Pierre Jurieu (24 December 1637 – 11 January 1713) was a French

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

leader.

Life

He was born at Mer, in Orléanais, where his father was a Protestant

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

. He studied at the

Academy of Saumur The Academy of Saumur (french: Académie de Saumur) was a Huguenot university at Saumur in western France. It existed from 1593, when it was founded by Philippe de Mornay, until shortly after 1685, when Louis XIV decided on the revocation of the Ed ...

and the Academy of Sedan under his grandfather,

Pierre Du Moulin Pierre Du Moulin ( Latinized as Petrus Molinaeus; 16 October 1568 – 10 March 1658) was a Huguenot minister in France who also resided in England for some years. Life Born in Buhy in 1568, he was the son of Joachim Du Moulin, a Protestant minis ...

, and under Leblanc de Beaulieu. After completing his studies in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Jurieu was ordained as an Anglican

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

; returning to France he was ordained again and succeeded his father as pastor of the church at Mer. Soon after this he published his first work, ''Examen de livre de la reunion du Christianisme'' (1671). In 1674 his ''Traité de la dévotion'' led to his appointment as professor of

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 the ...

and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

at Sedan, where he soon became pastor. A year later he published his ''Apologie pour la morale des Reformés''. His reputation was damaged by his argumentative nature, which sometimes descended into fanaticism, despite his sincerity. He was called by his adversaries "the Goliath of the Protestants." On the suppression of the academy of Sedan in 1681, Jurieu received an invitation to a church at Rouen, but, afraid to remain in France on account of his forthcoming work, ''La Politique du clergé de France'', he went to Holland and was pastor of the Walloon church of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

till his death. He was also professor at the "école illustre". From the 1690s, Jurieu was the founder and one of the main organizers of a spy network in France. Based in Rotterdam, the organization had agents in all the major French ports. From the beginning, Etienne Caillaud wrote and decrypted messages for Jurieu. The work was funded by a number of Huguenots, but also by William III and

Anthonie Heinsius Anthonie (or Antonius) Heinsius (23 November 1641, Delft – 3 August 1720, The Hague) was a Dutch statesman who served as Grand Pensionary of Holland from 1689 to his death in 1720. Life Heinsius was born at Delft on 23 November 1641, son o ...

Works

Jurieu did much to help those who suffered by the revocation of the

Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...

(1685). He turned for consolation to the Apocalypse, and succeeded in persuading himself (''Accomplissement des propheties'', 1686) that the overthrow of the

Antichrist In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form)1 John ; . 2 John . ...

(i.e. the Pope) would take place in 1689. HM Baird wrote that "this persuasion, however fanciful the grounds on which it was based, exercised no small influence in forwarding the success of the designs of William of Orange in the invasion of England". Jurieu defended the doctrines of

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

against the attacks of

Antoine Arnauld Antoine Arnauld (6 February 16128 August 1694) was a French Catholic theologian, philosopher and mathematician. He was one of the leading intellectuals of the Jansenist group of Port-Royal and had a very thorough knowledge of patristics. Cont ...

Pierre Nicole Pierre Nicole (19 October 1625 – 16 November 1695) was one of the most distinguished of the French Jansenists. Life Born in Chartres, he was the son of a provincial barrister, who took in charge his education. Sent to Paris in 1642 to study t ...

and Jacques-Benigne Bossuet but was equally ready to enter into dispute with his fellow Protestants (with Louis Du Moulin and Claude Payon, for instance) when their opinions differed from his own even on minor matters. The bitterness and persistency of his attacks on his colleague

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. A Huguenot, Bayle fled to the Dutch Republic in 1681 because of religious persecution in France. He is best known for his '' Histori ...

led to the latter being deprived of his chair in 1693. One of Jurieu's chief works is ''Lettres pastorales adressées aux fidéles de France'' (3 vols., Rotterdam, 1686-1687; Eng. trans., 1689), which, notwithstanding the vigilance of the police, found its way into France and produced a deep impression on the Protestant population. In these ''Pastoral Letters'', Jurieu supports before

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

the thesis of an explicit or implicit contract between the sovereign and his subjects; this idea will be opposed by

Bossuet Bossuet is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704), French bishop and theologian, uncle of Louis * Louis Bossuet Louis Bossuet (22 February 1663 – 15 January 1742) was a French parle ...

in the fifth of his ''Avertissements aux Protestants'' (1689–1691)."The influence

n Jean-Jacques Rousseau N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

of Jurieu, who in his XVIth, XVIIth and XVIIIth ''Pastoral Letters'' (1689) exposed a doctrine of the social contract and popular sovereignty that Bossuet fought in the 5th ''Warning to Protestants'', was pointed out by Proudhon, ''Idée générale de la révolution au XIX^e siècle'' (''General idea of the revolution in the XIXth century''), p. 115; — by J. Denis, ''Bayle et Jurieu'' (Caen, 1886): “the political doctrine of Pastoral Letters already contained the entire Social Contract of J.-J. Rousseau”, p. 56; — by M. Faguet, ''op. cit.'' Ém. Faguet, ''La politique comparée de Montesquieu, Rousseau et Voltaire'', 1902 p. 73; etc" (Georges Beaulavon, introduction to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, ''Du Contrat social'', Paris, 1903, p. 64, n. 3
online
) Jurieu's last important work was the ''Histoire critique des dogmes et des cultes'' (1704). He wrote a great number of controversial works.

References

See also: *Article in Herzog-Hauck, ''Realencyklopädie'' *H. M. Baird, ''The Huguenots and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes'' (1895) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jurieu, Pierre 1637 births 1713 deaths 17th-century apocalypticists 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 17th-century French theologians 18th-century apocalypticists French Calvinist and Reformed theologians Christian eschatology