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Enchiridion Militis Christiani (English)

by Desiderius Erasmus

One of the most influential works by the medieval scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam, the Enchiridion Militis Christiani (called in English The Manual of the Christian Knight or The Handbook of the Christian Soldier) was originally written in Latin in 1501. William Tyndale translated it into English in 1533, and it is this translation which is presented here. The aim of the book is especially to emphasize the difference between a true religion of the heart and an outward, formal religion of observances. Written in an age of formal righteousness, this book directs the conscience of the individual straight back to the sources of all Christian living, to the plain teaching of Jesus and the plain argument of common sense. -Summary by Devorah Allen