- Petrus Serrarius
Petrus Serrarius [Pieter, Peter, Petrus Serarius.] (born London, 1600-1669) was a Dutch
millennarian theologian. He was a merchant by profession. He has been called the dean of the independent, dissident religious thinkers ofAmsterdam [Richard Popkin in "Spinoza and the Sciences", Debra Nails andMarjorie Glicksman Grene (editors), p. 177.] . He was a close associate and protector ofBaruch Spinoza . Popkin describes him as Spinoza's contact with the outside world [Popkin, "Spinoza", p. 40.] .Life
He was a
Collegiant , and is said byRichard Popkin to be of Scottish extraction; his name at birth was Serrurier, his family wasWalloon . He studied atChrist Church, Oxford from 1617 to 1619.Circle
He associated also with
Adam Boreel ,John Dury , andMenasseh ben Israel . His involvement with Judaism led him togematria , and a belief inSabbatai Zevi , which may not have extended to his messianic claims. [Popkin, p. and p. 48.]Views and contacts
He published works on the
millennium [ [http://cf.hum.uva.nl/bookmaster/cunradus/166306.htm 1663-06 ] ] . As well as being a philosemite, interested greatly in the issue of theLost Tribes , he was on good terms with the AmsterdamQuakers [ [http://www.universalistfriends.org/candle.html The Light Upon The Candlestick ] ] , and had been in contact withWilliam Ames [Johannes van den Berg (Jan de Bruijn, Pieter Holtrop editors), "Religious Currents and Cross-Currents: Essays on Early Modern Protestantism and the Protestant Enlightenment" (1999), Chapter 8. [http://books.google.com/books?id=-iTzlmbgq-8C&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq=serrarius+quaker&source=web&ots=x43fW9J7Nu&sig=zq-gYHgUSwuQ66levgyUiIll8WI#PPA117,M1 Book extract] .] . He corresponded with theBaptist Henry Jessey .Controversy
Initially an orthodox
Calvinist , he had left his church before coming to Amsterdam around 1630. He attacked the views ofMoses Amyraut , who had in "Du règne de mille ans ou de la Prospérité de l'Église" (1654) taken up a position against the millenarians of the time. Serrarius replied with "Assertion du règne de mille ans" (1657). He in turn was attacked bySamuel Maresius , a pupil ofFranciscus Gomarus . Maresius attempted to undermine the appeal to the work ofJoseph Mede made by Serrarius [Jeffrey K. Jue, "Heaven Upon Earth: Joseph Mede (1586-1638) And the Legacy of Millenarianism" (2006), p. 233.] .He was also one of the critics of
Lodewijk Meyer .References
*Ernestine G. E. van der Wall, "The Amsterdam Millenarian Petrus Serrarius (1600-1669) and the Anglo-Dutch Circle of Philo-Judaists", in J.van den Berg and E.G.E. van den der Wall, eds., Jewish-Christian Relations in the Seventeenth Century (Leiden: Kluwer, 1988) pp.73-94. [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/dspace/bitstream/1887/12128/1/3_908_005.pdf Online PDF]
*Ernestine G. E. van der Wall, "Petrus Serrarius (1600-1669) en zijn wereld", (Leiden 1987)Notes
External links
* [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/dspace/bitstream/1887/8261/1/3_908_020.pdf "Petrus Serrarius (1600-1669) et le millénarisme mystique" (PDF)]
*worldcat id|lccn-n83-124612
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