Orthodoxy, Scholasticism, and Piety in the Seventeenth-Century Further Reformation: Simon Oomius

Abstract

In the past two decades scholars have begun to explore Pastor Oomius' substantial body of theological literature. This chapter provides a more nuanced and historically accurate picture of church and school in early modern Protestantism. It deals with some essential foundations for the study and contribution, especially related to the history and current state of scholarship on the post-Reformation movement known in Dutch as the Nadere Reformatie , spanning, roughly, the years 1600-1750. An overview of the life, career, writings, theology and theological program of Simon Oomius, an as-yet lesser-known, but representative figure of the Nadere Reformatie , suggests it is time for a reassessment of the relationship between the Dutch pietists and their Reformed orthodox contemporaries. The chapter presents the examples, which shows that past scholarship on seventeenth-century Dutch Reformed theology and church history has sometimes created a bifurcation between the Nadere Reformatie and Reformed orthodoxy and scholasticism. Keywords: early modern Protestantism; Nadere Reformatie ; post-reformation movement; reformed orthodoxy; scholasticism; seventeenth-century Dutch reformed theology; Simon Oomius