Though the paradigm of modernist progression has been challenged on many fronts, Erasmus and other sixteenth-century figures are still commonly viewed as people who led the transition from a religious Middle Ages to a more godless modern era. By analyzing the lives, work, and correspondence of Erasmus, Thomas More, Margaret More Roper, Reginald Pole, Gasparo Contarini, and Vittoria Colonna, this book demonstrates how these Catholic men and women of letters created a distinctive kind of religious community rooted in friendship and spiritualized scholarship.

Constance M. Furey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University. The research for this book was aided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

1. A new kind of religious life; 2. Creating an alternative community: spiritual values and the search for meaning; 3. The spiritual quest: reading and writing about God and salvation; 4. Necessary relationships: desire for God and each other; 5. Defining the ideal: words of praise for fools and bishops, women and martyrs; 6. Epilogue.