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Samuel Werenfels

January 01, 1970

For the Swiss Baroque architect, see Samuel Werenfels (architect).

Samuel Werenfels (German pronunciation: [ˈzaːmueːl ˈveːʁənfɛls]; 1 March 1657 – 1 June 1740) was a Swiss theologian. He was a major figure in the move towards a "reasonable orthodoxy" in Swiss Reformed theology.

Samuel Werenfels.

Life edit

Werenfels was born at Basel in the Old Swiss Confederacy, the son of archdeacon Peter Werenfels and Margaretha Grynaeus. After finishing his theological and philosophical studies at Basel, he visited the universities at Zürich, Bern, Lausanne, and Geneva. On his return he took on the duties, for a short time, of the professorship of logic, for Samuel Burckhardt.[1] In 1685 he became professor of Greek at Basel.[2]

In 1686 Werenfels undertook an extensive journey through Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, one of his companions being Gilbert Burnet. In 1687 he was appointed professor of rhetoric, and in 1696 became a member of the theological faculty, occupying successively, according to the Basel custom, the chairs of dogmatics and polemics, Old Testament, and New Testament.[2]

Werenfels received a call from the University of Franeker, but rejected it. In 1722 he led a successful move to have the Helvetic Consensus set aside in Basel, as divisive. He was member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel of London.[3]

During the last twenty years of his life he lived in retirement. He took part in the proceedings against Johann Jakob Wettstein for heresy, but expressed regret afterwards at having become involved. He died in Basel.[2]

Views of the "triumvirate" edit

Werenfels represented a theology that put doctrinal quibbles in the background.[4] His epigram on the misuse of the Bible is well known as: "This is the book in which each both seeks and finds his own dogmas."[2] In the Latin original it is

Hic liber est in quo sua quærit dogmata quisque,
Invenit et pariter dogmata quisque sua.[5][6]

He advocated instead the historical-grammatical method.[7]

With Jean-Alphonse Turrettini and Jean-Frédéric Osterwald, Werenfels made up what has been called a "Helvetic triumvirate", or "Swiss triumvirate", of moderate but orthodox Swiss Calvinist theologians. Their approach began to converge with the Dutch Remonstrants, and the English latitudinarians.[8][9] Their views promoted simple practical beliefs, rationality and tolerance.[10] They were later charged with being a "Remonstrant trio", and Jan Jacob Schultens defended them.[11] The three in fact admired the "reasonable orthodoxy" of the Church of England, and Turrettini in particular opposed with success the Helvetic Consensus;[12] but Werenfels made the first effective move against it.[3] The triumvirate corresponded with William Wake, amongst other Protestant churchmen.[13]

Works edit

Logomachy edit

Adriaan Heereboord had argued in Cartesian style, against scholasticism for limitations to be put on disputation, which should be bounded by good faith in the participants. Werenfels went further, regarding "logomachy" as a malaise of the Republic of Letters.[14] The "triumvirate" position on ecumenism was based on the use of fundamental articles through the forum of the Republic of Letters.[15]

The underlying causes of logomachy were taken by Werenfels to be prejudice and other failings of the disputants, and ambiguity in language.[14] In his dissertation De logomachiis eruditorum (Amsterdam, 1688)[16] Werenfels argued that controversies that divide Christians are often verbal disputes, arising from moral deficiencies, especially from pride. He proposed to do away with them by making a universal lexicon of all terms and concepts.[2]

In the Oratio de vero et falso theologorum zelo he admonished those who fight professedly for purity of doctrine, but in reality for their own system. He considers it the duty of the polemicist not to combat antiquated heresies and to warm up dead issues, but to overthrow the prevalent enemies of true Christian living.[2]

Theology edit

In 1699 he published anonymously Judicium de argumento Cartesii pro existentia Dei. It was an acceptance in particular of the proof of existence of God from the third Meditation of Descartes; and in general of Cartesian philosophical premises.[17]

