Luis del Alcázar (Ludovicus ab Alcasar, Louis of Alcazar) (1554–1613) was a Spanish

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

theologian.

Life

He was the eldest son of Melchor del Alcázar, a jurist, and nephew of the poet

Baltasar del Alcázar Baltasar del Alcázar (1530 in Seville, Spain Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalq ...

, and was born in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

. He studied at Seville, Cordova and

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

, entered the Society of Jesus in 1568, and became a priest in 1578. Alcázar was a friend of the Jesuit

Juan de Pineda Juan de Pineda (Madrigal de las Altas Torres 1513 - Medina del Campo 1593) was a writer and a historian of the Spanish Golden Age. After graduating from the University of Salamanca in 1540, he became a Franciscan The Franciscans are a group o ...

(1552–1637) (also a pupil of Jerome de Prado), and the Dominican Agustin Salucio; he died in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Works

He is known for his ''Vestigatio arcani sensus in Apocalypsi'' (1614) published after his death, putting forward what would later be called a

preterist Preterism, a Christian eschatological view, interprets some (partial preterism) or all (full preterism) prophecies of the Bible as events which have already happened. This school of thought interprets the Book of Daniel as referring to events th ...

view of

Biblical prophecy Bible prophecy or biblical prophecy comprises the passages of the Bible that are claimed to reflect communications from God to humans through prophets. Jews and Christians usually consider the biblical prophets to have received revelations from G ...

, in commentary on the ''

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...

''; his work is regarded as the first major application of the method of interpretation of prophecy by reading in terms of the author's contemporary concerns. Google Books
His view was that everything in the Apocalypse, apart from the three final chapters, refers to events that already have come to pass. He attacked

Joachim of Fiore Joachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora and in Italian Gioacchino da Fiore (c. 1135 – 30 March 1202), was an Italian Christian theologian, Catholic abbot, and the founder of the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore. According to the ...

, in particular, for

millenarianism Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenariani ...

. The book's illustrations were after Juan de Jáuregui y Aguilar, who produced a series of 24 designs on the Apocalypse. He suggested that

2 Esdras 2 Esdras (also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra) is an apocalyptic book in some English versions of the Bible. Tradition ascribes it to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the , but scholarship places its composition between 70 and . It ...

was later than ''Revelation'', and borrowed from it. A further work was ''In eas Veteris Testamenti partes quas respicit Apocalypsis'' (1631).

Influence

Alcázar's method was for the ''

'', and was shortly taken up by

Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot () and Hugo de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright. A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was born in Delft ...

.Google Books
/ref>

John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...

cites him in a sermon.

Henry Hammond Henry Hammond (18 August 1605 – 25 April 1660) was an English churchman, who supported the Royalist cause during the English Civil War. Early life He was born at Chertsey in Surrey on 18 August 1605, the youngest son of John Hammond (c. 155 ...

was an exception, among English Protestants, in following Alcázar's interpretation. Alcázar, with

Johann Heinrich Heidegger Johann Heinrich Heidegger (July 1, 1633 – July 18, 1698), Swiss theologian, was born at Bäretswil, in the Canton of Zürich. He studied at Marburg and at Heidelberg, where he became the friend of J. L. Fabricius, and was appointed professor ex ...

, is referenced in ''

Tristram Shandy Tristram may refer to: Literature * the title character of ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'', a novel by Laurence Sterne * the title character of ''Tristram of Lyonesse'', an epic poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne *"Tristra ...

'' as "Lewis de Acasar". He was a friend of

Francisco Pacheco Francisco Pacheco del Río (bap. 3 November 1564 – 27 November 1644) was a Spanish painter, best known as the teacher and father-in-law of Diego Velázquez and Alonzo Cano, and for his textbook on painting, entitled ''Art of Painting'', ...

, and had an influence on the iconography of the Immaculate Conception: the horns of the crescent moon in Pacheco's codification pointed away from the sun, as Alcázar and

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

argued.Eileen Reeves, ''Painting the Heavens: Art and Science in the Age of Galileo'' (1999), p. 184
Google Books

Notes

External links

WorldCat pageCERL page

Dictionary article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcazar, Luis del 1554 births 1613 deaths 16th-century Spanish Jesuits 17th-century Spanish Roman Catholic theologians People from Seville 16th-century Spanish Roman Catholic theologians