Étienne de Courcelles (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Stephanus Curcellaeus'';

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

2 May 1586 –

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

20 May 1659) was an

Arminian Arminianism is a movement of Protestantism initiated in the early 17th century, based on the Christian theology, theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed Church, Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remo ...

Greek scholar and translator. He studied from 1609 in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, and after that he was French Protestant minister of

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

, translator of

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

, and successor of Simon Episcopius at the Remonstrant seminary in Amsterdam. He is credited with introducing

Cartesianism Cartesianism is the philosophical and scientific system of René Descartes and its subsequent development by other seventeenth century thinkers, most notably François Poullain de la Barre, Nicolas Malebranche and Baruch Spinoza. Descartes i ...

into Dutch Arminian circles. Courcelles was a personal friend of Descartes, and translated the '' Discours de la méthode'' and ''Les Météores'' into Latin, but he was only superficially influenced by Descartes.Arminianism in Oxford Encyclopedia of Enlightenment OUP 2005
/ref>

Works

* ''Novum Testamentum'' (Greek New Testament) 1658, 909 pages. * ''Specimina philosophiae'' (1644) — Latin translations of Descartes' ''Discours de la méthode'' and ''Les Météores'' The Arminians strove whenever they could to reconcile the philosophical systems of their day. This resulted in an eclectic philosophy consisting mainly of elements of moderate Cartesianism and

Lockean John Locke (; 29 August 1632 ( O.S.) – 28 October 1704 ( O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Con ...

empiricism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Courcelles, Etienne de 1586 births 1659 deaths French Protestants Remonstrants Arminian ministers Arminian theologians 17th-century clergy from the Republic of Geneva