Hoornbeeck [Hoornbeek], Johannes (1617-1666)

Reformed theologian

Born in Haarlem, Netherlands, Hoornbeeck studied at the Universities of Leiden and Utrecht. At Leiden he was a pupil of Gisbertus Voetius and Antonius Walaeus. He moved to Germany to serve as pastor of a refugee Reformed church in Mulheim (1639-1643). Forced to leave Germany, he returned to the Netherlands and in 1644 was appointed professor of theology at Utrecht and ten years later at Leiden. In his important missionary treatise De conversione Indorum ac gentilium (published posthumously in 1669), he pointed to the great perspectives opened up for Christian missions by the new possibilities of travel and to the religious responsibility of the Dutch government for its colonies. Economic concerns should not prevail, only things that promote Christ’s kingdom. Theological disputes should be replaced by missionary activity as a completion of the missionary task of the apostles. Hoornbeeck regarded especially the Old Testament as filled with God’s promises for the Gentiles. In his Summa controversiarum religionis (1653) and De convincendis et convertendis Judaeis et Gentilibus (1655), he also gave attention to mission to Jews and Muslims. His works are important not only for the study of the beginnings of a Protestant missionary theology in the Dutch Reformed Church, but also for the history of religions.

Willem J. van Asselt, “Hoornbeeck (or Hoornbeek), Johannes,” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 302-3.

This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright © 1998 Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved.

Bibliography

Digital Text


Hoornbeek, Johannes. Summa controversiarum religionis cum infidelibus. n.p.: ex officina J. àWaesberge, 1658.

Primary


Hoornbeeck, Johannes. Summa controversiarum religionis, cum infidelibus, haereticis, schismaticis: id est, Gentilibus, Iudaeis, Muhammedanis, Papistis, Anabaptistis, Enthusiastis & Libertinis, Socinianis, Remonstrantibus, Lutheranis, Brouwnistis, Graecis. Leiden: Inter Documentation Co., 1980. Orig. 1653.

_____. De Convincendis et Convertendis Judaeis et Gentilibus. 1655.

_____. Dissertatio de consociatione Evangelica Reformatorum et Augustanae Confessionis sive de Colloquio Cassellano …. Zug, Switzerland: Inter Documentation Co., 1985. Orig. 1663.

_____. Theologica Practica. 1663-1666.

_____. De Conversione Indorum et Gentilium Libri Duo. Zug, Switzerland: Inter Documentation Co., 1985. Orig. 1669.

_____. Johannis Hoornbeekii … Miscellanea Sacra …: Opus Posthumum. Ultrajecti [i.e. Utrecht]: Apud Gulielmum vande Water, 1689. At the National Library of South Africa, Cape Town, SA.

Hoornbeeck, Johannes and Gisbertus Voetius. Spiritual Desertion. Edited by M. Eugene Osterhaven. Translated by John Vriend and Harry Boonstra. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2003. Orig. 1646. Improved edition, 1659. Last printed in Dutch, 1898.

Secondary


Beeke, Joel R. “Evangelicalism and the Dutch Further Reformation.” In The Advent of Evangelicalism: Exploring Historical Continuities, edited by Michael A. G. Haykin and Kenneth J. Stewart, 146-68. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2008.

Beeke, Joel R. and Randall J. Pedersen. Meet the Puritans. With a Guide to Modern Reprints. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2006. See especially in Appendix 3, Dutch Further Reformation Divines, “Johannes Hoornbeek,” 769-71.

Brienen, T. Johannes Hoornbeeck (1617-1666): Eminent Geleerde en Pastoraal Theoloog. Kampen: De Groot Goudriaan, 2008.

_____. De eerste Homiletiek in Nederland: Ontstaan, Vertaling, Inhoud en Verwerking van de Homiletiek De Ratione Concionandi van Johannes Hoornbeeck. Kampen: De Groot Goudriaan, 2009.

Galm, Maurus. Das Erwachen des Missionsgedankens im Protestantismus der Niederlande. St. Ottilien: Missionsverlag St. Ottilien,1915.

Godfrey, W. Robert. “Calvin and Calvinism in the Netherlands.” In John Calvin: His Influence in the Western World. ed. W. Standford Reid, 95-120. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982.

Hoekema, Anthony A. “The Missionary Focus of the Canons of Dort.” In Calvin Theological Journal 7 (1972): 209-20.

Hofmeyr, Johannes W. Johannes Hoornbeeck as Polemikus. Kampen: Kok, 1975.

Laman, Gordon D. “The Origin of Protestant Missions.” The Reformed Review 43 no. 1 (1989): 52-67.

Malcolm, Noel. “Comenius, the Conversion of the Turks, and the Muslim-Christian Debate on the Corruption of Scripture.” Church History and Religious Culture 87 no. 4 (2007): 477-508.

Moerkerken, A. et al. Johannes Hoornbeeck: Reformatorisch onderwijs en de Schat der Eeuwen. Kampen: De Groot Goudriaan, cop. 2009.

Oosterom, B. Johannes Hoornbeeck als Zendingstheoloog en Oecumenicus: Bijdrage tot het onderzoek naar de Zendingsgedachten in de nadere Reformatie. n.p.: n.p., 1969. At the University of Utrecht, Netherlands.

_____. “Johannes Hoornbeeck als Zendingstheoloog.” Theologia Reformata 13 (1970): 81-98.

Stewart, Kenneth J. “Calvinism and Missions: The Contested Relationship Revisited.” Themelios 34 no. 1 (April, 2009): 63-78.

Ypma, P. J. “Johannes Hoorbeek als Missionstheoretiker.” Ph.D. diss. Gregorian University, Rome, 1958.

Zwemer, Samuel M. “Calvinism and the Missionary Enterprise.” Theology Today 7 (1950): 206-21.

Portrait


Painting by Frans Hals, 1645. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.