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The Life and Work of Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert
The sixteenth-century Dutch spiritualist and controversialist, Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert (1522-1590), is increasingly recognized as a pivotal figure in the cultural and political life of the early Dutch Republic. With the appearance of Henk Bonger’s widely acclaimed biography (1978), the first complete account of Coornhert’s life became available in the Dutch language. Today this biography is still the starting point of any serious research on Coornhert and his circle. This translation now makes this standard biography available in English for the first time. The translator profited from Henk Bonger’s comments on the translated chapters, and the author approved of adaptations and c...
Disputation by Decree
Providing a detailed account of the emergence and development of the public disputations between D.V. Coornhert (1522-1590) and Reformed ministers, this book explores the religious and political dimensions of a controversy that reflects issues and arguments at the core of the Dutch Revolt.
Constraint on Trial
Constraint on Trial examines the life and thought of Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert (1522-1990). The self-made Coornhert was a notary, secretary, artist, poet, playwright, translator, theologian, but most of all, he was an intrepid controversialist, "born to contradict", indefatigable in his critique of the public church and sects. His main concern in polemics and disputations was the defense of freedom of conscience and advocacy of toleration. Coornhert's individualism made him eschew any restrictions on personal religious choice. His tolerationist writings, especially Synod on the Freedom of Conscience (1582) and Trial of the Killing of Heretics(1590), were rooted in his spiritualist belief system. He found inspiration in other protagonists of religious freedom, such as Sebastian Franck and Castellio, but his ideas were uniquely Coornhertian. He possessed an unrelenting drive to combat constraint, and regarded himself as "God's battering ram, meant to break down the prison of men's conscience".
Synod on the Freedom of Conscience
The first complete English translation of Dirck Coornhert's 1630 Synod on the Freedom of Conscience, one of the most elaborate and powerful pleas for religious tolerance published in early modern Europe.
Ethics
Ethics, published (anonymously) by Coornhert in 1586, is a remarkable publication for a number of reasons: it is the first work on ethics written in a European vernacular; it is a mature work, appearing four years before Coornhert’s death, and summarizes a lifetime of writing and thinking about the good life; it is considered to be fundamentally pagan because of the absence in Zedekunst of biblical references or any direct mention of Christ. Asked why he did not write about such things as the future establishment of God’s kingdom on earth, Coornhert answered: ‘Because I have a greater desire to learn how to live well, than to learn how to know much.’ This is the first English translation of this important work. It will enhance our insight into the ethical outlook of this prominent freethinker and controversialist of the early Dutch Republic. Also available in E-book: ISBN 9789087045586.
Sparks of Reason
Throughout the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, the Low Countries were home to a vibrant tradition of lay philosophy in Dutch. 'Sparks of reason' takes a detailed look at this philosophical tradition, with a special focus on the sixteenth century. During this turbulent century, several authors, such as Dirck Volkertsz Coornhert (1522-1590) and Hendrik Laurensz Spiegel (1549-1612), developed an ethics which was founded on rationality and self-motivation. This 'vernacular rationalism' was a dynamic melting pot of classical philosophy, vernacular humanism, intellectual spiritualism and popular piety. As this book shows, vernacular rationalism was rooted in an age-old Netherlandish tradition and was to be-come one of the breeding grounds for the early Enlightenment in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. Its point of departure was the inherent goodness of humankind and the possibility of moral growth through rational knowledge. Its goal was perfect happiness.
Calvinism and the Making of the European Mind
Calvinism must be assigned a significant place among the forces that have shaped modern European culture. Even now, despite its history of religious fragmentation and secularization, Europe continues to bear the marks of a pervasive Calvinist ethos. The character of that ethos is, however, difficult to pin down. In this volume, many of the traditional scholarly conundrums about the relationship between Calvinism and the cultural history of Europe are revisited and re-investigated, to see what new light can be shed on them. For example, how has the ethos of Calvinism, or more broadly the Reformed tradition, affected economic thinking and practice, the development of the sciences, views on religious toleration, or the constitution of European polities? In general, what kind of transformations did Calvinism’s distinct spirituality bring about? Such questions demand painstaking and detailed scholarly work, a fine sample of which is published in this volume.
