Daniel Zwicker (22 January 1612 – 10 November 1678) was a German physician from Danzig, and a

Socinian Socinianism ( ) is a Nontrinitarian Christian belief system developed and co-founded during the Protestant Reformation by the Italian Renaissance humanists and theologians Lelio Sozzini and Fausto Sozzini, uncle and nephew, respectively. I ...

theologian and controversialist of the Polish Brethren.

Life

He was the son of Friedrich Zwicker,

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

minister of the Church of St. Bartholomew at Danzig. He was educated for the medical profession at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

which he entered in 1629, and where he graduated with a

Doctor's degree A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''Licentiate (degree), licentia docendi' ...

. Florian Crusius first influenced him in the direction of Unitarian theology. He met with considerable opposition, beginning with his brother Friedrich who had succeeded his father as minister. He left Danzig for

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Meeting some

Hutterite Hutterites (; ), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the early 16th century and have formed intent ...

missionaries from

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, around 1650, he spent time at Bruderhofs in the community of Andreas Ehrenpreis; but returned to Danzig. He returned to Strassin, where he lived for a while. From 1657 he moved to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, and died in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Works

His main theological interest lay in patristics. His ''Irenicum Irenicorum'' (1658) attempted to reconstruct Christian theology before the

Nicene Creed The Nicene Creed, also called the Creed of Constantinople, is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Council of N ...

.Arthur Middleton, ''Fathers and Anglicans: The Limits of Orthodoxy'' (2001), p. 245. Zwicker proposed that Christ's

divinity Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...

, the

pre-existence of Christ The pre-existence of Christ asserts the existence of Christ prior to his incarnation as Jesus. One of the relevant Bible passages is John 1 () where, in the Trinitarian interpretation, Christ is identified with a pre-existent divine hypostasi ...

, and the

incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It is the Conception (biology), conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic form of a god. It is used t ...

were inventions of early heretics. It was attacked in detail by

George Bull George Bull (25 March 1634 – 17 February 1710) was an English theologian and Bishop of St David's. Life He was born, 25 March 1634, in the parish of St Cuthbert, Wells, and educated in the grammar school at Wells, and then at Blundell' ...

. Bull's biographer Robert Nelson considered him an influential Unitarian, writing: He was criticized by

Samuel Przypkowski Samuel Przypkowski (Przipcovius, Pripcovius) (1592–19 April 1670, Königsberg) was a Polish Socinian theologian, a leading figure in the Polish Brethren and an advocate of religious toleration. In ''Dissertatio de pace et concordia ecclesiae'', ...

, and fell into controversy with Jan Amos Komenský (Comenius). Following

David Blondel file:David Blondel.jpg, David Blondel (1591 – 6 April 1655) was a French Protestant clergyman, historian and classical scholar. Life He was born at Châlons-en-Champagne. Ordained in 1614, he had positions as parish priest at Houdan and Rouc ...

's ''Joanna Papissa'' (1657) which disproved the historical reality of

Pope Joan Pope Joan (''Ioannes Anglicus'', 855–857) is a woman who purportedly reigned as popess (female pope) for two years during the Middle Ages. Her story first appeared in chronicles in the 13th century and subsequently spread throughout Europe. ...

Zwicker criticized the ''Joanna Papissa restituta'' of Samuel Desmarets (Maresius) anonymously, in a work published with those of

Étienne de Courcelles Étienne de Courcelles (Latin: ''Stephanus Curcellaeus''; Geneva 2 May 1586 – Amsterdam 20 May 1659) was an Arminian Greek scholar and translator. He studied from 1609 in Zurich, and after that he was French Protestant minister of Amiens, transla ...

Notes

External links

Zwicker, Daniel
in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online {{DEFAULTSORT:Zwicker, Daniel 1612 births 1678 deaths Antitrinitarians 17th-century German physicians 17th-century German Protestant theologians Polish Unitarian theologians Physicians from Gdańsk German emigrants to the Netherlands German male non-fiction writers 17th-century German male writers

Life

Works

Notes

Further reading

External links