Christopher Wittich

Christoph Wittich or Christophorus Wittichius (1625, in Brieg – 1687, in Leiden) was a Dutch theologian. He is known for attempting to reconcile Descartes' philosophy with the Scriptures.

Christoph Wittich.

Life

He studied theology in Bremen, Groningen and Leiden, and taught theology, mathematics, and Hebrew at Herborn (1651–53), Duisburg (1653–55), Nijmegen (1655–1671) and Leiden (1671–1687). Starting from his 1653 publication Dissertationes Duæ he defended a non-literal interpretation of the Bible texts that were quoted by Voetius to prove the unscriptural nature of Descartes' Copernican beliefs, and tried to reconcile philosophy and theology.

Works

• Dissertationes Duæ, Amsterdam, 1653.
• De Stylo Scripturae, Amsterdam (?), 1656
• Consensus veritatis in Scriptura divina et infallibili revelatae cum veritate philosophica a Renato detecta, Nijmegen, 1660
• Theologia pacifica, Leiden, 1671.
• Anti-spinoza, Amsterdam, 1690 (posthumous).

Further reading

Ernst Bizer, D. ref. Orthodoxie u. d. Cartesianismus, in: ZThK 55, 1958, 306-372

Roberto Bordoli s.v., The Dict. of Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Dutch Philosophers, II, 2003, 1083–1086.

Cellamare, Davide, "A theologian teaching Descartes at the Academy of Nijmegen (1655–1679): class notes on Christoph Wittich’s course on the Meditations on First Philosophy", Intellectual History Review, 30:4, 585-613

Cuno, "Wittich, Christoph" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 43 (1898), S. 631-635 [Online-Version];

Kai-Ole Eberhardt, Art. Wittich, Christoph. Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon Band XXXVII (2016) 1493–1507.

Kai-Ole Eberhardt, Christoph Wittich (1625–1687). Reformierte Theologie unter dem Einfluss von René Descartes, Göttingen 2018 (Reformed Historical Theology 47).(ISBN 978-3-525-55283-4)

Kai-Ole Eberhardt, Vernunft und Offenbarung in der Theologie Christoph Wittichs (1625–1687). Prolegomena und Hermeneutik der reformierten Orthodoxie unter dem Einfluss des Cartesianismus, Göttingen 2019 (FSÖTh 164)

Jacob Gronovius, Laudatio Funebris recitata post obitum [...] Christophori Wittichii [...], Leiden 1687.

Georg Pape, Christoph Wittichs Anti-Spinoza. Diss. Rostock 1910.

Jan Rohls, Descartes u. d. ref. Theol., in: Sonderforschungsbereich 573 „Pluralisierung u. Autorität i. d. Frühen Neuzeit“ an d. LMU München, Mitteilungen 2/2006, München 2006, 24-34

Theo Verbeek, Descartes and the Dutch. Early Reactions to Cartesian Philosophy, 1637–1650. Published for the Journal of the History of Philosophy, Carbondale 1992

Rienk H.Vermij, The Calvinist Copernicans. The reception of the new astronomy in the Dutch Republic, 1575–1750, Amsterdam 2002

External links

• Willem Frijhoff, Marijke Spies, Dutch Culture in a European Perspective 1: 1650: Hard-Won Unity, Uitgeverij Van Gorcum 2004, pp 310–11.

See also: Wittich