I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on Erasmus’s theory of knowledge (described below) and its usefulness for good fellowship? Erasmus was a great scholar of the Bible, a great scholar of Origen, and his thinking and emphasis on moderation had a big influence on the early modern universalists from Hans Denck onwards. Can we learn from him?
The ‘Praise of Folly’ is a satire on human knowledge by Erasmus owing much to the book of Ecclesiastes, among other sources. The book is the occasion for Dame Folly to praise herself at length by showing how her cult is at the centre of all human affairs. The satire of the book is extreme, but it has a serious message. Erasmus’s goal is not to promote scepticism for its own sake but to lead others through to a better appreciation of the experience of discovering true wisdom and the hard ordeal by which we come to it through our own folly. Erasmus would have agreed that knowledge sometimes makes us miserable. But Erasmus has Folly assert that it is only because of her existence that knowledge does not always make us miserable. Folly affirms that humans pursuing knowledge are generally presumptuous, incredibly short-sighted, and misery would always be the inevitable fruit of their labour if not for the blinding influence of Folly and her servant Forgetfulness. In this manner Folly becomes a serious comic mouthpiece for Erasmus’ criticism of academics; but these are only two of her targets. The particular folly of which philosophers and theologians partake is more widespread and rooted in human nature – nobody escapes it. To presume to eliminate folly from one’s life is shown to be one of the most foolish endeavours there is. What other than folly resides in the pride behind the belief that one can liberate oneself from creaturely limitations and human fallenness? We cannot get outside ourselves to a folly free zone. Any effort to do so is to follow the pure utopian thinking that presumes we actually can step outside human nature to become objective, autonomous observers, capable of finding pure principles for right thought and action. Accepting our nature, we should learn to deal with uncertainty, ambiguity, and error as constant parts of our lives. Yet however deluded we may be, it is not impossible to discern truth or to act wisely. Indeed, there is no doubt on Folly’s or Erasmus’ part that there is such a thing as truth and a transcendent reality, a foundation for creation in the Creator
We need to accept and hold together – even to cherish – the two disparate halves of human nature. On the one hand, we are impoverished, deceitful, and self-deceiving. On the other hand, we are noble, capable of reasoning towards truth, capable of sharing the experience of it, and able to improve what we know and how we love. Emphasizing either aspect of human nature at the expense of the other is wrong and will yield distorted results. In reality they are always conjoined, and we live within the tensions both in the Gospel and the fallen human condition. Good, wise readings of ourselves, our history, and the Bible will only come forth if we push those tensions out front, cherish them, and live under them in humility, always seeking their truth. Here is no systematic, rationalistic method or theory that will help us without an intuitive, experience base and spiritually guided openness to questions and conversations where, if any truth is to be had, it must be tasted to be seen.
Praise of Folly ends thus -
‘If anything I’ve said seems rather impudent or garrulous, you must remember it’s Folly who’s been speaking. At the same time don’t forget the Greek Proverb, ‘Often a foolish man speaks words in season’…and its’ silly of you to suppose that I can remember what I’ve said when I’ve spouted such a hotchpotch of words. There’s an old saying, ‘I hate a fellow drinker with a memory’, and here’s a new one to put alongside it: ‘I hate an audience which won’t forget.’ And so I’ll say goodbye. Live well, and drink distinguished initiates of FOLLY’
Appreciate any thoughts here my distinguished fellow initiates 
Love
Dick
