The Truth of the Christian Religion (De veritate religionis Christianae)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Some scanning errors (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand) · 2 illegible passages, excluded from answers
- Extent:
- ~140,000 words · 688 passages
Cite this work
- APAHugo Grotius. (n.d.). The Truth of the Christian Religion (De veritate religionis Christianae). Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/hugo-grotius/the-truth-of-the-christian-religion-de-veritate-religionis-christianae
- MLAHugo Grotius. The Truth of the Christian Religion (De veritate religionis Christianae). Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/hugo-grotius/the-truth-of-the-christian-religion-de-veritate-religionis-christianae.
- ChicagoHugo Grotius. The Truth of the Christian Religion (De veritate religionis Christianae). Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/hugo-grotius/the-truth-of-the-christian-religion-de-veritate-religionis-christianae.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The defence of Christianity that Grotius wrote in prison, first in Dutch verse for the sailors of his country, and afterwards recast in Latin.
Context and history
The Latin title is 'De veritate religionis Christianae', of 1627. The original intention was practical: to give Dutch sailors arguments for talking with Muslims and with pagans in the places where they traded. Hence the tone, which is not scholastic but clean and orderly, and the method, which starts not from the authority of the Church but from what an interlocutor who does not acknowledge it might grant. It was the most translated work of apologetics in Europe for two centuries — there are Arabic, Persian and Chinese versions — precisely because it was designed for those who did not share the premise. Grotius is better known for 'De iure belli ac pacis', and the two works share the same habit of mind.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Cephas ; fo very early did the Spirit of Fadtioil creep into the Church of God, and difturb the Peace of it; by fetting its Members at Variance with each other, who ought to have been all of the fame common Faith, into which they Were baptized 5 and I wiih it could not be faid that the fame Spirit has too much remained amongfl Chriftians ever fince. It is evident that the Foundation of the Divifions in the Church of CcnW/j, was their forfaking their common Lord and Mafter, Jcfus Ckriji, into whofe Name alone they were baptized; and uniting themfelves, fome under one eminent Apoftle or Teacher, and fome under another, by whom they had been inftrudled in the Doctrine of Chrift ; whereby they were diftinguifhed into different Sed:s, under their feveral Denominations : This St Paid complains of as a Thing in itfelf very bad, and of perniciousConfequence ; for hereby the Body of Chrift, that is, the Chriftian Church, the Dodlrine of which is one and the fame at all Times and in all Places, is rent and divided into feveral Parts, that claili and interfere with each other -, Which is the only Method, if permitted to have its natural Effed, that can overthrow and deftroy it. And from the fame Caufe have arifen all the Divifions that are or have been in the Church ever , lince. The Tranjlatprs Preface. The Tranjlatprs Preface. fince. Had Chrlftians been contented to own but one Lord, even "Jefus Chrijl, and made the Doftrine delivered by him the fole Rule of Faith, without any Fidlions or Inventions of Men ', ithadbeenimpolBblebutthattheCharch ofChrift muft have been one univerfal, regular, uniform Thing, and not fuch a Mixture and Confufion as we now behold it.…