His conception of his duties as a theological professor was shown in his address, De scopo doctoris in academia sacras litteras docentis. He believed that it was more important to care for the piety of candidates for the ministry, than for their scholarship. It was his belief that a professor of practical theology is as necessary as a professor of practical medicine.[2]

He stood for the necessity of a special revelation of God, and defended the Biblical miracles as confirmations of the words of the evangelists. In his Cogitationes generales de ratione uniendi ecclesias protestantes, quae vulgo Lutheranarum et Reformatorum nominibus distingui solent, he sought a way of reconciling Lutherans and Calvinists.[2]

The De jure in conscientias ab homine non usurpando dated from 1702; it was written after Nicolaus Wil(c)kens had defended a thesis on religious freedom in the absence of consequences for public order, and defends freedom of conscience. The work met the approval of Benjamin Hoadly and Samuel Haliday, while being used by Daniel Gerdes to attack Johannes Stinstra.[18]

Collections edit

His Dissertationum theologicarum sylloge appeared first Basel, 1709;[19] a further collection of his works is Opuscula theologica, philologica, et philosophica (Basel, 1718, new ed., 3 vols., 1782).[2]

Sermons, dissertations, translations edit

From 1710 Werenfels (a native speaker of German) was asked to preach sermons in the French church at Basel; they were in a plain style.[20] As a preacher he has been described as "estranged from false pathos, elegant, intelligible, and edifying".[21] These sermons were published as Sermons sur des verités importantes de la religion auxquels on ajoute des Considerations sur la reünion des protestans (1715). They were translated into German, and into Dutch by Marten Schagen.[2][22] Schagen also translated the De recto theologi zelo into Dutch.[23]

The De logomachiis eruditorum was translated into English as Discourse of Logomachys, or Controversys about Words (1711).[24] Thomas Herne under a pseudonym translated Latin and French works as Three Discourses (1718), at the time of the Bangorian Controversy.[25] William Duncombe translated An Oration on the Usefulness of Dramatic Interludes in the Education of Youth (1744).[26]

Notes edit

  1. ^ von Salis, Arnold (1897), "Werenfels, Samuel", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 42, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 5–8
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Vischer 1912, p. 302.
  3. ^ a b James Isaac Good, History of the Swiss Reformed Church since the Reformation (1913), p. 172; archive.org.
  4. ^ Anne Skoczylas, Mr. Simson's Knotty Case: divinity, politics, and due process in early eighteenth-century Scotland (2001), p. 90; Google Books.
  5. ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Tradition and Living Magisterium" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  6. ^ s:Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/99
  7. ^ Albert Henry Newman, A Manual of Church History vol. 2 (1900), p. 569; archive.org.
  8. ^ Thomas Albert Howard, Religion and the Rise of Historicism: W. M. L. de Wette, Jacob Burckhardt, and the Theological Origins of Nineteenth-Century Historical Consciousness (Cambridge University Press, 2006), p. 202 note 22; Google Books.
  9. ^ Van Eijnatten, p. 166;Google Books.
  10. ^ Dolf te Velde, Paths Beyond Tracing Out (2010), p. 21; Google Books.
  11. ^ Johannes van den Berg, Jan de Bruijn, Pieter Holtrop, Ernestine G. E. van der Wall, Religious Currents and Cross-currents: essays on early modern Protestantism and the Protestant enlightenment (1999), p. 257 note 13; Google Books.
  12. ^ George Richard Potter (editor), The New Cambridge Modern History vol. vii (1971), p. 134; Google Books.
  13. ^ William Reginald Ward, Early Evangelicalism: a global intellectual history, 1670–1789 (2006), p. 73; Google Books.
  14. ^ a b Wolfgang Rother, Paratus sum sententiam mutare: The Influence of Cartesian Philosophy at Basle pp. 79–80, in History of Universities, Volume XXII/1 (2007), pp. 79–80; Google Books.
  15. ^ Martin I. Klauber, Between Reformed Scholasticism and Pan-Protestantism: Jean-Alphonse Turretin (1671–1737) and enlightened orthodoxy at the Academy of Geneva (1994), p. 173; Google Books.
  16. ^ 1702 edition on Google Books.
  17. ^ Rother, p. 85; Google Books.
  18. ^ Dutch Review of Church History (2006), review p. 540; Google Books.
  19. ^ Google Books.
  20. ^ Edwin Charles Dargan, A History of Preaching vol. 2 (1905), p. 269; archive.org.
  21. ^ Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia volume 9, article Preaching, history of, p. 171; archive.org.
  22. ^ Van Eijnatten, p. 170;Google Books.
  23. ^ Van Eijnatten, p. 168 note 102;Google Books.
  24. ^ Feingold, Mordechai (13 September 2007). History of Universities: Volume XXII/1. OUP Oxford. ISBN 9780199227488.
  25. ^ Three Discourses: one a defence of private judgment; the second against the authority of the Magistrate over conscience; the third, concerning the Reuniting of Protestants. Translated from the Latin & French of Dr Samuel Werenfels. By Phileleutherus Cantab. London. 1718.
  26. ^ John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the XVIII Century (1812–15) vol. 8, pp. 265–70; Spenserians page.

