s ideas on the topic. Pity. I was rather taken with his interspersion of Greek Furies to assign the evil of the world to than Satan, or his placing Mars as the culprit rather than the devil. This was a curiosity to me, although I do comprehend the adoration of the classical Greek and Roman pre Christian world in the humanists’ eyes. Erasmus, a wonderful writer and wit, and obviously for the most part a real treat to read.