Hermann Witsius

Hermann Witsius

Hermann Witsius (also: Herman Wits ; * February 12, 1636 in Enkhuizen ; † October 22, 1708 in Leiden ) was a Dutch Reformed theologian.

Life

Hermann was the son of the magistrate, later mayor and elder of the reformed parish Claes Jacobsz Wits and his wife Johanna Hermann, daughter of the counter-protestant pastor in Enkhuizen Hermann Gerhard. Growing up in a religious environment, he was able to receive a variety of stimulating conditions from his family in the first years of his life. At the age of six he started school in the Latin school in his home town. At the age of nine he received private tuition from his uncle Petrus Hermann, who was the prorector of the Latin School.

After completing basic training, he moved to Utrecht University in 1651 . Here he first completed philosophical studies with Paulus Voet and heard Johann Leusden's lectures in the oriental languages. But soon he also attended the theological lectures by Gisbert Voetius , Andreas Essenius and Johannes Hoornbeek . Above all, however, Leusden had encouraged him at that time, so that at the age of eighteen he was able to defend the dissertation de Judaeorum et Christianorum Messia in public in the Hebrew language.

He also studied the writings of Johannes Coccejus and, through the guidance of the Utrecht pastor Justus van den Bogaerdt, had received a deep understanding of the basic theological positions of that time. On November 20, 1654 he enrolled at the University of Groningen , where he attended the lectures of Samuel Maresius (1599–1673) and mainly preached in French. He wanted to continue his studies after a year with Coccejus in Leiden. However, a raging plague prevented him from doing so.

Instead, he returned to Utrecht in 1655, where he defended the Theses de SS Trinitate ex Judaeis contra Judaeos disputation under Leusden in October of the same year . After he had passed his theological exam at the Utrecht Ministry in May 1656 , he became a pastor in the Frisian Westwoud in 1657 . Here he married Aletta von Borchorn († 1684) in 1660 and wrote his first own work Judaeus christianizans circa principia fidei et SS Trinitatem (Utrecht 1660). In the same capacity as pastor he was active in 1661 in Wormer , 1666 in Goes and from 1668 in Leeuwarden .

In all places of activity he had proven himself to be a good pulpit speaker, accompanied the parishioners in various situations and was able to give them numerous tips on how to shape their lives as catechists in the interpretation of the Bible. At his last place of activity, Leeuwarden, he and his colleague Johann van der Waeijen got into the theological distress of the followers of Jean de Labadie . This prompted both of them to write Ernstige betuiginge van J. vd W. en HW aan de afdwalende kinderen der kerke, tot nielegginge van de gronden van J. de Labadie en de syne (Amsterdam 1670).

Above all, however, at that time he had a widely published and at that time popular work Twist des Heeren with sijn Wyngaert. . . (Leeuwarden 1669, 1671, etc.). In it he expresses himself against the sins of his time, especially against the anti-Christian Cartesian philosophy of René Descartes . Above all, he had discovered the desecration of the Sabbath and he also refused to accept the followers of Coccejus, who viewed observance of the holy day of rest as only a ceremony. During these disputes, Witsius had earned a reputation as a scientifically working and serious theologian.

So it was decided at the Frisian Statthalterhof to appoint him as professor of theology on March 7, 1675 at the University of Franeker. He took up this position on April 15 of the same year with the speech Oratio exhibens specimen veri ac sinceri theologi (Utrecht 1692, Herborn 1712, Leiden 1736) and received his doctorate in theology shortly afterwards on March 21. Students from many areas of Europe moved to Franeker to attend his lectures. He had also taken over the office of preacher there. On March 1, 1680, the curators of the University of Utrecht appointed him professor of theology and preacher in Utrecht at their university.

He took up this office on April 29 of the same year with the speech Oratio de praestantia veritatis evangelicae . Here he participated in the organizational tasks of the academy and was rector of the alma mater in 1686/87 and 1697/98 . On July 8, 1698 he was appointed at the request of the governor Wilhelm III. von Orange , whom he had already got to know at an embassy in England in 1685 and to which he had dedicated his main work de oeconomia foederum , as a theology professor and pastor at the University of Leiden. He took up this office on October 16 of the same year with the speech Oratio de theologo modesto . In the following year he became head of the Staten Collegium on September 18, resigned from his offices for reasons of age on October 9, 1707 and died the following year.

Act

Witsius had moved mainly in the field of systematic theology. His main work is De oeconomia foederum Die cum hominibus libri IV (Leeuwarden 1677, 1685, Amsterdam 1694, Herborn 1712, Basel 1739, two Dutch translations and one English translation under the title: The oeconomy of the covenants). He wrote this work because he was opposed to the sometimes hateful disputes between the followers of Gisbert Voetius and his closer Reformation and the followers of Johannes Coccejus. He himself was a member of the federal school. Nevertheless, he was by no means blind to the value of a scholastically established church dogma system and he thus became a mediator of Reformed Orthodoxy and federalism. As a biblical Irishman , he simplified the formal scheme of the Coccejus federal system and had made a name for himself as an elegant philologist.

