Gisbert Voetius

Gisbert (us) Voetius (also: Gijs Voet; born March 3, 1589 in Heusden , Netherlands ; † November 1, 1676 in Utrecht ) was a Reformed preacher, pastor and professor of theology. He co-founded the University of Utrecht in 1636 and was the first Protestant to write a mission theology .

life and work

Voetius initially grew up in an educated family, his father Paulus Voet was a Reformed pastor, but lost his life in 1597 during the Eighty Years' War . His son Gisbert came to a blacksmith in the city, but from 1604 he was able to attend the college in Leiden because of his talent for learning and thanks to the support of the city council , where he received a comprehensive education. He studied theology and logic in Leiden, where the opponents Franciscus Gomarus and Jacobus Arminius were his main teachers. He took the side of Gomarus, who emphasized the sovereign grace and predestination of God more than human freedom of choice.

In 1610 he became pastor in Vlijmen , in 1617 in his birthplace Heusden and Engelen, and in this capacity he took part in the Dordrecht Synod (1618 to 1619) as a voting member .

From 1634 Voetius was a professor for Semitic languages and theology in Utrecht and gained great influence. He was considered a leading figure of the Reformed Orthodoxy in the Netherlands and was a stubborn opponent of the Arminians and the Cartesians as well as of Johannes Coccejus and Jean de Labadie . His main dogmatic work is called Selectae disputationes theologicae (Utrecht 1648). The Calvinist -influenced Voetius is considered the founder of the Near Reformation and was the first Protestant to sketch out an understandable mission theology. In it he formulated the promotion of the Gospel and the establishment of parishes for the glory of God as goals.

As a Utrecht university lecturer, he also took part in the organizational tasks of the university founded in 1636 and was rector of the Alma Mater in 1641/42, 1660/61, 1671/72, 1675/76 .

With his disputation “de theologia practica” around 1642, Voetius created the first outline of a program for a practical theology in church history . The disputation has the following chapters:

Doctrine of the Sermon (concionatoria),
Doctrine of the Christian life (ascetia).
Doctrine of pastoral care (moralis seu casuistica), and the
Doctrine of church leadership (politico-ecclesiastica).

In addition to his university activities, Voetius preached in Utrecht until he was 84 years old and remained a professor until his death. He was buried in the Katharinenkirche in Utrecht .

Private

In 1612 he married Deliana van Diest (1591–1679), with whom they had 10 children. One of his sons was Paul Voet , who also taught as a philosopher and legal scholar at the University of Utrecht.

Fonts (selection)

Exercitia et Bibliotheca , Studiosi Theologiae, 1644 and Wohlfart, Leipzig 1685
Selectae Disputationes Theologicae , 5 volumes, 1648–1669
Politica Ecclesiastica , 3 volumes, 1663–1676
De Praktijk der godzaligheid (TA ASKHTIKA sive Exercitia pietatis - 1664) . 2 vols. Tekstuitgave met inleiding, vertaling en commentaar door CA de Niet. Monografieën Gereformeerd Piëtisme , 2. De Banier, Utrecht 1995.
Diatribae, De Theologia, Philologia, Historia & Philosophia, Sacra . Utrecht 1668. Digitized edition of the SLUB Dresden ( eBooks on Demand )
From Eintzeler Assembly of Christians. Where two, three or more of them come together in the name of the Lord , translated into German, Eichenberg, Hanau 1678
Tractatus Curiosus Rerum Theologicarum , Grossius, Frankfurt 1692

literature

AC Duker, Gysbertus Voetius , I-III (1893-1914).
Reinhard Breymayer: Auction catalogs of German Pietist libraries [...] . In: Book catalogs as sources of book history in the early modern period . Edited by Reinhard Wittmann. Wiesbaden (1985) ( Wolfenbütteler Schriften zur Geschichte des Buchwesens , Vol. 10), pp. 113–208; here pp. 150–154 on the private library of the orthodox theologian G. Voetius.
Andreas J. Beck: On the reception of Melanchthon by Gisbertus Voetius (1589–1676), namely in his doctrine of God . In: Günter Frank, Herman Selderhuis (ed.): Melanchthon and Calvinism . Melanchthon writings of the city of Bretten , 9. Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 2005, pp. 319–344.
Andreas J. Beck: Gisbertus Voetius (1589–1676). His understanding of theology and his doctrine of God . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007 ( FKDG , 92).
Andreas J. Beck: Gisbertus Voetius (1589–1676): Basic Features of His Doctrine of God. In: Willem J. van Asselt and Eef Dekker (ed.). Reformation and Scholasticism: An Ecumenical enterprise . Grand Rapids, Mich .: Baker Academic, 2001, 205-226.
Erich Wenneker : Voetius, Gisbert. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 12, Bautz, Herzberg 1997, ISBN 3-88309-068-9 , Sp. 1549-1554. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
Aza Goudriaan: The meaning of the doctrine of the Trinity according to Gisbert Voetius . In: Harm Klueting , Jan Rohls (ed.): Reformed Retrospectives: Lectures of the second Emden conference on the history of Reformed Protestantism . Emder Contributions to Reformed Protestantism , 4. Foedus Verlag, Wuppertal 2001, pp. 137–145.

Aza Goudriaan: Reformed Orthodoxy and Philosophy, 1625-1750. Gisbertus Voetius, Petrus van Mastricht, and Anthonius Driessen . Brill's Series in Church History, 26. Leiden [etc.]: Brill, 2006.

Christian Möller : Introduction to Practical Theology , Tübingen 2004 (UTB 2529).

Andreas Mühling: Between Puritanism, Orthodoxy and early Pietism - Gisbert Voetius and the 'Nadere Reformatie' . In: Monthly Issues for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland 52 (2003), pp. 243-254.

Andreas Mühling: Art. Voetius, Gisbert . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie 35 (2003), pp. 181-184.

WJ van Asselt, E. Dekker (Ed.): De scholastieke Voetius: Een luisteroefening aan de hand van Voetius' Disputationes Selectae . Boekencentrum, Zoetermeer 1995.

Han van Ruler: The Crisis of Causality. Voetius and Descartes on God, Nature and Change . Brill, Leiden / New York / Cologne 1995.

B. Hoon Woo: The Understanding of Gisbertus Voetius and René Descartes on the Relationship of Faith and Reason, and Theology and Philosophy . In: Westminster Theological Journal 75, no. 1 (2013): 45-63.

Web links

Individual evidence

personal data
SURNAME	Voetius, Gisbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Voetius, Gisbertus; Voet, Gijsbert; Gijs Voet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Reformed pastor and professor of theology in Utrecht
DATE OF BIRTH	March 3, 1589
PLACE OF BIRTH	Heusden (Netherlands)
DATE OF DEATH	November 1, 1676
Place of death	Leiden (city)

[1] Gerald H. Anderson and Francisca Ireland-Verwoerd: Voetius, Gibsbertus (1589–1676). Dutch Reformed theologian and first Protestant to write a comprehensive theology of mission , Boston University, School of Theology, History of Missiology

[2] Theo Pleizier: Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676) , biography (English and Dutch), website vbru.net 1997

[3] A short Biography of Gisbertus Voetius (1589–1676) , website witsius.wordpress.com