Summary: Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the 16th century humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus, almost universally recognised as the greatest classical scholar of his age. An important religious writer, he was also an outspoken critic of the Church, but when the Reformation began Erasmus chose to remain a member of the Catholic Church rather than side with Martin Luther and the reformers. Melvyn Bragg is joined by Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford; Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge and Jill Kraye, Professor of the History of Renaissance Philosophy and Librarian at the Warburg Institute, University of London.
