As if indeed the deadliest enemies of the Church were not these impious pontiffs [popes] who allow Christ to be forgotten through their silence, fetter him with their mercenary laws, misrepresent him with their forced interpretations of his teaching, and slay him with their noxious way of life!”
Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch scholar, In Praise of Folly, 1509
13. Erasmus’ critique of the clergy were most clearly influenced by which of the following historical developments at the time he wrote In Praise of Folly?
A. The continued focus of universities on religious inquiry.
B. The spread of cheap printed materials as a result of the development of Gutenberg’s printing press.
C. The revival of interest in secular models for political and individual behavior.
D. The humanist challenge to the institutional power of the Catholic Church.