Gisbertus Voetius (3 March 1589 – 1 November 1676) was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 Calvinist

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

 theologian

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

.

Life

He was born at Heusden

Heusden

Heusden is a municipality and a city in the South of the Netherlands. It is located between the cities Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch.- Population centres :...

, Holland, studied at Leiden, and in 1611 became Protestant pastor of Vlijmen

Vlijmen

Vlijmen is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Heusden, about 6 km west of 's-Hertogenbosch....

, whence in 1617 he returned to Heusden. In 1619 he played an influential part in the Synod of Dort

Synod of Dort

The Synod of Dort was a National Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618-1619, by the Dutch Reformed Church, to settle a divisive controversy initiated by the rise of Arminianism. The first meeting was on November 13, 1618, and the final meeting, the 154th, was on May 9, 1619...

, and in 1634 was made professor of theology and Oriental science at the University of Utrecht. Three years later he became pastor of the Utrecht congregation. He was an advocate of a strong form of Calvinism

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

 (Gomarism) against the Arminians. The city of Utrecht

Utrecht (city)

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

 perpetuated his memory by giving his name to the street in which he had lived.

Utrecht controversy with Descartes

In March 1642, while serving as rector of the University of Utrecht, Voetius persuaded the university's academic senate to issue a formal condemnation of the Cartesian philosophy and its local defender, Henricus Regius

Henricus Regius

Henricus Regius was a Dutch philosopher, physician, and professor of medicine. He was a vocal proponent of Cartesianism, and corresponded frequently with René Descartes...

. According to the senate's statement, Cartesian philosophy was to be suppressed because:

1. it was opposed to 'traditional' (i.e. Scholastic
   Scholasticism
   Scholasticism is a method of critical thought which dominated teaching by the academics of medieval universities in Europe from about 1100–1500, and a program of employing that method in articulating and defending orthodoxy in an increasingly pluralistic context...
   
   /Aristotelian
   Aristotle
   Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
   
   ) philosophy;
2. young people taught Cartesian philosophy would be unable to understand the technical terminology of Scholasticism; and
3. it had consequences contrary to orthodox theology.

Descartes countered with a personal attack on Voetius, in a letter to Jacques Dinet

Jacques Dinet

Jacques Dinet was a French Jesuit, confessor to Louis XIII and an associate of René Descartes.-Life:He was born at Moulins, nephew of Gaspard Dinet who was bishop of Mâcon....

, which he made public in the second edition (1642) of his Meditations

Meditations on First Philosophy

Meditations on First Philosophy is a philosophical treatise written by René Descartes and first published in 1641 . The French translation was published in 1647 as Méditations Metaphysiques...

. Voetius was provoked into getting Martin Schoock

Martin Schoock

Martin Schoock was a Dutch academic and polymath.-Life:He was born in Utrecht. His grandfather Anton van Voorst taught him Latin. His parents were Remonstrants and intended him for the law; he studied theology and philosophy from 1632 in Leiden under Antonius Walaeus...

 to produce a book-length assault on Descartes and his work, the Admiranda methodus (1643). Descartes associated the quarrel with the part Voetius was playing with another controversy with Samuel Maresius

Samuel Maresius

Samuel Maresius was a French-Dutch Reformed theologian ad controversialist.-Life:He was born at Oisement in Picardy, northern France. He studied in Paris, in Saumur Academy under Gomarus, and in Geneva at the time of the Synod of Dort. He was ordained in 1620, and preachedat Laon until a...

, who was at least sympathetic to some Cartesian ideas. Legal and diplomatic moves followed (the protagonists were in different provinces in the Netherlands); and Maresius at the University of Groningen

University of Groningen

The University of Groningen , located in the city of Groningen, was founded in 1614. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands as well as one of its largest. Since its inception more than 100,000 students have graduated...

was able to extract some admissions from Schoock that were quite damaging to Voetius.