What did Paul mean when he wrote that the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom? Through close analysis of the sixteenth-century reception of Paul's discourses of folly, this book examines the role of the New Testament in the development of what Erasmus and John Calvin refer to as the ""Christian philosophy.""
Erasmus and Calvin on the Foolishness of God reveals the importance of Pauline rhetoric in the development of humanist critiques of scholasticism while charting the formation of a specifically affective approach to religious epistemology and theological method. As the first book-length examination of Calvin's indebtedness to Erasmus, which also considers the participation of Bullinger, Pellikan, and Melanchthon in an Erasmian exegetical milieu, it is a case study in the complicated cross-confessional exchange of ideas in the sixteenth century. Kirk Essary examines assumptions about the very nature of theology in the sixteenth century, how it was understood by leading humanist reformers, and how ideas about philosophy and rhetoric were received, appropriated, and shared in a complex intellectual and religious context.
By:
Kirk Essary
Imprint: University of Toronto Press
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions:
Height: 235mm,
Width: 160mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 610g
ISBN: 9781487501884
ISBN 10: 1487501889
Series: Erasmus Studies
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 07 April 2017
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface Chapter One Calvin’s Erasmus, Theologia Rhetorica, and Pauline Folly Chapter Two Foolishness as Religious Knowledge Chapter Three Hidden Wisdom and the Revelation of the Spirit Chapter Four Milk for Babes: A Pauline Eloquence Chapter Five Blaming Philosophy, Praising Folly Chapter Six The Affective Christian Philosophy Conclusion Notes Bibliography
Kirk Essary is Lecturer in History and Classics at the University of Western Australia.
Reviews for Erasmus and Calvin on the Foolishness of God: Reason and Emotion in the Christian Philosophy
"‘Essary’s book offers much that will intrigue curious general readers as well as scholars. Excellent notes and bibliography.’ -- P.A. Streveler * Choice Magazine vol 55:03:2017 * ""This is an admirable study that reflects extensive scholarship in early modern and patristic sources."" -- William P. Weaver, Baylor University * Erasmus Studies, vol 39 *"
