Mutua Christianorum Tolerantia: Irenicism and Toleration in the Netherlands: The Stinstra Affair, 1740-1745 by Joris Van Eijnatten (review)

book reviews133 tents. The whole of the edition is fortified with cross-references and notes and an appendix of articles from 1603 to 1642 along with a thorough index. This is an impressive and valuable collection of records for the early Stuart church. William J. Dohar, C.S.C. University ofSan Francisco Mutua Christianorum Tolerantia: Irenicism and Toleration in the Netherlands : The Stinstra Affair, 1 740-1745. ByJoris Van Eijnatten. [Studi e Testi per la Storia della Tolleranza in Europa nei secoli XVI-XVIII, Vol. 2.] (Florence : Leo S. Olschki Editore. 1998. Pp. viii, 335. Lire 64,000 paperback.) This book contains as appendices two important early eighteenth-century Dutch works on religious toleration. The first work is the Deductie voor Het Regt van de Vrijheid van Geloove, Godsdienst, en Conscientie (ArgumentFor The Right ofFreedom ofFaith, Worship, and Conscience) published in Leeuwarden in 1740 byJohannes Stinstra (1708-1790), a Mennonite minister in Harlingen who was accused by the Reformed church of antitrinitarian leanings. This work appears both in the original Dutch and in an English translation made by Eijnatten. The second work is the Oratio de Mutua Christianorum Tolerantia (Oration on Mutual Christian Toleration),the: rectoral address of the professor of theologyJohannes van den Honert (1693-1758), held at Leiden University on February 8, 1745. The two writings are preceded by an introductory text of 213 pages that provides background and context for reading the works by discussing the life and ideas of both Stinstra and van den Honert. The introductory text also explores the sources and inspiration behind the differing views on toleration presented by the two men, puts their ideas within the context of larger traditions of Christian toleration, and examines the controversy that arose around Stinstra's views. Stinstra was educated at Franeker before becoming a minister in Harlingen in Friesland in 1735. In 1738 he became involved in a dispute defending two Mennonite ministers who had refused a request by city magistrates to sign articles subscribing to the doctrines of the Trinity,the divinity of Christ, and Christ's satisfaction . In 1739-1740 Stinstra prepared an official request to the States of Friesland asking that the obligation to sign these anti-Socinian articles be withdrawn , and to this request he appended his Deductie. In this work he put forward his ideas defending freedom of faith, worship, and conscience and attacking religious confessions and constraint of conscience. Van den Honert was the main opponent of Stinstra's ideas on toleration, defending the confessions of the Reformed church as well as the orthodoxy and unity of the church. In the Oratio van den Honert stressed the need for mutual Christian toleration as a step toward unity among the churches, but he did not extend his plea for toleration to an unlimited freedom of prophecy as Stinstra did. Instead van den Honert called for an interconfessional and social toleration among Christians, 134book reviews and he upheld the need for religious confessions, arguing that they were a way to make religious views public and that they did not constrain consciences. Van Eijnatten holds that van den Honert's views represented a confessional irenicism while Stinstra propounded a radical or spiritualist irenicism. Stinstra had a broad view of freedom of conscience that included the complete freedom to publicly express and teach the beliefs that one held. Stinstra, in particular , defended each individual's freedom to make public his own interpretation of the Bible. The importance of van den Honert's Oratio, on the other hand, was that it extended ecclesiastical and confessional toleration into the civil sphere and saw all Christians as brothers in Christ and fellow Christian citizens. Thus Stinstra's views on toleration fell within the Christian tradition of free prophecy, while van den Honert's views were a part of the tradition of Christian colloquy that encouraged rational discussion of the points made by various confessions. Among the influences on the thought of both men van Eijnatten points to the Remonstrant theologians Philip van Limborch, Jean Leclerc, and Johannes Drieberge, as well as to John Locke, the Dutch humanist and legal scholar Gerard Noodt (l647-1725),Hugenot exilesJean Barbeyrac (16471744 ) and Pierre Coste (1668-1747), and Benjamin Hoadly...