Authority Revisited: Towards Thomas More and Erasmus in 1516

In the year 1516, two crucial texts for the cultural history of the West saw the light: Desiderius Erasmus’ Nouum Instrumentum and Thomas More’s Utopia. Both of these works dealt freely with authoritative sources of Western civilization and opened new pathways of thought on the eve of far-reaching religious and political changes.

This book volume deals with aspects of the content, reception and influence of Nouum Instrumentum and Utopia in the (Early) Modern Era, while also focusing upon the sources they used and critically adopted. The overall approach is that both texts have contributed dramatically to the rise of (early) modern Western thought and have influenced the next generations in their literary, philosophical and theological works. This volume, multidisciplinary in scope, brings together contributions from the fields of bible exegesis, theology, philosophy, philology and history.