References edit

  • Joris van Eijnatten (2003), Liberty and Concord in the United Provinces: religious toleration and the public in the eighteenth-century Netherlands (2003); Google Books
  • Wolfgang Rother, Paratus sum sententiam mutare: The Influence of Cartesian Philosophy at Basle pp. 71–97, History of Universities, Volume XXII/1 (2007); Google Books
  • Werner Raupp: Werenfels, Samuel, in: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS; also in French and Italian), Vol. 13 (2014), p. 407–408 (also online: http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/textes/d/D10910.php).

Attribution:

Further reading edit

  • (in Latin) Peter Ryhiner, Vita venerabilis theologi Samuelis Werenfelsii (1741); Google Books

External links edit

January 01, 1970
samuel, werenfels, swiss, baroque, architect, architect, german, pronunciation, ˈzaːmueːl, ˈveːʁənfɛls, march, 1657, june, 1740, swiss, theologian, major, figure, move, towards, reasonable, orthodoxy, swiss, reformed, theology, contents, life, views, triumvira. For the Swiss Baroque architect see Samuel Werenfels architect Samuel Werenfels German pronunciation ˈzaːmueːl ˈveːʁenfɛls 1 March 1657 1 June 1740 was a Swiss theologian He was a major figure in the move towards a reasonable orthodoxy in Swiss Reformed theology Samuel Werenfels Contents 1 Life 2 Views of the triumvirate 3 Works 3 1 Logomachy 3 2 Theology 3 3 Collections 3 4 Sermons dissertations translations 4 Notes 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksLife editWerenfels was born at Basel in the Old Swiss Confederacy the son of archdeacon Peter Werenfels and Margaretha Grynaeus After finishing his theological and philosophical studies at Basel he visited the universities at Zurich Bern Lausanne and Geneva On his return he took on the duties for a short time of the professorship of logic for Samuel Burckhardt 1 In 1685 he became professor of Greek at Basel 2 In 1686 Werenfels undertook an extensive journey through Germany Belgium and the Netherlands one of his companions being Gilbert Burnet In 1687 he was appointed professor of rhetoric and in 1696 became a member of the theological faculty occupying successively according to the Basel custom the chairs of dogmatics and polemics Old Testament and New Testament 2 Werenfels received a call from the University of Franeker but rejected it In 1722 he led a successful move to have the Helvetic Consensus set aside in Basel as divisive He was member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel of London 3 During the last twenty years of his life he lived in retirement He took part in the proceedings against Johann Jakob Wettstein for heresy but expressed regret afterwards at having become involved He died in Basel 2 Views of the triumvirate editWerenfels represented a theology that put doctrinal quibbles in the background 4 His epigram on the misuse of the Bible is well known as This is the book in which each both seeks and finds his own dogmas 2 In the Latin original it is Hic liber est in quo sua quaerit dogmata quisque Invenit et pariter dogmata quisque sua 5 6 He advocated instead the historical grammatical method 7 With Jean Alphonse Turrettini and Jean Frederic Osterwald Werenfels made up what has been called a Helvetic triumvirate or Swiss triumvirate of moderate but orthodox Swiss Calvinist theologians Their approach began to converge with the Dutch Remonstrants and the English latitudinarians 8 9 Their views promoted simple practical beliefs rationality and tolerance 10 They were later charged with being a Remonstrant trio and Jan Jacob Schultens defended them 11 The three in fact admired the reasonable orthodoxy of the Church of England and Turrettini in particular opposed with success the Helvetic Consensus 12 but Werenfels