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[German Version] Franeker, principal town in the district of Franekeradeel in the Dutch province of Friesland. In 1585, the governor of Friesland, Count William Louis of Nassau, founded the second university in the northern Netherlands (after Leiden, 1575) with faculties of theology, law, the arts, and (from 1589) medicine. As a result of the attendance of numerous students from western Germany, Hungary, and the Scandinavian countries, the university attained European stature during the 17th centu…

[German Version] (Jul 14, 1634, Paris – Dec 2, 1719, Amsterdam). After studying theology, Quesnel joined the Oratorians in 1657. Ordained to the priesthood in 1659, he became director of the order’s school in Paris. His early Réflexions morales sur le Nouveau Testament (1668; ET: The New Testament, with Moral Reflections upon Every Verse, 1719–1725), a major work that appeared in various editions and was also widely read in Germany, already showed his Jansenist leanings (Jansenism) and aroused much hostility. His defense of Gallican liberties (Gal…

[German Version] (Mar/Apr 1577, Heidelberg – Mar 17, 1649, Amsterdam), philologist and Reformed theologian. After studying philosophy and theology at Leiden, he was appointed rector of the Latin ¶ school in Dordrecht in 1600; in 1615, with the help of his friend H. Grotius, he was appointed dean of the theological college in Leiden. He lost that position in 1619 on account of his contacts with the Remonstrants (Remonstration), but in 1622 he was installed in the newly created chair of rhetoric and history at Leiden. In 1631…

[German Version] (Makowski; 1588, Lobzenic, Poland – Jun 24, 1644, Franeker, the Netherlands) attended secondary school in Danzig and studied in various places including Heidelberg. In 1614 in Franeker he became a doctor of theology, and already in 1615 was appointed there to the post of professor of theology and physics. By his Aristotelian teaching he made a significant contribution to the development of Reformed orthodoxy (II, 2.b). His supralapsarian teaching on predestination (Predestination:…

[German Version] (Jan 29, 1718, Bédarieux, Département Hérault – Sep 25, 1794, Nîmes). At an early age, he joined with Jean Bétrine (1718–1756) and for four years shared with him the dangerous life of an itinerant preacher of the “church in the desert.” In 1738 he was formally admitted as a preacher in Nîmes; in 1740/1741 he studied with A. Court for six months at the theological seminary in Lausanne. During the following 40 years of his ministry as a pastor of the persecuted Reformed Church in Fr…

[German Version] (du Jon; May 1, 1545, Bourges – Oct 13, 1602, Leiden). After studying law in Bourges and theology in Geneva with T. Beza, Junius became the French preacher in Antwerp in 1565 and in the Electoral Palatinate in 1567. There, from 1573 onward, he collaborated with I. Tremellius on a Latin translation of the Old Testament. In 1576, he became professor of theology in Neustadt an der Haardt, in ¶ 1584 in Heidelberg and in 1592 in Leiden. With his Eirenicum de pace ecclesiae catholicae (first in Fr., 1593), written for Henry IV of France, which proposed a Gallican model…

[German Version] (1688, Paris – Feb 2, 1753, Ampleben, near Wolfenbüttel). Influenced by the writings of the quietist mystic A. Bourignon, Marsay, of a noble Huguenot family, left military service in 1711 to retire from the world and lead a contemplative life with the colony of exiles on the property of the countess of Wittgenstein at Schwarzenau, near Berleburg. After 1712 Marsay, in a spiritual marriage with Clara Elisabeth v. Callenberg, lived an unsettled life in various places as a spiritual …

[German Version] is now the administrative center of the Tarn et Garonne département; it became Protestant as early as 1561 on the conversion of Bishop Jean de Lettes. In 1570 the Edict of Saint-Germain-en-Laye gave it the status of a place of safety for Protestants (Huguenots: I, 1), and by the beginning of the 17th century it was, with La Rochelle, one of the most important centers of French Protestantism. A school was founded there in 1579, and then, following a resolution of the 1598 National Synod of M…

[German Version] (Aug 28, 1639, Usseaux, Dauphiné – Apr 8, 1703, Utrecht), was appointed pastor in Venterol (Drôme) and Embrun in 1661 but was forced to flee to Holland from French Switzerland on account of his Reformed faith. There he was appointed pastor of the ¶ Walloon congregation in Delft and in 1670 pastor in Utrecht. He participated in the investigation into J. de Labadie; having a certain sympathy with Socinianism (Socinians), he emphasized freedom of conscience in opposition to P. Jurieu, Influenced by the mystical theology of F. …

[German Version] 1. Matthias (Oct 27, 1618, Süchteln on the Lower Rhine – Oct 9, 1686, Herborn). After attending secondary school in Wesel from 1632, Nethenus studied philosophy and theology in Harderwijk, Deventer, and Utrecht. In 1646 he became pastor and headmaster in Kleve. Through the good offices of G. Voetius he was called in 1654 to be professor of theology in Utrecht, but in 1662 he was removed from office because of a polemical writing against S. Maresius in the controversy over the proper…

