It is impossible in reading Erasmus not to be reminded of the rationalist of the 18th century.
In philosophy Buridan was a rationalist, and followed Occam in denying all objective reality to universals, which he regarded as mere words.
Messina was the birthplace of Dicaearchus, the historian (c. 322 B.C.); Aristocles, the Peripatetic; Euhemerus, the rationalist (c. 316 B.C.); Stefano Protonotario, Mazzeo di Ricco and Tommaso di Sasso, poets of the court of Frederick II.
But though a liberal theologian, he was no dry rationalist.
A liberal and a corrservative theology (rationalist and orthodox) exist side by side within the churches, and while the latter clings to the theology of the 16th century, the former ventures to raise doubts about the truth of such a common and simple standard as the Apostles' Creed.