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ERASMUS AND LUTHER: The Reformer’s Dilemma The splitting of the Catholic Church in the sixteenth-century can be greatly attributed to the Reformation in 1517. No longer dominating rulers as the church once had, it tried to hold control of the people by the way they viewed salvation and on how to achieve salvation. Martin Luther and Erasmus of Rotterdam both saw the discrepancies between church and the church teaching of the Bible and both sought changes. Erasmus tried to change the church, striving to convince leaders to be more peaceful, to tolerate and not condemn other’s ideas. He believed religion was simpler and more scriptural than the church believed. Erasmus believed in fellowship with God and not indulgences. Luther led a more radical change wanting the church to correct errors in its doctrine with the practices of granting indulgences. He believed that an individual could be granted salvation by faith alone. Both Luther and Erasmus believed that Christianity was a matter of inner devotion to Christ. Erasmus understood Luther’s attack on indulgences, but disliked his attack upon the church. He felt that Luther should restraint his actions and verbal abuses, by lowering his voice and listeni