Erasmus

I'm very tired right now. I've been reading Erasmus and the Age of Reformation for hours on end, and I know I'm not going to be able to finish it. Tomorrow must be dedicated to study, not simply to reading as how I have wasted today; though in all fairness, it is my own fault for waiting so long to start this book, and I must also admit that reading it may not have been a complete and total waste.

It is a biography of a man named Erasmus of Rotterdam, who though almost a god in his time, is now all but forgotten by the public. This man rarely felt financially security, but constantly an intense desire for freedom--not to mention a burning conviction for Christ's purpose toward the latter part of his life. In his later years he devoted himself to theological writings, expositions, and translations; and brought on the a great reformation in religious thought. He abhorred the soul-less rituals performed in church ceremonies and other practices that were unfelt and therefore lukewarm in Christ's mouth.

Erasmus praised the Latin language for it's beauty and greatness of expression and was deeply saddened by his time's barbaric use of it. This thought led him to write books such as the Adagia, which he would often revise and augment throughout this life, and which, through instruction on Latin proverbs, sought to teach the dark times this language he adored. He also later spent much time in learning Greek, which he would use with Latin to complete his life's-work: an edition to Jerome and The New Testament. How much he must have thought of himself to edit Jerome! but he supposedly edited with mastery.

Of all the things Erasmus ever wrote--all the great Latin and theological works--the only piece still read today for it's own sake is Praise of Folly, a satirical work that does not betray it's name. I must say, I myself am interested in reading it. It is funny to think this most immortal work was written in jest to his friend Sir Thomas Moore.

Are you asking for a Challeeeeeenge?

Just a little practice in picture posting using the Hello program. ^_^d

Becoming Less Impressed

Browsing through some of the features of this site, I'm finding that many of them are giving me trouble. I tried changing some of my settings, and even though it tells me they are changed, they are NOT changed on my site. I guess I'll mess with it a little longer. If things don't work out, it's back to Xanga.

*EDIT*

After a little more messing, I've found that things are a bit easier than they seemed. However, there are still things that I don't particularly like about the template (which I may be able to to change). The spacing between sentences is not wide enough for me. I'm now putting two spaces between each sentence, and though that isn't particularly jarring for me, it is still more of an annoyance than I should have to deal with. Also, the space between the header and the text of these entries is too short for my taste. In fact, there isn't much space at all.

*Another EDIT*

It seems that blogspot likes to have hiccups. I just had some annoying problems with editing, and the double spaces I've been putting between my sentences seem to be negated by the template. I'm still keeping an open mind (mostly because of the spell-check feature) but this is turning out to be more of a hassle than it may be worth.

Test

A good friend told me about this blog site, so I thought I would give it a try. So far, I am pretty impressed with it. It may actually be better for me than Xanga...