Louis Bouyer not only gives us an insight into the character of Erasmus but considers the whole breadth of his thought and the ideal of Christian life which he developed, often with great charm, in his many writings. He places this great scholar against the backcloth of his age, beside his Renaissance contemporaries, and shows his role in the emergence of the humanist movement. We are shown how he, with such men as Nicholas of Cusa, Castiglione, Vittorino da Feltre - personalities as picturesque as their names - took up the challenge of reconciling the demands of Christian sanctity and those of a fully developed human personality.