Books by Albert Gootjes
This is the first published monograph on Claude Pajon (1626-1685), the theologian at the origin o... more This is the first published monograph on Claude Pajon (1626-1685), the theologian at the origin of the greatest doctrinal controversy within the French Protestant camp in the mid to late seventeenth century. Drawing on manuscript sources, this study examines Pajon’s thought and its origins, and traces the nature and course of the first phase of controversy (1665-1667). It demonstrates that the conflict opposed Pajon as a ‘radical’ Cameronian over against the ‘moderates,’ with each party claiming to represent the true theological heritage of John Cameron (ca. 1579-1625), as proposed by Paul Testard (ca. 1596-1650) and Moïse Amyraut (1596-1664), respectively. The result is a new look on the theology of the academy of Saumur, and on the history of this institution.
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Modern Intellectual History, 2018
This paper argues against a longstanding tradition that the main actors for Spinoza’s famous visi... more This paper argues against a longstanding tradition that the main actors for Spinoza’s famous visit to Utrecht in the summer of 1673 are not the officers in the French occupying forces, but rather the resident Dutch Cartesians. The proposed historiographical shift allows me to identify this visit as a key moment in Spinoza reception between the Tractatus theologico-politicus (1670) and the Ethica (1677). I propose that Spinoza’s motive for this trip in unsettling times was not political, but reflects concerns for the dissemination of his thought. I furthermore demonstrate how Spinoza for the first time revealed some of his more troubling metaphysics to a wider audience, eventually causing the turmoil that led him to abandon the printing of the Ethica in 1675. Finally, I detail how this famous visit suggests that the relationship between Spinoza and Dutch Cartesianism is not just one of hostilities, but that the commonalities between their projects deserve closer study.
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This article examines the immediate Dutch reception of the Tractatus theologico-politicus. Using ... more This article examines the immediate Dutch reception of the Tractatus theologico-politicus. Using newfound archival sources it demonstrates that the anti-Spinoza activity of the Cartesians in Utrecht extends far beyond the well-known writings of Lambertus van Velthuysen and Regnerus van Mansveld. In fact, the Cartesian network to which they belonged not only produced the very first public refutation to appear, but also formed a center for coordinating much of the Dutch response to Spinoza. This engagement, it is argued in closing, forms the background to the mysterious visit Spinoza paid to Utrecht in the summer of 1673.
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The Utrecht University research group 'Spinoza's Web,' funded by the Netherlands Organisation for... more The Utrecht University research group 'Spinoza's Web,' funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), will hold a seminar 5-6 October 2017 in Utrecht. The theme is: "Meeting Spinoza: Books, Letters, Networks, Personal Encounters." The first call for papers was recently published; the deadline for abstract submission is 15 March 2017. Please see the attachment for more details.
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This a preprint draft of a brief article announcing newfound source material on Spinoza; the lett... more This a preprint draft of a brief article announcing newfound source material on Spinoza; the letters in question are currently being prepared for publication. The announcement appeared as Albert Gootjes, ‘Sources inédites sur Spinoza: la correspondance entre Johannes Bouwmeester et Johannes Georgius Graevius,’ Bulletin de bibliographie spinoziste, in Archives de philosophie 79 no. 4 (2016): 817-19 (https://www.cairn.info/revue-archives-de-philosophie-2016-4-page-817.htm).
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This brief preliminary study sketches an episode in the immediate reception of the Theological-Po... more This brief preliminary study sketches an episode in the immediate reception of the Theological-Political Treatise (1670) in preparation of a longer article on the reception of Spinoza by the Utrecht Cartesian network. "The First Orchestrated Attack on Spinoza: Johannes Melchioris and the Cartesian Network in Utrecht" is forthcoming in the Journal of the History of Ideas.
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This article challenges the common assumption that Jean-Robert Chouet was the first to introduce ... more This article challenges the common assumption that Jean-Robert Chouet was the first to introduce Cartesianism into a Huguenot academy during his tenure at Saumur from 1664 to 1669. It notes how Chouet himself, in a manuscript currently preserved in the private archives of the Fondation Turrettini (Geneva), writes that his predecessor Étienne Gaussen had in fact already been giving his students “a smattering of the new philosophy” between 1661 and 1664. This article then demonstrates the validity of Chouet’s claim by examining a disputation pamphlet from Gaussen as well as his unedited correspondence, proposes a reading of his teaching of the recentiores, and finally situates that reading in a revised history of Cartesianism at the Saumur academy.
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Given that Calvin served as an important source and authority for Amyraut during the controversie... more Given that Calvin served as an important source and authority for Amyraut during the controversies on universal grace which broke out ca. 1634, one might expect the same to be true for the polemics on (im)mediate grace surrounding the teachings of another (later) Saumur universalist, Claude Pajon. As this article demonstrates, however, the manuscript works written by, to, and about Pajon reveal that he did not shelter behind Calvin’s name—even if he believed that the latter had shared his view. The extant sources instead show that John Cameron and Paul Testard, two earlier promoters of la grâce universelle, were Pajon’s main sources of inspiration and served as his authorities. The article closes with a twofold conclusion, namely, that the marginal place of Calvin in the Pajon controversies may well be attributed to the greater acceptance la grâce universelle had gained by that time; and secondly, that one does well to recognize the existence of different currents within la grâce universelle of seventeenth-century French Protestantism.
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