made the first effective move against it 3 The triumvirate corresponded with William Wake amongst other Protestant churchmen 13 Works editLogomachy edit Adriaan Heereboord had argued in Cartesian style against scholasticism for limitations to be put on disputation which should be bounded by good faith in the participants Werenfels went further regarding logomachy as a malaise of the Republic of Letters 14 The triumvirate position on ecumenism was based on the use of fundamental articles through the forum of the Republic of Letters 15 The underlying causes of logomachy were taken by Werenfels to be prejudice and other failings of the disputants and ambiguity in language 14 In his dissertation De logomachiis eruditorum Amsterdam 1688 16 Werenfels argued that controversies that divide Christians are often verbal disputes arising from moral deficiencies especially from pride He proposed to do away with them by making a universal lexicon of all terms and concepts 2 In the Oratio de vero et falso theologorum zelo he admonished those who fight professedly for purity of doctrine but in reality for their own system He considers it the duty of the polemicist not to combat antiquated heresies and to warm up dead issues but to overthrow the prevalent enemies of true Christian living 2 Theology edit In 1699 he published anonymously Judicium de argumento Cartesii pro existentia Dei It was an acceptance in particular of the proof of existence of God from the third Meditation of Descartes and in general of Cartesian philosophical premises 17 His conception of his duties as a theological professor was shown in his address De scopo doctoris in academia sacras litteras docentis He believed that it was more important to care for the piety of candidates for the ministry than for their scholarship It was his belief that a professor of practical theology is as necessary as a professor of practical medicine 2 He stood for the necessity of a special revelation of God and defended the Biblical miracles as confirmations of the words of the evangelists In his Cogitationes generales de ratione uniendi ecclesias protestantes quae vulgo Lutheranarum et Reformatorum nominibus distingui solent he sought a way of reconciling Lutherans and Calvinists 2 The De jure in conscientias ab homine non usurpando dated from 1702 it was written after Nicolaus Wil c kens had defended a thesis on religious freedom in the absence of consequences for public order and defends freedom of conscience The work met the approval of Benjamin Hoadly and Samuel Haliday while being used by Daniel Gerdes to attack Johannes Stinstra 18 Collections edit His Dissertationum theologicarum sylloge appeared first Basel 1709 19 a further collection of his works is Opuscula theologica philologica et philosophica Basel 1718 new ed 3 vols 1782 2 Sermons dissertations translations edit From 1710 Werenfels a native speaker of German was asked to preach sermons in the French church at Basel they were in a plain style 20 As a preacher he has been described as estranged from false pathos elegant intelligible and edifying 21 These sermons were published as Sermons sur des verites importantes de la religion auxquels on ajoute des Considerations sur la reunion des protestans 1715 They were translated into German and into Dutch by Marten Schagen 2 22 Schagen also translated the De recto theologi zelo into Dutch 23 The De logomachiis eruditorum was translated into English as Discourse of Logomachys or Controversys about Words 1711 24 Thomas Herne under a pseudonym translated Latin and French works as Three Discourses 1718 at the time of the Bangorian Controversy 25 William Duncombe translated An Oration on the Usefulness of Dramatic Interludes in the Education of Youth 1744 26 Notes edit von Salis