Two of his works ( Exercitationum academicarum maxima ex parte historico 1694, and Miscellaneorum sacrorum libri IV 1692) were placed on the index by decree of the Roman Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1701 .

Works

• De judaeorum et christianorum messia. Utrecht 1654.
• De SS trinitate ex judaeis contra judaeos probanda. Utrecht 1655.
• Judaeus christianizans circa principia fidei et SS trinitatem. Utrecht 1660.
• De practijk des christendoms, voorgestelt in varsh en antwoorden, mitsgaders geestelijke printen van enen onwedergeboren op zijn best en een neitherborn op zijn slegtste. Utrecht 1665.
• De twist des Heeren met sijn wijngaart. Leeuwarden 1669; with J. van der Waeyen
• Eene serious betuiginge aan de afdwalende children of the kerke, dead neither legginge van de gronden van J. de Labadie en de sijne. Amsterdam 1670.
• Afscheydtpredikatie. Leeuwarden 1675.
• De oeconomia foederum Dei cum hominibus libri IV. Leeuwarden 1677.
• Exercitationes sacrae in symbolum quod apostolorum dicitur et in orationem dominicam. Franeker 1681.
• Aegyptiaca et Δεχάφυλον sive de Aegyptiorum sacrorum cum hebraicis collatione libri III. Amsterdam 1683.
• Dissertatio epistolica ad Ulr. Huberum de SS auctoritate divina ex sola ratione adstruenda. Utrecht 1687.
• Dissertationes duae de theocratia Israëlitarum et de Rechabitis. Utrecht 1690.
• Miscellanea sacra. Utrecht 1692, vol. 2, 1700.
• Excercitationum academicarum XII. Utrecht 1694.
• Lijkrede op koningin Maria. Utrecht 1695.
• Meletemata Leidensia. Suffering 1703.
• Disquisitio de Paulo Tarsensi, cive romano. Suffering 1704.
• Van de Opera omnia scheen an uitgave. Basel, Vol. 2, 1739.
• Schediasma theologiae practicae. Groningen 1729.

literature

• Witsius, Hermann. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 57, Leipzig 1748, column 1569-1575.
• Christian Gottlieb Jöcher : General Scholar Lexicon, Darinne the scholars of all classes, both male and female, who lived from the beginning of the world to the present day, and made themselves known to the learned world, After their birth, life, remarkable stories, Withdrawals and writings from the most credible scribes are described in alphabetical order. Verlag Johann Friedrich Gleditsch , Leipzig, 1751, Vol. 4, Sp. 2027-2029.
• August Ebrard, SD van completion:  Witsius, . In: Realencyklopadie for Protestant Theology and Church (RE). 3. Edition. Volume 21, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1908, pp. 380-383.
• Knappert: WITSIUS (Herman). In: Philipp Christiaan Molhuysen , Petrus Johannes Blok : Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek . (NNBW), Verlag AW Sijthoff's Uitgevers-Maatschappij, Leiden, 1914, Vol. 3, Sp. 1445–1448 ( online , Dutch)
• Barend Glasius: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederlandsche Godgeleerden. Muller Brothers, 's-Hertogenbosch, 1856, Vol. 3, p. 611 ( online , Dutch)
• Abraham Jacob van der Aa : Biographical Woordenboek der Nederlanden. Verlag JJ van Brederode, Haarlem, 1877, vol. 20, p. 346 ( online , Dutch)
• J. van Sluis: Witsius, Herman. In:: JW Buisman, G. Brinkman: Biografisch lexicon voor de geschiedenis van het Nederlands protestantisme. Uitgeverij Kok, Kampen, 1998, Vol. 4, pp. 456–458 ( online , Dutch)
• Erasmus Middleton: Biographia Evangelica: Or, an historical account of Lives and Deaths of the most eminent and evangelical Authors or Preachers, Both British and Foreign, in the several denominations of Protestants, From the Beginning of the Reformation, to the present Time. W. Baynes Verlag, London, 1810, p. 156 ( online , English)

Web links

Commons : Hermann Witsius  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Catalogus Professorum Academiae Rheno-Traiectinae

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jesús Martínez de Bujanda , Marcella Richter: Index des livres interdits: Index librorum prohibitorum 1600–1966. Médiaspaul, Montréal 2002, p. 946: WITS, Hermann 0636-1708. ISBN 2-89420-522-8 (French, digitized version )