Adriaan Koerbagh (1633 – 1669) was a Dutch scholar and writer who was a critic of religion and conventional morality.

Life

Adriaan Koerbagh studied at the universities of respectively

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, Franeker and

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

, becoming a doctor in medicine in 1659 and master in

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

in 1661. He was one of the most radical figures of the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

, rejecting and reviling the church and state as unreliable institutions and exposing theologians' and lawyers' language as vague and opaque tools to blind the people in order to maintain their own power. Koerbagh put the authority of reason above that of dogmas and was thus seen as a true freethinker, although twentieth century notions of him as an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

cannot be applied with certainty. Koerbagh described the Bible and dogmas like the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

and the divine nature of Christ as only the work of men. Also, like his contemporary Baruch de Spinoza, he argued that God is identical with nature and that nothing exists outside of nature. Therefore, he argued,

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

, not

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

, was the real theology of the world. In his views about the

secularization In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses ...

of the Republic of the Netherlands and the limitation of ecclesiastical powers, he argued that religion is irrational and only maintains its position through deception and violence. He wrote in books ''t Nieuw Woorden-Boeck der Regten'' (''The New Dictionary of Rights'', 1664), and in '' Een Bloemhof van allerley lieflijkheyd'' (''A Flower Garden of All Sorts of Delights'', 1668), under the pseudonym Vreederijk Waarmond., 'A not so harmless drudge: the survival of Koerbagh's ''Bloemhof van allerley lieflijkheyd'' (1668)', ''Quærendo. A Journal Devoted to Manuscripts and Printed Books'' 50-4 (2020-4), pp. 394-426. This book explained various technical terms and foreign words. The Church authorities were offended by the dictionary's articles on religious and political topics, forcing Koerbagh to flee to Culemborg, a legally autonomous town in another province that would not extradite him, and then to

. Adriaan Koerbagh fiercely opposed the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

in his third work, "Een Ligt schynende in duystere plaatsen, om te verligten de voornaamste saaken der Godsgeleerdtheyd en Godsdienst" (A Light Shining In Dark Places, To Shed Light On Matters Of Theology and Religion). He went to Leiden, where he was betrayed by his printer, who knew the contents of his work, and arrested by the authorities. His brother Johannes was also arrested. In 1668, he was found guilty of

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religio ...

and was sentenced to 10 years in the

Rasphuis The Rasphuis was a "tuchthuis" or prison in Amsterdam that was established in 1596 in the former Convent of the Poor Clares on the Heiligeweg. In 1815 it was closed, and in 1892 the building was demolished to make way for a swimming pool. On ...

jail at Amsterdam, where he had to do forced labour, followed by exile and a 4000

guilder Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' " gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Emp ...

fine. He died a few months later in 1669 in the Rasphuis due to the pressures of prison life. His publications were largely destroyed by the authorities of the Republic. His brother Johannes was released because of lack of evidence against him, but he never published again. He died three years later, in 1672. Koerbagh's story shows that the tolerance of the Dutch Republic, however great compared with almost every other country in the world at the time, was certainly not unlimited.

Works

't Nieuw-woordenboek der Regten
(1664)
Een Bloemhof van allerley lieflijkheyd sonder verdriet
(1668)
Een ligt Schijnende in Duystere Plaatsen, om te verligten de voornaamste saaken der Godsgeleerdtheyd en Godsdienst
(1668, reissued 1974)

References

Sources

* Noordervliet, Nelleke:
Helden van het vrije woord
, ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...

'', 18 June 2007. * Israel, Jonathan I., ''Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650–1750''; Oxford University Press, USA; 2002.

External links

Adriaan Koerbagh, precursor of the Enlightenment?

Biography
in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek van Nederland
Photograph of page from "Een Bloemhof"
from the library of

Frederick III of Denmark Frederick III ( da, Frederik; 18 March 1609 – 9 February 1670) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1648 until his death in 1670. He also governed under the name Frederick II as diocesan administrator (colloquially referred to as prince-b ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koerbagh, Adriaan 1632 births 1669 deaths Dutch people who died in prison custody 17th-century Dutch philosophers Enlightenment philosophers People convicted of blasphemy Writers from Amsterdam Prisoners who died in Dutch detention Secularism Dutch former Christians People associated with Baruch Spinoza Pantheism Freethought