Department of Printed Books: Halthasar Bekker: some recent additions
Name
article9_7DGMU0R.pdf
Description
visibility:open
Size
7.8 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (CRC64NVME)
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Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Simoni, Anna E. C.
Date published
April 1980
Abstract
In the 1978 Spring issue of this journal Dr. Hans Henning recalled that executions for witchcraft continued in Germany and Switzerland until 1782. If they came to an end then, and well before that date in England and some other countries, this is due in no small measure to Balthasar Bekker and his epoch-making book De betoverde weereld, first published at Leeuwarden and Amsterdam in 1691, 1693. It was translated into English in 1695 as The World Bewitched, into French as Le Monde enchante (1694), and into Germanas Die bezauherte Welt (c. 1695). It also caused a storm of controversy and cost Bekker his position as minister of the Dutch Reformed Church at Amsterdam - though without loss of income. Yet in the end his compassion for persecuted old women and his defence of God-given reason as a necessary part of religion, of equal importance with faith itself, carried the day.
Journal title
British Library Journal
Volume
6
Issue
1
Publisher
British Library
Place of publication
UK
ISSN
0305-5167
eISSN
2056-2829
Official URL
Related URL
Rights statement
In Copyright