Desiderius Erasmus (1466 - 1536)

Erasmus believes that the ideas of the great classical writers are in basic harmony with the gospel of Jesus. e.g. The similarity between Plato's teachings and those of Jesus christ, whereas in contrast, he found a great departure between the teaching of christ and the opulence and arrogance of the papal court. His main complaint was that the main point of religion is lost while emphasis is being placed on trivial details. For him, true religion is a matter of the heart, not of the head. Thus, in his book, Praise of follies, he valued the folly of simple faith more than the hair-splitting logic of scholastic theologers. This point was reinforced by Pascal who said: The heart has reasons which the reason does not know.