Who was the scholar who challenged the Vulgate translations?

Answer 1

Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1534 AD) was an enthusiast of Biblical languages and longed to reproduce them. He met with encouragement from the times, it being the Renaissance and the heyday of Humanism. In 1516 he released the New Testament with a translation done both in Greek and Latin. It was coldly received by the Church, for Erasmus had opted for his own Latin translation from the Greek over the ancient one set forth by St. Jerome. Erasmus protested he had, in fact, been consulting Jerome as he went, since over the centuries the amount of copy errors introduced into the texts by monkish scribes had corrupted it. Erasmus' goal was to have the new spirit of humanistic studies inform Christian scholarship. Erasmus, however, was soon eclipsed by heavier things for the Protestant Reformation erupted just a year later in 1517. Himself one of those calling for reform, not only in regards to the Biblical texts but also pertaining to certain popular abuses, Erasmus critical views were championed by the Protestants. Erasmus, however, saw the Protestants as too rebellious, by the same token, however, he stuck to his guns and did not relent his own pleas for reform in the Church. His position was seen as a compromise and won him few friends. Ultimately, Erasmus remained Catholic, having faith that the Church could only be reformed from the inside. He would be dead before the reforms he sponsored were finally addressed by the Church.