Petrus van Mastricht

Petrus van Mastrich

Petrus van Mastricht (also: Peter von Mastricht, Petri von Mastrigt, Pieter van Maesticht, Petro, Peter ; * November 1630 in Cologne , † February 10, 1706 in Utrecht ) was a German philologist and Reformed theologian.

Life

The son of the Reformed preacher Thomas von Mastrich and his wife Jeanne de la Planque came from a family that came from the Netherlands . His grandfather Cornelius Schoning fled with his family during the reign of the Duke of Alba von Mastricht to Cologne, where the family took the surname of Mastricht . The legal scholar and Bremer Syndicus Gerhard von Mastricht was his brother. After he had received the Baptist baptism on December 23, 1630, he grew up in the vicinity of the Reformed congregation “ under the cross ” in Cologne-Mülheim, where he had attended Johannes Hoornbeek's catechism classes at a young age . Here he suffered an accident that mutilated his leg, so that from then on he had to live with restrictions.

He received his first academic training at the Latin School in Duisburg , where he was a fellow student of Theodor Undereyck . In 1647 he moved to the University of Utrecht to study theology. It was here that Hoornbeek, Gisbert Voetius and Carolus de Maets became his formative teachers in the field of theological sciences. Guided by them, he had dealt with the Old and New Testaments and got to know the didactic theological dogmatics of the orthodox representatives of the closer Reformation . In 1650 he entered Utrecht with the theological disputation De esu sanguinis et suffocati ad Act. XV. in appearance.

Allegedly he is said to have pursued further studies at the University of Heidelberg and at the University of Leiden . However, his name cannot be found in the registers of the universities. After a short stay in England he returned to Cologne, where he was accepted among the theological candidates. In the same year he was called by the Reformed congregation in Xanten , where he took up a position as vicar in 1653 and worked in an environment that was very much oriented towards the theological direction of Johannes Coccejus . Although he stayed in contact with the Cologne-Mühlheim community, he declined an appointment there.

In 1655, Christoph Wittich (1625–1687) , the then professor of theology at the newly founded University of Duisburg, presented a disputation Theologica de Stylo Scripturae Quem adhibet cum de rebus naturalibus sermonem instituit (Duisburg 1655) on the Cartesian philosophy of René Descartes , to which he showed great sympathy. Mastricht then appeared with his first work Vindicae veritatis et autoritatis sacrae scripturae in rebus Philosophicis adversus dissertationes D. Christopori Wittichii (Utrecht 1655), in which he first established himself as an orthodox Calvinist theologian.

In 1662 he followed a call to the Reformed community in Glückstadt . Here he found an ecumenically tolerant environment. It was a place where Jews, remonstrants, counter-demonstrators, and Mennonites worked together. This place inspired him to publish his work Theologiae didactico-elenchtico-practicae Prodomus tribus speciminibus (Amsterdam, 1666, 2nd vol.). In 1667 the great elector Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg sought contact with Mastricht and offered him a professorship in the Hebrew language and an extraordinary professorship in practical theology at the Prussian Reformed University of Frankfurt (Oder) .

He accepted this offer in 1668 and took office with the speech Perpetua praxeos cum theoria in theologicis pariter et theologis Συμβιβασις, oratione inaugurali lectionibus Hebraeo-theologicis praemissa. . . accedit. . . programma invitatorium (Frankfurt (Oder), 1668). In order to acquire the necessary academic degrees, he went to the University of Duisburg in 1669 , where he acquired the academic degree of a master's degree in philosophy and a doctorate in theology. To this end, he held the De Naturae Theologiae disputation and the De Nomine et Omine doctoris Theologi speech . Little is known about the further period of activity of Mastricht in Frankfurt. Because he didn't work there for long.

In 1670 he changed to the successor of Martin Hund (1624–1666) as professor of theology and Hebrew language at the University of Duisburg. In 1673 he became rector of the academy in Duisburg. Here he wrote his works De fide salvifica syntagma theoretico-practicum, in quo fidei salvifatione de membris Ecclesiae visiblis, seu admittendis, seu rejicendis (Duisburg 1671) and Novitatum Cartesianarum Gangrena, corpis Theologici nobil partiores arrodensque; seu theologia Cartesiana detecta (Amsterdam 1677, also under the title: Theologia cartesiana detecta, seu gangraena cartesiana, nobiliores plerasque corpis theoloci partes arrodens et exedens. Deventer 1716).

After his old teacher Voetius died in Utrecht in 1676, he was appointed to the University of Utrecht on June 12, 1677 as his successor. He took up this position on September 7, 1677 with the speech Oratio de academiae ultrajectinae voto symbolico: sol justitiae illustra nos (Utrecht 1677). In Utrecht he also took part in the organizational tasks of the academy and was rector of the alma mater in 1682/83 . His then not insignificant works Theoretico-practica theologia, qua, per capita theologica, pars exegetica, dogmatica, elenchtica et practica, perpetua successione conjugantur (Amsterdam 1682–1687, 2nd vol.) And Editio nova, priori multo emendatior, were written in Utrecht. et tertia saltem parte auctior. Accedunt: Historia ecclesiastica plena fere, quanquam compendiosa: Idea theologiae moralis Hypotyposis theologiae asceticae et c. Proin opus quasi novum (Utrecht 1698, 1715, 1724).

In the last years of his life he was only able to enforce his convictions of Calvinist orthodoxy to a very limited extent. On the one hand he suffered from the ailments of his age, on the other hand an enlightening context was increasingly establishing itself in the Netherlands. After falling from the kitchen stairs, he died of the injuries sustained. On February 24, 1706 his body was buried in the St. Catherine Cathedral in Utrecht, where his teacher Voetius was buried, and Henricus Pontanus (1662–1714) gave him the funeral oration. Mastricht, who remained unmarried, left 500 guilders for deacons in Utrecht and 24,000 guilders as grants for Reformed theology students at the Utrecht University.

literature

• 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. 3, Sp. 271.
• Mastricht, Peter von. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 19, Leipzig 1739, column 2003 f.
• Friedrich Wilhelm Cuno:  Mastricht, Peter von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 580.
• Jacobus Kok: Vaderlandsch woordenboek, Oorspronklyk verzameld. Verlag Johannes Allart, Amsterdam, 1789, vol. 12, p. 283 ( online , Dutch).
• WJ van Asselt: Mastricht, Petrus van . In: JW Buisman, G. Brinkman: Biografisch lexicon voor de geschiedenis van het Nederlands protestantisme. Uitgeverij Kok, Kampen, 2001, vol. 5, p. 360 ( online , Dutch).
• Barend Glasius: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederlandsche Godgeleerden. Muller Brothers, 's-Hertogenbosch, 1867, Vol. 2, p. 470, ( Online , Dutch).
• Adriaan Cornelis Neele: Petrus van Mastricht (1630-1706). Reformed orthodoxy: Method and Piety. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009, ISBN 978-90-04-16992-0 , ( preview ).

Web links

• Catalogus Professorum Academiae Rheno-Traiectinae