Fallen Angels

Balthasar Bekker, Spirit Belief, and Confessionalism in the Seventeenth Century Dutch Republic
1999
ISBN: 978-0-7923-5876-3
Verlag: Springer Netherlands

Buch, Englisch, Band 165, 184 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 471 g

Reihe: International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées

Dutch Reformed pastor Balthasar Bekker (1634-1698) has long been recognized as a key figure in the end of the witchcraft persecutions in early modern Europe. With the publication of his monumental four-volume work The World Bewitched Bekker argued against the temporal activity of the devil and evil spirits as well as against the reality of witchcraft, sorcery, and spirit possession. Yet Bekker's ideas drew opposition from Dutch Reformed clergymen who charged that his use of Cartesian philosophy to reject the temporal activity of spirits threatened much of traditional religious faith.
This book argues that it wa Bekker's exegesis of biblical passages in which spirits and spirit activity were mentioned that was a far greater threat than his Cartesian metaphysics to the literal interpretation of the Bible which was the intellectual cornerstone of Dutch reformed confessionalism, dominant in the church since the Synod of Dordrecht (1618-1619). With an examination of the ideas of Bekker, his opponents and supporters, this book places the controversy around The World Bewitched within the context of the Cartesian debates of the seventeenth century and the growth of confessionalism within the Dutch Reformed church.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fix, A.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Protestantismus, evangelische und protestantische Kirchen Reformierte Kirchen, Calvinisten, presbyterianische Kirchen
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophie des Geistes, Neurophilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

One Balthasar Bekker and the Spirit Debate.- Two Bekker, the Sabbath, and Dutch Reformed Confessionalism.- Three Cartesianism and the Spirit Controversy.- Four The Friesian Hercules.- Five Bekker’s Opponents: Confessionalism Under Siege and Cartesianism in Crisis.- Six Cats Not to be Touched Without Gloves: Eric Walten and other Supporters of Bekker.- Seven Most Attacked and Least Defeated: Confessionalism, Anti Confessionalism, and Religious Controversy in the Dutch Republic.- The Death of an Atheist.