Dissertatio de Coenae administratione ubi Pastores non sunt. Item An semper communicandum per Symbola

GROTIUS, Hugo

Published by Amsterdam, Jacob Aertsz Colom, 1638

About this Item

FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF GROTIUS RAREST WORKS. In 1638 Grotius prepared his De coena and a second treatise, An semper communicandum, for the press. He ensured that the two works, combined in a little booklet of sixteen [recte 17] quarto pages, were published in the deepest secrecy at Amsterdam. Even confidants as close as his brother Willem and son Pieter were deliberately left in the dark. De coena deals with baptism and communion in the early Christian Church. Grotius maintained that the administration of these sacraments by laymen and even by women had been permitted in time of need, if no priest were present. The booklet is important because it shows that Grotius still chose to defend the intellectual patrimony of the early Church, even when it was disagreeable to the representatives of the Catholic and Anglican Churches. He was convinced that the early Church offered a model for a community of believers that could include all Christians. For that reason, he believed that it was essential for scholars to clarify its dogmas and rites, by publishing carefully edited sources. In the second treatise published with De coena, An semper communicandum, he included a brief passage in which he deplored the far-reaching fragmentation of the Christian Church. The proliferation of sects only incited loss of faith, one who was placed outside a community, and not accepted as a member anywhere, must bear his fate quietly until intolerance had ebbed. Isolation was always preferable to a church that burdened one s conscience or demanded a schismatic zeal … Although Grotius took pains to protect his anonymity, his authorship was soon widely known (Henk J. M. Nellen, Hugo Grotius: A Lifelong Struggle for Peace in Church and State, 1583-1645, pp. 604-606). Leaf A4 verso contains a reference to Antonio Gouvea and the Rites Controversy. Seller Inventory # ABE-1621344036199

Bibliographic Details

Title: Dissertatio de Coenae administratione ubi ...

Publisher: Amsterdam, Jacob Aertsz Colom

Publication Date: 1638

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st Edition