Erasmus of Rotterdam, the author of Praise of Folly and Thomas More, the author of Utopia, were two of the sixteenth century's greatest Renaissance writers. Erasmus and More were both close friends and also great believers in their religion. It was in the early part of the sixteenth century that a new group of "Humanist" thinkers evolved. Both Thomas More and Erasmus of Rotterdam took part in this new philosophy known as Christian Humanism. Christian Humanism is known as a mixture of the philosophy of Plato and the teachings of Christ. Erasmus and More were also both advocates of Individuality. This means that both men believed that no great force could change the universal religion. However, everyone within himself or herself can do something to make a change. Individualists believe in the ability of saving oneself and the individual free will to reform oneself. Individualists believe in the ability to think differently, act differently, and the capacity to become closer to the real Christian ideals and away from the empty rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. Within the teachings of the bible, it states that man should be a "Lamb of God" (a follower of god). To be as such, this means that man should be simplistic, pure, childlike and foolish. Erasmus and More both point this out in their novels. Being simplistic is being closer to God. At the same time they satirize society because the few powerful people that represent society take advantage of their power.
             Erasmus and More find much enjoyment in both philosophy and religion; in the pursuit of philosophy they search for virtue, and in the pursuit of religion they contemplate the truth. The primary virtue that the Utopians have singled out is of natural reason, the reasons to which end man was created. To live according to nature is, for them, to be humanitarian. More's Utopia points to care for the fellow man and that the family is also u
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