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

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

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–16 February 1606 in Ronda) was a Spanish poet. He was the sixth child of Luis del Alcázar. His poetry was about life and love, most of it spiced with a keen sense of humor. Works A short example o ...

, and was born in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

. He studied at Seville, Cordova and

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, entered the Society of Jesus in 1568, and became a priest in 1578. Alcázar was a friend of the Jesuit Juan de Pineda (1552–1637) (also a pupil of Jerome de Prado), and the Dominican Agustin Salucio; he died in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

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 is a Christian eschatology, Christian eschatological view or belief that interprets some (partial preterism) or all (full preterism) Bible Prophecy (Eschatology), prophecies of the Bible as events which have already been fulfilled in his ...

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 fr ...

, in commentary on the ''

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

''; 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. His view was that everything in the Apocalypse, apart from the three final chapters, referred to events that had already come to pass when

John of Patmos John of Patmos (also called John the Revelator, John the Divine, John the Theologian; ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Book of Revelation. Revelation 1:9 states that John was on Patmos, an Aegean island off the coast of Rom ...

was writing. He attacked Joachim of Fiore, in particular, for

millenarianism Millenarianism or millenarism () 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". Millenarianism exists in various cultures and re ...

. 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 fifth century BC, whom the book identifies with the sixth-ce ...

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 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 ...

.Google Books
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John Donne John Donne ( ; 1571 or 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, D ...

cites him in a sermon.

Henry Hammond Henry Hammond (18 August 1605 – 25 April 1660) was an English churchman, church historian and theologian, who supported the Royalist cause during the English Civil War. Early life He was born at Chertsey in Surrey on 18 August 1605, the y ...

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), Switzerland, Swiss theologian, was born at Bäretswil, in the Canton of Zürich. He studied at University of Marburg, Marburg and at University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, where he became ...

, 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 *"Tristr ...

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

Francisco Pacheco Francisco Pérez del Río (bap. 3 November 1564 – 27 November 1644), known by his pseudonym Francisco Pacheco, was a Spanish painter, best known as the teacher of Alonso Cano and Diego Velázquez, as well as the latter's father-in-law. His ...

, 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), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

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