Erasmus's breezy colloquy, “the abbot and the learned lady,” features a monk and a laywoman who spar about the value of knowledge. In this caustic Christian critique of ignorance, abbot Antronius (“ass”) is no match for the eloquent wife and mother, Magdalia (whose name evokes Mary Magdalen). Surrounded by books, Magdalia eloquently defends scholarship as Antronius lives up to his name by condemning her quest for knowledge and affirming the value of money and glory. Even monks, Antronius explains, should shun knowledge because it encourages pride and disobedience. Moreover, as the leader of a monastery, a monk must meet courtly and monastic obligations alike, and so his hours are filled with prayers, hunting, and court business – activities that leave him no time or desire for wisdom.

Magdalia claims not only that it is better to be a learned lay person than a monk, but also that educated women are better than benighted men. Antronius and his ilk, she warns, could be overtaken by others like her: “In Spain and Italy there are not a few women of the highest rank who can rival any man. In England there are the More girls, in Germany the Pirckheimer and Blarer girls. If you're not careful, the net result will be that we'll preside in the theological schools, preach in the churches, and wear your miters.”