| Fallen Angels: Balthasar Bekker, Spirit Belief, and Confessionalism in the Seventeenth Century Dutch Republic 1999 Edition Contributor(s): Fix, A. (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 0792358767 ISBN-13: 9780792358763 Publisher: Springer OUR PRICE: $104.49 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: September 1999 Annotation: 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. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Christian Theology - Angelology & Demonology - Social Science | Reference - Philosophy | History & Surveys - Modern |
| Dewey: 235.409 |
| LCCN: 99038088 |
| Series: International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives Inte |
| Physical Information: 0.5" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (0.98 lbs) 184 pages |
| Themes: - Religious Orientation - Christian - Chronological Period - Modern |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. |