Controversies: [Clarifications Concerning the Censures Published in Paris in the Name of the Parisian Faculty of Theology] [Collected Works of Erasmus, Volume 82]

Erasmus' humanistic approach to theology and biblical exegesis presented a shocking challenge to the theologians at the University of Paris, which had been dominated by scholastic theology for centuries. He engaged in a decade-long controversy over his theological, exegetical, and ethical positions with the Theological Faculty, and especially with their director, Noël Béda.

This volume―which translates this crucial quarrel from Latin for the first time―details the formal, wide-ranging attack on Erasmus' theories printed by the faculty in 1531, along with his two replies. Erasmus published his first rebuttal in the spring of 1532, and that fall issued a second edition with substantial revisions and lengthy additions to his original text. With an extensive introduction and detailed commentary by Clarence H. Miller and James K. Farge, this volume highlights the differences between the humanist and scholastic views of genuine theology more fully and extensively than most of Erasmus' other polemical works.

Volume 82 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series.

Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536), a Dutch humanist, Catholic priest, and scholar, was one of the most influential Renaissance figures. A professor of divinity and Greek, Erasmus wrote, taught, and travelled, meeting with Europe’s foremost scholars. A prolific author, Erasmus wrote on both ecclesiastic and general human interest subjects.
Clarence H. Miller is an American Professor Emeritus of English at Saint Louis University. James K. Farge is a senior fellow and librarian at the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto.