Balthasar Bekker

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Balthasar Bekker

Balthasar Bekker (born March 20, 1634 in Metslawier ( Friesland ), † June 11, 1698 ) was a German- Dutch , Protestant theologian , philosopher and preacher of the early Enlightenment . As a witch theoretician who fought reconnaissance against the persecution of witches .

Life

On 20 March 1634 Balthasar Bekker was the son of from Bielefeld coming preacher born Henry Bekker. He also received his first school instruction from his father before he attended the University of Groningen in 1650, i.e. at the age of 16 . Here he mainly devoted himself to history and the study of languages. He later studied theology in Franek . In addition to his studies , he headed the Latin school in Franeker as principal until 1657 . In 1665 he acquired a doctorate in theology.

His enthusiasm for Cartesian philosophy was reflected in the De Philosophia Cartesiana Admonita candida et sincera published in 1668 . As a result of the contradictions and disputes caused by two catechisms he published in 1668 and 1670, Gesneeden broodt voor de Kristen Kinderen and De Vaste Spijze der Volmaakten , he willingly accepted a call to the province of Holland, where he initially worked in Weesp (1674 ) served as a preacher. He later settled in Loenen (1676) and finally in Amsterdam (from 1679).

Here in Amsterdam he began his fight against superstition , although the triggering factor was the appearance of a large comet in 1680. He had to experience that many of his contemporaries did not want to see this as a natural phenomenon, but instead saw it as the announcement of an imminent judgment from God . Therefore, just three years after this event, he published his work Ondersoek van de betekening der Cometen, bij van degene, which were given in de jaren 1680, 1681 and 1682 . However, the work De betooverde Wereld ( The Enchanted World ) should make him known. It was published in 4 books between 1691 and 1693. In it he not only fights against superstition, but also for the first time denies the power intended for the devil in a form that no one before him had actually dared to do . By denying the power of the devil, however, he also deprived the witchcraft of its foundation and thus he is considered one of the most influential opponents of the witch hunt. Many later witch theorists who, like him, opposed the persecution of alleged witches , subsequently referred to him. How great the success of his anti- witch treaty was can also be seen in the fact that it was already available in German in 1693, in French in 1694 and in English in 1695.

However, he has not only generated positive reactions with this book. In many cases he received severe criticism from clergy and it is hardly surprising that the church took action against him. He had to answer officially before the Church Council of Amsterdam and the North Holland Synod . However, since he was not ready to revoke his theses , he was deposed as preacher by the Synod of Alkmaar in 1692 . He was accused of heresy , even atheism and ademonism .

Balthasar Bekker then left Amsterdam and went to Friesland , where he devoted himself to the other books of his Bewitched World . Thanks to his friendship with the mayor of Amsterdam, he continued to receive his ministerial salary, although he remained suspended from this office until his death on June 11, 1698.

His witchcraft

Title and preface of the German edition

As mentioned above, Bekker's four-volume Hexentraktat De betoverde Weereld appeared in a German version as early as 1693. The title of this version, printed in Amsterdam, is: “The Enchanted World. Or a thorough investigation of the general superstition / Concerning / the nature and the ability / Power and effect of Satan and the evil spirits over the people / And what these do through the same power and community: So from natural reason and H. Schrifft in 4 books has undertaken to defend himself; [...] " . In the usual way at the time, the full title covers almost half a A4 page, but precisely for this reason also reflects the author's intention and concern. In his preface he provides more detailed information: “I notice / that the matter / which I want to investigate / has two parts / namely of the devil / what he knows or can about himself; of what they know or can do through what they do. But because there are things / that go beyond nature / or that one thinks they are / and therefore belong to God / I also have to know / what kind of opinion people have of the deity / and of the spirits in common / them be good or bad / also from the souls of people (who are also spirits) when they have been separated from the body by death. ” With this, Bekker provides a small overview of the contents, which also corresponds to the structure of his work when he emphasizes that the belief in the devil is closely related to the belief in witches and both are in turn inseparable from the belief in spirits, indeed in God.

The four books of the main part

  • In the first of his four books he shows "the opinions and habits of all peoples / who have had from God and the spirits at all times / and still have" . In doing so, he first researched the pagans ' belief in spirits and magicians , starting with the Greeks and Romans up to the Indians , in order to then examine those peoples who take their beliefs from the Bible , i.e. Jews and Christians .
  • “The other book: From the Enchanted World. In which the doctrine of the spirits / the same faculties and effects / from natural reason and health. Schrifft is examined. " With this heading for his second book, Bekker refers to his two main criteria of investigation : " The first is reason / which extends to all people to a light / as far as it is pure / and with pre-judgment and spirit - Affections not prevented and fogged. The other is the scripture given by God / but in exactly the same way / in your own / viewed from us / as if we had never read the scriptures; and therefore apart from all people's pre-judgment / from translation from Hebrew and Greek / in which it is originally described / and the interpretation of old or new teachers. ” Balthasar Bekker investigates with the help of reason, which he accords a high value, and the Holy Scriptures, what to think of the doctrine of angels , demons , a mighty devil and such supernatural appearances.
  • In his third book he goes into the classic doctrine of witchcraft , that is, he examines in twenty-three chapters "the common opinion about people / who are believed to be / that they deal with the devil" . It is important for him to emphasize that he is not concerned with whether there is magic, which he admits, “but whether such magic is based on a contract between people and the devil / can say and accept things bring paths / that go beyond nature. ” Ultimately, he will answer this question in the negative! He not only rejects the devil's pact itself, but also all other elements of the classic witch doctrine .
  • The fourth and final book discusses the "evidence / which is taken out of experience" regarding witchcraft . Here, Balthasar Bekker is primarily concerned with examining “the experience / the master of all things / which is based on a heap of examples” , “so that one does not say that my new teaching contradicts the whole world / which be full of clear, apparent samples of such effects of the devil ” . For this reason, he takes on numerous stories of witches and the devil, retells them for his readers and checks the truth of the individual occurrences in order to then reinterpret them in his own way. He needs this book to relieve himself, as it were.

Elements of reasoning and evidence in the anti-witch treaty

Balthasar Bekker's argumentation and evidence structure is based on two main elements that run through his entire 'Bewitched World':

  • The first element is his philosophy , which is based primarily on René Descartes . Just like that, for Bekker, mathematics is an extremely useful tool for finding the infallible causes and solutions to certain problems. For example, in the context of his investigation of spirits, he points out that people who deal with mathematics “are not so easily based on other people's speeches or probability / nor do the air with spirits mix up a lot.” His concept of God also comes from Cartesian philosophy taken: God presents himself in his representation as the only uncreated substance, which we call ' spirit ' for lack of words , although God is not a spirit . This substance created everything else. One of the most important attributes of God is his perfect reasonableness , he cannot be unreasonable. In contrast, the finite substance created by God, the infinite substance, the spirits and bodies, the angels and men. These substances, which are either only expansion (= body) or only thinking (= spirit), are by no means perfect, but are limited.
  • The second element is Bible exegesis . He sees the Bible as a closed whole without wanting to perceive any historical development in it. Its highest basic maxim is the correspondence of reason and Holy Scripture. Therefore, there is often a reinterpretation of the literal sense for him . However, this also leads to misinterpretations , which many contemporary critics accused him of and admirers also had to admit.

Some aspects of the treatise

1. Bekker himself sees the most important aspect of his treatise in the investigation of the belief in the devil . Throughout his first book, he explored the question of where the belief in the devil came from. He finds two ways that have made the belief in the devil so widespread. First of all, there is the cultural-historical path that led from paganism via Judaism to the Church Fathers , i.e. to Christianity . The second path is an individual one: from childhood to a convinced adult. In school, at the latest, both paths would cross and mutually verify each other and thus contribute to a strengthening of the devil's belief. And once a prejudice had formed - across generations, even across peoples and among individuals since early childhood - as is well known with the prejudice of diabolical power, there is little hope that people would give it up again in adulthood . Once Bekker has pointed out this fundamental problem, he next describes the current image of the devil before refuting it in his usual thoroughness. So he rejects the belief in the physicality of the devil . "It argues against all reason and understanding / that the devil or an evil spirit / whoever he wants to be / should show himself or something else in a body or physical appearance." In addition, the devil not only has no body, but he is also completely powerless as "God's prisoner and abandoned" : "It is [...] very clearly taught / that he can do nothing / neither in truth nor in appearance."

2. Balthasar Bekker, however, does not deny that the devil is the cause of evil . However, once this once diabolical evil has been implanted in people, it continues to work without the direct influence of the devil: "So it can be said that Satan has enough power / over such people / who can corrupt their nature / and darken their minds / and hiding their hearts follow / of which he is the first general cause / that they do not convert to God / whether he is not particularly active in them / yes whether he does not even know / who they are. ” Quite in this sense Bekker puts forward three basic theses on evil: “I. That the devil is the cause of all evil through the first sin done in Paradise: and everything that is evil is therefore not ascribed to him without a cause. II. That God rules the evil that is of the devil / and rules in man / so reigns / that he always keeps within certain limits; and when he prevents / stops / or subdues a certain great and general ruin. That such is so much / as bind the devil / because he binds his work. III. That at last he would do all evil / human beings / on the great day of judgment / would destroy the seduced people at the same time as the devil / who initially seduced them / and tighten his evil society according to merit; and that this punishment will be without end and measure. ” From these considerations, Bekker draws the conclusion that it therefore appears “ sufficient; that it does not mean so much with the devil / than one would like to mean: namely / that he is everywhere in the work / and shows himself in many ways to people / it is that he is awake or asleep. This is the Spökerey and Traumerey / of which the world is full. ” Balthasar Bekker refers to the temptation of Christ as an example . This biblical account, which is always cited in witch literature as proof of the corporeality and power of the devil, should by no means be taken literally, since otherwise the devilish power would rank above the Christian. Rather, an interpretation must result in the fact that Jesus was not really tempted by the devil, but only in the spirit.

3. Bekker claims that so-called obsession actually conceals illnesses: "The people / who were said to be possessed or tormented by them / were particularly subject to illnesses." Most of the exorcisms by Jesus are also actually cures of the sick been.

4. He completely rejects the idea of ​​a pact with the devil : “In my opinion, no one is allowed to deny / that there can be no communion between man and the devil / and much less such a covenant; so the spirits and people cannot act or do anything to one another. "

5. As a logical consequence of Bekker's rejection of the Devil's Pact Theory is his general denial of the existence of witches in the sense of the classical witch doctrine : Where there is no physical devil, no devil's alliance can be made, and where no pact has been made with the devil, neither can a damaging spell be performed with the help of the devil, nor can the so-called 'witches' ride through the air or celebrate a Sabbath called by the devil.

6. From the previous points it follows inevitably that he also rejects the usual witch trials . He advocates that an end to these terrible processes will soon take place in order to free the consciences of those responsible from this injustice: “The judges and legal scholars will no longer weigh down their consciences with the shedding of so much innocent blood / than because of those charged and fabricated Sorcery to be brought to death; and not only to death / but also burned alive. ” Also, the unjust witch trials would only stop if all investigations into sorcery were simply stopped, as has already been done successfully in the Netherlands , while in other countries it continues to target alleged ones Witches being tried.

Effect and meaning of his witches' tract

Apart from the effect that the publication of the work had on Bekker's life (see above), the main significance of this work is to be seen in the fact that it triggered a fierce literary debate about the belief in devils and witches. A tremendous amount of writings for, but almost even more against, him and his theses appeared in the following decades. This widespread opposition to his views is certainly due to the fact that he went further than any of his predecessors. He, who presented himself as trained in the philosophy of Descartes and trained in theology , had undertaken an all-out attack on the person of the devil and wrested his intended power from him. For the first time, someone said with tremendous clarity that innocent people are cruelly killed as a result of witch trials .

Despite the great erudition and rhetoric of the author, the work lacks internal logic in some places , so that Balthasar Bekker inadvertently offered his opponents a target.

Overall, however, one can justifiably claim that Bekker's witch treaty made a very important contribution to the fight against the witch trials . By removing the foundation of the devil's belief or shaking it violently, he at the same time removed the basic elements of the doctrine of witches. Because he stood up so courageously, finished his work fearlessly and never let himself be 'shut up', he was a great role model for many others.

Works

  • The Betoverde Wereld, Zijnde een Grondig Ondersoek Van 't gemeen gevoelen aangaande de Geesten, derselver Aart en Vermogen, Bewind en Bedrijf: as also the people door derselver kraght en community doen. In twee Boecken ondernomen van Balthasar Bekker S. Th. D. Predikant dead Amsterdam. Nauta, Leeuwarden 1691. Digitized version of the Heidelberg University Library .
    • The Enchanted World: Or a thorough investigation of the general superstition / Concerning / the nature and the ability / Power and effect of Satan and the evil spirits over the people / And what they do through the same power and community: Besides the Authoris general preface about this his 4 books ... From the Dutch after the last edition enlarged by the Authore. Translated into the German language / So from natural reason and H. Schrifft has undertaken to defend himself in 4 books by Balthasar Bekker, S. Theol. Doct. and preacher in Amsterdam. von Dahlen, Amsterdam 1693. Digital copy of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library . Reprint edition in two volumes with an introduction ed. by Wiep van Bunge (Freethinkers of the European Enlightenment, Section 1: Texts, Vol. 7). Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1997, ISBN 3-7728-1617-7 .
    • D. Balthasar Bekker's reformed preacher in Amsterdam enchanted world. Newly translated by Johann Moritz Schwager , Pastor of Jöllenbeck. Reviewed and increased by D. Johann Salomo Semler . Weygand, Leipzig 1781–1782. Digital copies on the Internet Archive : Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 .
    • The World Bewitch'd; Or, An Examination of the Common Opinions Concerning Spirits: Their Nature, Power, Administration, and Operations. As also, The Effects Men are able to produce by their Communication: Divided into IV Parts. Vol. I. Translated from a French copy, approved of and subscribed by the author's own hand. Baldwin, London 1695. Digitized from the Cornell University Library Witchcraft Collection .
  • Ondersoek Van de Betekeninge der Kometen, By occasheid van de genen die in de Jaren 1680, 1681, en 1682, donated hebben / Gedaan Door Baltasar Bekker STD Predikant dead Amsterdam. Nauta, Leeuwarden 1683. Digitization of the Göttingen digitization center .
  • De Philosophia Cartesiana Admonitio Candidata & sincera. Hoogenhuysen, Vesaliae 1668.

literature

Web links

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