H.J.M. Nellen

Erasmus’s biblical project : Some thoughts and observations on its scope, its impact in the sixteenth century and reception in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

The history of the immediate response on and later reception of Erasmus’ ‘New Testament Project’ is an eventful one. The Project consisted of three innovations in biblical scholarship: the first printed edition of the Greek text of the New Testament, a revised version of the Latin Vulgate, and a philological commentary that accounted for the many textual changes the translator had made. The article discusses the polemics Erasmus’ edition provoked immediately after publication in 1516, and sheds light on the influence his Project exerted in later centuries. Special attention is given to biblical passages that played an important role in the discussions on the doctrine of the Trinity, such as Rom. 9,5; 1 Joh. 5,7-8 (the famous Comma Johanneum), and 1 Tim. 3,16. In questioning these passages as convincing, irrefutable proof-texts of Christ’s divinity, Erasmus made himself vulnerable to accusations of reviving Arianism, an old anti-Trinitarian heresy.

Minimal Faith and Irenic Ideals in Seventeenth-Century Scholarly Circles: Hugo Grotius as a Guardian of Isaac Casaubon’s Legacy

This article shows how the Dutch humanist Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), inspired by his friend Isaac Casaubon, sought to introduce a procedure for mitigating strife in the Christian church. He proclaimed a division between a set of self-evident, universally accepted key tenets, to be endorsed by all believers, and a larger number of secondary, not completely certain articles of faith, which were to be left open for friendly debate. The doctrine of the Trinity belonged to the second category; it should be treated in a careful, detached way, in words that did not go beyond the terminology of the Bible. However, defenders of this irenic stance laid themselves open to severe criticism: the example of the conservative Lutheran theologian Abraham Calovius illustrates how they were censured for giving up divinely inspired truth for a chimerical unionist ideal which cajoled them into reintroducing the early Christian heresy of Arianism, now called Socinianism.

On the Occasion of the Acquisition of the First Edition of De Iure Belli ac Pacis by the Peace Palace Library

In November 2010, the Library of the Peace Palace in The Hague acquired a copy of Hugo Grotius’s seminal study on the law of war, De iure belli ac pacis (Paris: Nicolas Buon, 1625). The purchase represents the very rare first state (issue or printing) of the first edition, item no. 565-I in the well-known bibliography of Grotius’s works by Jacob Ter Meulen and P.J.J. Diermanse. This article is an adapted version of a speech held in the Peace Palace on 21 February 2011, when the copy of De iure belli ac pacis was presented to the public. After a short survey of the genesis, printing history and early reception, the article goes into the differences between the three states of the first edition and their significance for the interpretation of Grotius’s work. A provisional checklist of copies in public libraries is added in an appendix.

Hugo Grotius and the Right to Wage War

In May 1625 the famous Dutch statesman and scholar Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) published De iure belli ac pacis, a seminal and much acclaimed work that would greatly advance the discipline of natural and international law. Grotius put forward two essential conditions for a war to be lawful and just. First, every war should aim at redressing injustice and, secondly, starting a war was only appropriate if the normal administration of justice was unfeasible or seriously impeded. Grotius analyzed the procedures for redressing injustice and lawlessness in great detail. He distinguished four ways: self-defense, recovery of property, collection of debts and punishment for severe offences against natural law. Grotiuss defense of justified warfare was based on a system of individual rights, embedded in human nature. This system was to enable everybody, citizens and nation states alike, to create the conditions for a peaceful existence in sound material circumstances. Keywords:Hugo Grotius; international law; natural law; recovery of property; self-defense; warfare