Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus was a Dutch Renaissance humanist and Catholic priest who advocated for Church reform through education and scholarship rather than doctrinal revolution. His Praise of Folly satirised clerical corruption, and his Greek New Testament sparked the Reformation debate he sought to avoid.

Erasmus occupied an impossible position: he criticised the Church sharply enough to inspire Luther, then refused to join the Reformation, insisting that reform must come from within through reason and learning. His debate with Luther on free will is a landmark of Renaissance philosophical theology.