Christianity and God
Erasmus explains that according to his Christian faith, the gospel narrative provides the clearest depiction of God and God's ways. For instance, Jesus is a perfect sufferer who says during his execution, "Forgive them, father, they know not what they do." This is a symbolic representation of God's grace as far as Erasmus is concerned. By taking Christian imagery as philosophical evidence of God's ways, we arrive at this systematic theology.
Truth systems
For anyone studying this treatise without religious attachment, the treatise will be a considerable demonstration of this imagery, the patterns and systems of philosophical thought and argument. These writings are part of a genre that seeks to determine truth through lengthy considerations and arguments, and so they are elaborations of the human mind. The imagery here is of the human consciousness and the human ability for reason and argument.
Contention and disagreement
Although Luther and Erasmus are both members of the same religious community (basically), there is still clearly tension and disagreement in these writings. The passion of the writers is clear, because they take these ideas with the utmost sincerity, and they are offering ideas that are axiomatic and bold, so that they end up being like wizards casting word spells at one another. The beauty here is in the discussion, because neither of these men can completely out-argue the other; rather, they are sharing systems from their own point of view, proving that to themselves, their truth seems objective, but to the reader, they are merely persuasive arguments.
Grace and peace
Although the writers are passionate and disagreeable, Erasmus and Luther each agree that God's grace is a central consideration. In this treatise, Erasmus lands on God's grace as a pinnacle feature of human reality. This comes as a conclusion to his theodicy, because he believes that God is just and that humans are responsible for evil and suffering, so that only by grace could God reconcile humans back to himself. The portrait for grace is Jesus's forgiveness and salvation, he says.
