Prev TOC Next
[Image]  [Hi-Res Image]

Page 167

 

187 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Erasmus Erbkam P. W. Crowther, ib. (1818); the Apotluprna of Erasmus TraneL. into Eng, by Nicolas Udall, 1684 was reprinted, Boston, England, 1877; there is a school ed. of the Con viroiale contaquiis, by V. S. Clark, Boston, 1898. The moat complete bibliography is found in BibZiotheca Eraemiana, rEpcrtoirt lea aruvrea d'Araame, Ghent, 1893. Consult also Bib1%otheca Eraamiana, Ghent, 1903, J. M. Baldwin, Dictionary of Philosophy and Paydvolopy, III, i. 194-198. On the life consult: F. O. 8tichart Erasmus, Leipsic, 1870; H. Durand de Lour, -traame, prEcureeur et 'snitia tcur de 1'eaprit moderns, 2 vole., Paris, 1872; R. B. Drum mond, Erasmus, his Life and Character, 2 vole., London, 1873; G. Feugbre, -Oraamua: Jtuda our as vie d sea ou roragta, Paris, 1874; J. Meiklejohn, The Reformers, Glas gow, 1886; F. Heebohm, The Oxford Reformers. London, 1887; M. Dods, Erasmus and Other Essays, ib. 1891; J. A. Fronde, Life and Letters of Erasmus, New York, 1898; P. de Nolhae, Araa»u to Italie. -Otuda eur un ipiaodt do la renaissance .... douse leitrea inbdifee d1rasme, Paris, 1898; E. Emerton, Dea%deriua Erasmus of Rotterdam, New York, 1899; A. R. Pennington, The Life awl Char acter of Erasmua, London, 1901; E. F. H. Capey, Eraa mue, New York, 1903; W. H. Woodward, Dsaidsriua Erasmus concerning !ht Aim and Method of Education,

Cambridge, 1904; J. A. Faulkner. Erasmus the Scholar, Cincinnati, 1907.

ERASMUS, SAINT. See HELPERS IN NEED, THE FOURTEEN.

ERASTUS, THOMAS, ERASTIANISM: Swiss Reformed physician and theologian; b. probably at Baden (14 m. n.w. of Zurich), Switzerland, ,5ept. 7, 1524; d. at Basel Jan. 1, 1583. The name is Grecised from Luber or Lieber. He studied theology at Basel and philosophy and medicine for nine years at Bologna and Padua. 1n 1568 he became physician in ordinary to the elector Palatine, Otto Henry, and professor of medicine at Heidelberg. In 1580 he went to Basel as professor of medicine and became also professor of ethics shortly before his death. He was considered a good physician and upright man, and established a foundation for the education of poor students in medicine at Basel and Heidelberg. As a student of nature he strenuously opposed the astrology, alchemy, and magic of Paracelaus and his school, though he approved of the death penalty for witches. It is as a theologian, however, that he is known and remembered. He was a follower of Zwingli, took an active part in the conferences at Heidelberg (1560) and at Maulbronn (1664), and defended the Swiss view of the Lord's Supper in a book Yom Yerstand der Wort Christi : Das ist mein Leib, and again in a vindication of this work against Johann Mar bath, a Lutheran minister of Strasburg (Heidelberg, 1665). Some years later he had occasion to defend his master's ideas against the Calvinists in a question of church polity. There was a Calvinist party in Heidelberg, headed by Caspar Olevianus (q.v.), which wanted to introduce a purely Presbyterian constitution, with a corresponding church discipline. Erastus strongly opposed the movement, but in vain. He was himself the first victim of the established discipline, being excommunicated on a charge of latent Unitarianism; after five years, however, he was restored. Six years after his death G. Castelvetro, who had married his widow, published a work, written in 1668 and found among his papers, Explicatio gravisaimas questionis utrum uxcommunicatio .

mrsndato nitatur divino an excogitata sit ab hominibus (Poechiavo, 1689). The book, written after the

fashion of the time in the form of theses, denies that excommunication is a divine ordinance, or that the Church has any power to make laws or decrees; and asserts that to inflict pains and penalties and to punish the sins of professing Christians belongs to the civil magistrates, not to pastors and elders. It attracted much attention and was attacked by Beaa. English translations appeared at London in 1859 and 1682, and again, by R. Lee, at Edinburgh, 1844. Its views were adopted by a distinct party in the Westminster Assembly, headed by Selden, Lightfoot, Coleman, and Whitelocke. Since that time the doctrine of state supremacy in ecclesiastical causes generally goes under the name of Erastianiam; though in its broad sense and wide application this doctrine is by no means due to Erastua or in accord with his views.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. F. Vierordt, Geschichte der Reformation im Oroaahorzopthum Baden, pp. 468 eqq., Carleruhe, 1847; A. Bonnard, Thomas Lraata et la discipline scclhiaatdqut, Lausanne, 1894. For Ersatianiam consult: J. Belden's Table Talk, reprinted Oxford, 1892, and his Hint. of TyOua, London, 1829. The extreme form of the doctrine is found in T. Hobbes, Leviathan, ii~. 42, good edition. Oxford, IS$1. Consult also R. . Wilberforce, Sketch of the Hiat. of Erastianiam, London, 1861.

ERB%AM, erb'kdm, WILHELM HEINRICH: Councilor of the consiatory and professor of the ology at Konigsberg, Prussia; b. at Glogau (35 m. n.n.w. of Liegnitz), Silesia, July 8, 1810; d. at Konigsberg Jan. 9, 1884. He studied at Bonn, where he was chiefly influenced by Nitzach and Bleek, and at Berlin where he was still more strongly and decisively influenced by Schleier macher, with whom he was fortunate enough to come into close personal contact. Under Nean der's guidance he devoted himself to the study of church history, and Marheineke introduced him to a closer study of systematic theology. In 1834 he went to the theological seminary at Wittenberg, where he made further progress in practical the ology under the guidance of Rothe, at that time, director of the seminary. Rothe guided his theo logical activity by directing his attention espe cially to Protestant mysticism and the sects proceeding from it. In 1838 Erbkam established himself as privet-docent in theology at Berlin, where he finally became professor and remained ten years, lecturing at first chiefly on the history of dogma and later on church history and systematic dis ciplines. During these years he was active also in the practical life of the Church, especially in preaching. He defended the full and whole truth of the revelation of the Gospel against the ratiop al istic unbelief and the half-believing theology of the Friends of Light (see FREE CONGREGATIONS IN GER MwNy, § 1), who about 1840 protested against faithful ness to the Bible and the confession in the church as orthodox darkness, and attacked especially the Evdngeliache KirchPnzeitung and its editor, E. W. Hengstenberg. In 1847 Er kam followed a call to Konigsberg, where he taug t church history and history of dogma, and beequently exegesis, dogmatics, ethics, and bolics. In 1857 he became councilor of the co ' tory of Konigsberg and was also chosen rep ntative of the theo logical faculty at the general synods of 1875 and