Paraphrases on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus and Philemon; The Epistles of Peter and Jude, The Epistle of James; The Epistles of John; The Epistle to the Hebrews.

In his Principle or Compendious Method of Arriving at True Theology of 1518 Erasmus writes: "The preeminent goal of theologians is to recount the Holy Scripture wisely, to render the meaning of faith, not of frivolous question, to discourse about piety gravely and efficaciously, to provoke tears, to enflame spirits toward heavenly matters" (Holborn, Ausgewahlte Werke, 193). This may be taken as an apt description by Erasmus of what he had in mind for his Paraphrases of the books of the New Testament. The Paraphrases were a major instrument of his program of theological reform, replacing the scholastic method of determining the precise understanding of Christian doctrine on the basis of dialectical and metaphysical argument in heavy dependence on the works of Aristotle.

Erasmus's Paraphrases clearly vary with the particular New Testament work he is paralleling. For example, the beginning of the Gospel of John is utilized for a remarkable discussion of the nature of speech, its function and importance in human thought and action prompted by the opening of John: "In the beginning was the word." The volume at hand is devoted to what are generally known as the pastoral epistles because the authors generally devote them to counseling their recipients on how to behave as Christians and relate themselves to the earthly existence that will be theirs until they enter into their heavenly reward. The subject was central to Erasmus, whose concern with Christianity was strongly ethical and therefore fearful, for example, that Luther's doctrine of absolute necessity and predestination would remove any motive for the Christian to engage in the divinely enjoined love of neighbor and to follow the model of the beatitudes. (See, for example, chapter two of the Epistle of James [147-53].)

These Epistles are carefully and smoothly translated by Professor Bateman. There is none of the awkwardness that sometimes occurs in trying to render Erasmus's occasionally very complicated sentence structures. Bateman's annotations refer both to how he resolved difficult passages and to parallel readings in a range of patristic and medieval commentaries known and possibly utilized by Erasmus, as well as to some modern explications of passages. They are both useful and restrained. Bateman gives the various dates of publication and highlights his approach in his preliminary translator's note.

This volume is one of a series within the Collected Works of Erasmus generally edited by Robert D. Sider. Volume 42, the first to be published by CWE as well as the first written by Erasmus (Romans and his slightly later Galatians) contains important explanatory essays and a publication history of the Paraphrases by R.A.B. Mynors. The series will contain Erasmus's Ratio verae theologiae (quoted above) and Erasmus's Annotations on the New Testament as well as the Paraphrases. Bateman's contribution is exemplary of the high scholarly and literary standards of this enterprise.

It should be added that whatever eloquence and illumination Erasmus gave to the Scriptures in these Paraphrases, he is no match for the Scriptures themselves. Compare James chapter 3 on the tongue with Erasmus's paraphrase (152-60), itself not at all uninteresting. Strangely enough Erasmus does not cite this passage of James in his Lingua of 1525 (CWE 29, 257-412).

CHARLES TRINKAUS University of Michigan (Emeritus)