‘The Janus-Face of Scaliger’s Philological Heritage: The Biblical Annotations of Heinsius and Grotius

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Abstract

Famous Dutch scholars like Daniel Heinsius and Hugo Grotius initiated a sophisticated philological and historicizing approach to the Bible text. They brought together a mass of material that contributed to the contextualization of the Bible and significantly advanced the understanding of the text. Although they did not dare question its supernatural status, they felt free to discuss variants and suggest new interpretations. They thus demonstrated the perils of textual scholarship—albeit as yet in a limited manner, certainly in the case of Heinsius. While Heinsius had to adapt to the context of Leiden university, the exile Grotius felt less inhibited by a social framework. Thus, the subversive potentiality of philology comes to the surface in his ideas on divine inspiration.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationScriptural Authority and Biblical Criticism in the Dutch Golden Age
Subtitle of host publicationGod's Word Questioned
EditorsDirk van Miert, Henk Nellen, Piet Steenbakkers, Jetze Touber
PublisherOxford University Press
Pages91-108
Number of pages18
ISBN (Print)978–0–19–880683–7
Publication statusPublished - 12 Oct 2017

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