Luther, Erasmus, and the Reformation

the long version

This delightful little book should be in undergraduate libraries.... It is a monument to the new spirit of Reformation scholarship. Here are Roman Catholic historians presenting not only very learned but appreciative analyses of aspects of Luther and a Lutheran writing on the `Catholic Luther.' Erasmus in all his complexity is shown to be a principled, though somewhat liberal, Catholic. Moreover, there is an intriguing comparison of Erasmus and Loyola which shows clearly that Loyola's reform program was by no mean essentially `counter' reform. There is not a great deal which is essentially new, but probably no other single volume better pictures the shape of current Reformation studies. At long last, nonsectarian history is stepping to the fore