Scriptural Authority and Biblical Criticism in the Dutch Golden Age: God's Word QuestionedScriptural Authority and Biblical Criticism in the Dutch Golden Age explores the hypothesis that in the long seventeenth century humanist-inspired biblical criticism contributed significantly to the decline of ecclesiastical truth claims. Historiography pictures this era as one in which the dominant position of religion and church began to show signs of erosion under the influence of vehement debates on the sacrosanct status of the Bible. Until quite recently, this gradual but decisive shift has been attributed to the rise of the sciences, in particular astronomy and physics. This authoritative volume looks at biblical criticism as an innovative force and as the outcome of developments in philology that had started much earlier than scientific experimentalism or the New Philosophy. Scholars began to situate the Bible in its historical context. The contributors show that even in the hands of pious, orthodox scholars philological research not only failed to solve all the textual problems that had surfaced, but even brought to light countless new incongruities. This supplied those who sought to play down the authority of the Bible with ammunition. The conviction that God's Word had been preserved as a pure and sacred source gave way to an awareness of a complicated transmission in a plurality of divergent, ambiguous, historically determined, and heavily corrupted texts. This shift took place primarily in the Dutch Protestant world of the seventeenth century. |
Contents
The Johannine Comma from Erasmus to Westminster | |
The Velesian Readings of the Greek | |
André Rivet between | |
Authority Truth and the Text of | |
Menasseh ben Israel Biblical | |
Some Heretical Thoughts | |
Innovative Exegesis by Remonstrant Mennonite | |
Pierre Bayle and Biblical Criticism | |
Bayle the Bible and the Remonstrant Tradition at the Time | |
Anthonie van Dale on Biblical History | |
Biblical Criticism Knowledge and the First Commandment | |
The Northern War and King | |
Johann Scheuchzer and His Followers | |
Bibliography | |
How Did Spinoza Declare War on Theology | |
Index Locorum Biblicorum | |
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Common terms and phrases
Amsterdam André Rivet arguments Aristeas authority Bayle’s Bible biblical criticism biblical philology biblical text Brill Cambridge Catholic chapter Christian chronology church Coccejan commentary Conciliador contemporary context critique Dale’s debate Dissertatio divine doctrine Dutch Early Modern edition Enlightenment Erasmus exegesis exegetical Ezra Gisbertus Voetius God’s Word Greek Hardt Hebrew Heinsius Henk hermeneutics Hobbes Holy Hugo Grotius ibid interpretation Isaac Vossius Jacob Jean Le Clerc Jewish Johann John Jonathan Israel Joseph Scaliger Judah king Latin Leiden letter Limborch London manuscripts Menasseh ben Israel miracle Old Testament Opera Orthodoxy Oxford University Press Paris passages Perizonius Peyrère philology philosophy Pierre Bayle Protestant published qu’il quod rabbinic radical reason Reformed religion religious Remonstrants Rivet sacra Scheuchzer scholars Scholarship scripturarian Scripture Septuagint seventeenth century Simon Spinoza Testamentum textual theologians theology Tractatus Theologico-Politicus tradition trans translation Treatise truth Universiteitsbibliotheek Utrecht van Dale variants Velesian readings Voetius Vulgate
Bibliographic information
| Title | Scriptural Authority and Biblical Criticism in the Dutch Golden Age: God's Word Questioned |
| Author | Henk Nellen |
| Editors | Dirk van Miert, Piet Steenbakkers, Jetze Touber |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 2017 |
| ISBN | 019252982X, 9780192529824 |
| Length | 432 pages |
| Subjects | › › Literary Criticism / General Philosophy / History & Surveys / Modern Religion / Biblical Criticism & Interpretation / General Religion / Biblical Studies / General |
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