Hermann Witsius

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Hermann Witsius

Hermann Witsius (Herman Wits or in Latin Hermannus Witsius) (February 12, 1636 - October 22, 1708), Dutch theologian, was born at Enkhuizen, North Holland, and studied at Groningen, Leiden and Utrecht. He was ordained in the ministry, becoming the pastor of Westwoud in 1656 and afterwards at Wormeren, Goesen, and Leeuwaarden, and became professor of divinity successively at the University of Franeker in 1675 and then at the University of Utrecht in 1680. In 1698 he was appointed to the University of Leiden as the successor of the younger Friedrich Spanheim (1632-1701), where he died.

While in his theology Witsius aimed at a reconciliation between the reigning orthodoxy and Covenant Theology (also known as federalism), he was first of all a Biblical theologian, his principal field being systematic theology. His chief work is entitled The Economy of the Covenants between God and Man (originally published in Latin: De oeconomia foderum Dei cum hominibus, Leeuwarden, 1677). He was induced to publish this work by his grief at the controversies between Voetians and Cocceians. Although himself a member of the federalistic school, he was in no way blind to the value of the scholastically established dogmatic system of the Church. In the end, he did not succeed in pleasing either party.

Besides his principal work he published:

Judaeus christianizans circa principia fidei et SS. Trinitatem (Utrecht, 1661)
Diatribe de septem epistolarum apocalypticarum sensu historico et prophetico (Franeker, 1678)
Exercitationes sacrae in symbolum quod apostolorum dicitur et in orationem Dominicam (Franeker, 1681)
Miscellanea sacra (Utrecht, 1692-1700, 2 vols).

Of his minor works, there have appeared in English A Treatise on Christian Faith (London, 1761); On the Character of a True Theologian (Edinburgh, 1877); and The Question: Was Moses the Author of the Pentateuch Answered in the Affirmative (1877).