Friedrich Spanheim the Younger (1 May 1632 – 18 May 1701) was a German

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

theologian of conservative views, son of

Friedrich Spanheim Friedrich Spanheim the Elder (January 1, 1600, Amberg – May 14, 1649, Leiden) was a Calvinistic theology professor at the University of Leiden. Life He entered in 1614 the University of Heidelberg where he studied philology and philosop ...

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Life

He was born in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, and studied at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

, graduating M.A. in 1648. He joined the faculty of the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

in 1655. In 1670 he moved to

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, replacing the late

Johannes Cocceius Johannes Cocceius (also Coccejus; 9 August 1603 – 5 November 1669) was a Dutch theologian born in Bremen. Life After studying at Hamburg and the University of Franeker, where Sixtinus Amama was one of his teachers, he became in 1630 profess ...

as Professor of theology. Spanheim emphasised the study of church history. His theological position was expressed in dogmatic and polemical terms, as he took on

Arminian Arminianism is a movement of Protestantism initiated in the early 17th century, based on the Christian theology, theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed Church, Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remo ...

Cartesians Cartesianism is the philosophical and scientific system of René Descartes and its subsequent development by other seventeenth century thinkers, most notably François Poullain de la Barre, Nicolas Malebranche and Baruch Spinoza. Descartes is of ...

, the followers of Cocceius and

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

s. Spanheim encouraged the Voetians to stamp their orthodoxy on the Leiden theological faculty, and in 1676 pushed for the publication of 20 deprecated positions, marking out the Cocceian/Cartesian views. In the university

Abraham Heidanus Abraham van Heyden or van Heiden ( or '; 1597–1678) was a Dutch Calvinist minister and controversialist, sympathetic to Cartesianism. Life He was born in Frankenthal in the Palatinate, son of Gaspar van der Heiden the Younger, a Reformed minis ...

, Wittichius and

Burchardus de Volder Burchard de Volder (26 July 1643 – 21 March 1709) was a Dutch physicist. Biography He was born in a Mennonite family in Amsterdam. He earned an M.A. in philosophy at the University of Utrecht under in 1660. He earned his medical doctorat ...

resisted strongly, and Heidanus lost his position. In the longer term, however, the Voetian victory was pyrrhic, in that Cartesianism quite soon prevailed.

Jonathan I. Israel Jonathan Irvine Israel (born 22 January 1946) is a British historian specialising in Dutch history, the Age of Enlightenment, Spinoza's Philosophy and European Jews. Israel was appointed as Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the School of Historic ...

, ''Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650-1750'' (2001), pp. 28–9. Spanheim died in 1701 in Leiden.

Works

His collected works were published as ''Opera'' (1701–1703).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spanheim, Friedrich 1632 births 1701 deaths 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 17th-century German Protestant theologians Dutch Calvinist and Reformed theologians German Calvinist and Reformed theologians Dutch librarians German male non-fiction writers Academic staff of Heidelberg University Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University Theologians from the Republic of Geneva 17th-century German male writers