Arnold 1897 Werenfels Samuel Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie in German vol 42 Leipzig Duncker amp Humblot pp 5 8 a b c d e f g h i j Vischer 1912 p 302 a b James Isaac Good History of the Swiss Reformed Church since the Reformation 1913 p 172 archive org Anne Skoczylas Mr Simson s Knotty Case divinity politics and due process in early eighteenth century Scotland 2001 p 90 Google Books Herbermann Charles ed 1913 Tradition and Living Magisterium Catholic Encyclopedia New York Robert Appleton Company s Page Popular Science Monthly Volume 48 djvu 99 Albert Henry Newman A Manual of Church History vol 2 1900 p 569 archive org Thomas Albert Howard Religion and the Rise of Historicism W M L de Wette Jacob Burckhardt and the Theological Origins of Nineteenth Century Historical Consciousness Cambridge University Press 2006 p 202 note 22 Google Books Van Eijnatten p 166 Google Books Dolf te Velde Paths Beyond Tracing Out 2010 p 21 Google Books Johannes van den Berg Jan de Bruijn Pieter Holtrop Ernestine G E van der Wall Religious Currents and Cross currents essays on early modern Protestantism and the Protestant enlightenment 1999 p 257 note 13 Google Books George Richard Potter editor The New Cambridge Modern History vol vii 1971 p 134 Google Books William Reginald Ward Early Evangelicalism a global intellectual history 1670 1789 2006 p 73 Google Books a b Wolfgang Rother Paratus sum sententiam mutare The Influence of Cartesian Philosophy at Basle pp 79 80 in History of Universities Volume XXII 1 2007 pp 79 80 Google Books Martin I Klauber Between Reformed Scholasticism and Pan Protestantism Jean Alphonse Turretin 1671 1737 and enlightened orthodoxy at the Academy of Geneva 1994 p 173 Google Books 1702 edition on Google Books Rother p 85 Google Books Dutch Review of Church History 2006 review p 540 Google Books Google Books Edwin Charles Dargan A History of Preaching vol 2 1905 p 269 archive org Schaff Herzog Encyclopedia volume 9 article Preaching history of p 171 archive org Van Eijnatten p 170 Google Books Van Eijnatten p 168 note 102 Google Books Feingold Mordechai 13 September 2007 History of Universities Volume XXII 1 OUP Oxford ISBN 9780199227488 Three Discourses one a defence of private judgment the second against the authority of the Magistrate over conscience the third concerning the Reuniting of Protestants Translated from the Latin amp French of Dr Samuel Werenfels By Phileleutherus Cantab London 1718 John Nichols Literary Anecdotes of the XVIII Century 1812 15 vol 8 pp 265 70 Spenserians page References editJoris van Eijnatten 2003 Liberty and Concord in the United Provinces religious toleration and the public in the eighteenth century Netherlands 2003 Google Books Wolfgang Rother Paratus sum sententiam mutare The Influence of Cartesian Philosophy at Basle pp 71 97 History of Universities Volume XXII 1 2007 Google Books Werner Raupp Werenfels Samuel in Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz HLS also in French and Italian Vol 13 2014 p 407 408 also online http www hls dhs dss ch textes d D10910 php Attribution nbsp This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain Vischer Eberhard 1912 Werenfels Samuel In Jackson Samuel Macauley ed New Schaff Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge Vol 12 third ed London and New York Funk and Wagnalls p 302 Further reading edit in Latin Peter Ryhiner Vita venerabilis theologi Samuelis Werenfelsii 1741 Google BooksExternal links editWorldCat page CERL page Online Books page Works by Samuel Werenfels at Post Reformation Digital Library Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Samuel Werenfels amp oldid 1213476291, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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