Fallen Angels: Balthasar Bekker, Spirit Belief, and Confessionalism in the Seventeenth Century Dutch Republic

184 Pages·1999·24.39 MB·English

by  Andrew Fix (auth.)

FALLEN ANGELS
ARCHIVES INTERNATIONALES D'HISTOIRE DES IDEES
INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS
165
FALLEN ANGELS
Balthasar Bekker,
Spirit Belief, and Confessionalism
in the Seventeenth Century Dutch Republic
by
ANDREW FIX
Founding Directors:
P. Dibont (Paris) and R.H. Popkin (Washington University, St. Louis & UCLA)
Director:
Sarah Hutton (The University of Hertfordshire. United Kingdom)
Assistant-Directors: J.E. Force (Lexington): J.C. Laursen (Riverside)
Editorial Board: J.F. Battail (Paris): F. Duchesneau (Montreal): A. Gabbcy (New York):
T. Gregory (Rome): J.D. North (Groningen): M.J. Petry (Rotterdam): J. Popkin (Lexington):
G.A.J. Rogers (Keele): Th. Verbeek (Utrecht)
Advisory Editorial Board: J. Aubin (Paris); B. Copenhaver (Los Angeles):
A. Crombie (Oxford); H. Gadamer (Heidelberg); H. Gouhier (Paris);
K. Hanada (Hokkaido University): W. Kirsop (Melbourne);
P.O. Kristeller (Columbia University); E. Labrousse (Paris): A. Lossky (Los Angeles):
J. Malarczyk (Lublin); J. Orcibal (Paris): W. Rod (Miinchen): G. Rousseau (Los Angeles):
H. Rowen (Rutgers University, N.J.): J.P. Schobinger (Zurich); J. Tans (Groningen)
ANDREW FIX
Lafayette College,
Easton, PA, U.S.A.
FALLEN ANGELS
Balthasar Bekker,
Spirit Belief, and Confessionalism
in the Seventeenth Century Dutch Republic
SPRINGER-SCJENCE+BUSTNESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-90-481-5285-8 ISBN 978-94-017-1531-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-1531-7
Printed on acidfree paper
Ali Rights Reserved
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by K1uwer Academic Publishers in 1999
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner
For Adam, the new man.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................ ix
PART ONE: BEKKER AND HIS IDEAS
CHAPTER ONE
Balthasar Bekker and the Spirit Debate ............................................................. 3
CHAPTER Two
Bekker, the Sabbath, and Dutch Reformed Confessionalism ...... . .......... ............ 13
CHAPTER THREE
Cartesianism and the Spirit Controversy ........................................................... 35
CHAPTER FouR
The Friesian Hercules ........................................................................................ ~
PART TWO: REACTION TO BEKKER'S IDEAS
CHAPTER FIVE
Bekker's Opponents:
Confessionalism Under Siege and Cartesianism in Crisis ................................ 83
CHAPTER SIX
Cats Not to be Touched Without Gloves:
Eric Walten and other Supporters of Bekker .................................................... 107
CONCLUSION: 1HE DEEP STRUCTIJRE OFTIIE SPIRIT DEBA1E
CHAPTER SEVEN
Most Attacked and Least Defeated: Confessionalism,
Anti Confessionalism. and Religious Controversy in the Dutch Republic 125
EPILOGUE
The Death of an Atheist ..................................................................................... 149
All translations have been made by the author.
All biblical quotations have been taken from the
King James Version of The Holy Bible (1611).
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my home institution, Lafayette College, for its generous fi
nancial support of this project. Other major financial assistance was provided by the
American Philosophical Society. I would like to thank my colleagues Wiep van Bunge
of Erasmus University Rotterdam, Jacob van Sluis of Utrecht University, Jack Cell of
Duke University, and H. C. Erik Middelfort of the University of Virginia for their
reading and careful criticism of earlier versions of this manuscript. I would like to
thank Simon Verheus and Rineke Nieuwestraten of Haarlem, The Netherlands, for
their encouragement and support. I would also like to thank my editor and graphic
designer Allison Coffin for her diligent and splendid work. Finally I would like to
thank my family for their support and inspiration over the many years as this project
became a book. It is to them that I owe my greatest debt.
PART ONE
Bekker and His Ideas