[German Version] (Oct 7, 1625, Brieg – May 19, 1687, Leiden), Reformed theologian. Initially he studied law and later theology in Bremen, Groningen, and Leiden, where he was introduced to the philosophy of R. Descartes. In 1650 he was appointed professor of philosophy at Herborn and in 1652 pastor in Duisburg; in 1655 he became professor of theology at Nijmwegen and in 1671 at Leiden, where he adopted the covenant theology of J. Cocceius. His attempt to reconcile Reformed theology with Cartesianism brought him repeatedly into conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities. His Theologia …

[German Version] (1529/1530, Doornik [Tournai] – Jul 15, 1602, Amsterdam), Reformed theologian. After studying with Calvin and T. Beza in Geneva from 1558 to 1560, he served churches in Aachen, Metz, Antwerp, Heidelberg, and (at the end of his life) in Amsterdam. In 1571 he played a leading role at the Dutch synod in Emden; from 1574 to 1583 he served as court chaplain to William of Orange. With his emphasis on the inward experience of grace and his ¶ description of the Christian life as penance, Taffin was one of the pioneers of the Nadere Reformatie. Christoph Strohm Bibliography Works inclu…

[German Version] (1653, Dolberg/Mark – Jul 12, 1718, Amsterdam), Reformed theologian. Following study in Utrecht under F. Burman (1), in Groningen under J. Alting, and in Zürich under J.H. Heidegger, Roëll became court preacher in Herford in 1679, and pastor in Leeuwarden in 1680, and in Deventer in 1682. From 1686 he taught philosophy and theology at Franeker University, and from 1704 theology in Utrecht. He was a moderate Cocceian Cartesian (J. Cocceius, R. Descartes), whose theology was based on the concept of conscientia as an innate idea that makes possible God-given know…

[German Version] (Aug 4/5, 1540 Agen, Département Lot-et-Garonne – Jan 21, 1609, Leiden). After initial instruction at home by his father, Scaliger studied in Paris, where he joined the Huguenots in 1562. From 1572 to 1574 he taught at the academy in Geneva (II), afterwards working as an independent scholar. In 1593 he was appointed to the chair of ancient languages at Leiden, succeeding J. Lipsius. Editor of many ancient works, he proved to be an outstanding textual critic. As the father of the m…

[German Version] (Aug 9, 1599, Oisemont, Picardy – May 18, 1673, Groningen). After studying in Paris, Saumur, and Geneva, Maresius became a pastor in Laon in 1620 and in Falaise in 1624. Appointed professor at Sedan in 1625, he went to Maastricht as a Walloon pastor in 1631; in 1636 to went on to 's-Hertogenbosch and finally was appointed professor in Groningen in 1643, where he also became a pastor in 1652. His works are mostly in the area of controversial theology. Until 1636 his primary target …

[German Version] (Feb 4, 1563, Goldberg, Silesia [Złotoryja, Poland] – Aug 1, 1633, Paris), Reformed theologian. After studying in Germany, Tilenus was appointed professor of theology at the Academy of Sedan. In his dispute with P. Du Moulin over the interpretation of the unio hypostatica, he accused Du Moulin of advocating ubiquity. During preparations for the Synod of Dort, Tilenus defended the position of the Remonstrants against J. Cameron, a stance that lost him his chair in 1618. Against the Presbyterians, he emphasized the value of…

[German Version] (Gentilis; c. 1520 Cosenza, Calabria – Sep 10, 1566, Bern), a humanist, joined the Italian refugee community in Geneva after his flight from Italy in 1557. Under the influence of M. Gribaldi, he ¶ criticized the church's doctrine of the Trinity and, thus, came into conflict with the Genevan authorities. His rejection of the scholastic concept of substance and his intensive involvement with the church fathers led him to a subordinationist understanding of the Trinity. The Father alone is the source of deity and the…

[German Version] I. History The Reformed League (Reformierter Bund) was founded in August 1884 at a conference in Marburg commemorating the 400th anniversary of Zwingli’s birth; as a registered association, its purpose was defined as “preservation and cultivation of the goods and bounties of the Reformed Church.” It was conceived as a loose association of churches, congregations, and individual members, seeking to strengthen Reformed identity in light of the Lutheran preponderance in Germany, which…

[German Version] I. History of Religion Instances in which a certain share of a person’s gains were ceded to the gods are known from the religions of the ancient Near East and of Classical Antiquity; on the evidence of the Old Testament (e.g. Lev 27:32f.; 1 Sam 8:15), Judaism and Christianity were also familiar with tithing (see III, IV below). Even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), which only cultivates a loose relationship to biblical tradition, takes up this notion in the B…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Judaism – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Dogmatics and Ethics – VI. Practical Theology I. Old Testament The designation Decalogue (“ten words”) for the series of ten commandments derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew ʾaśeret haddebārîm (δεκάλογος “ten words”). It is employed in late deuteronomic theory in Deut 10:4 for the Decalogue, in Deut 5:6–21 and by the post-dtr. redaction of the …