Philosophische Gotteserkenntnis bei Surez und Descartes im Zusammenhang mit der

niederlndischen reformierten Theologie und Philosophie des 17. Jahrhunderts by Aza

Goudriaan
Review by: Paul Richard Blum
Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Summer, 2002), pp. 752-753
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1262354 .
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752 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY

bookthirty-eight letters
notfoundin the1927 editionbyVincenzoSpampanato
andscattered inmanypublications.Herpreface includesa pleafora newandcom-
pleteeditionofalltheletters.
The collection
includescorrespondence with,among
others,LouisXIII ofFranceand Queen Henrietta ofEngland,pleasforfoodand
money, anddedicatory letters.
Ernsthasalsoincludedlistsofallextant
works(with
information aboutmoderneditions), oflostworks,andan indexofnames.
Campanella islively
scholarship andthriving.Thankstotheseexcellent works,
itsvitality
hasjustbecomemorevisibleandaccessible.
MICHAEL H. SHANK
UniversityofWisconsin-Madison

Aza Goudriaan.Philosophische
Gotteserkenntnis
bei Sudrezund Descartesim
ZusammenhangmitderniederZandischenreformierten
TheologieundPhilosophie
des17. jahrhunderts
(Brill'sStudiesin IntellectualHistory,98.) Leiden,Boston,Cologne: Brill,1999. xi + 327 pp.
Euro 82. ISBN: 90-04-1627-3.

"Philosophical knowledgeof God accordingto Suarez and Descartes in the

contextof Dutch reformed theologyand philosophyin theseventeenth century"
thisis the titleand the programof thisbook, a theologicalthesisof the University
of Utrecht(The Netherlands).It drawsupon thelargelyacceptedimportanceofthe
JesuitFranciscoSuarez(I 548-1617) and of Ren6 Descartesforthebirthof modern
philosophy.However,herethe historyis presentedfroma specificangle,the per-
spective of Dutch reformedtheology.Since a long time it has been handbook
knowledgethatboth theJesuitauthorof theDisputationes metaphysicae (I 597) and
Descarteswereintenselyread and receivedamong the Calvinistphilosophersand
theologians.Thereforea carefullook at theirsourceswas needed.Goudriaan'sresult
is thatin the major issues of philosophicaltheologythe influencewas much less
thanone would have thought.What actuallyhappenedwas a detailedcritiqueof
both Suarez'sand Descartes'attemptsat justifying knowledgeof God by meansof
rationalarguments.Thereforethe meritof thisbook is thatit reassessesboth phi-
losophiesfromthisperspective and showstheir"innertensionsand inconsistencies"
(283), whichonlythuscan be made apparent.
In two partsGoudriaanexaminesfirstSuArez'sconceptof metaphysics, which
seemsto be uncertainwhetherincludingGod as the"primary object"is justifiedor
not. Then followchapterson theontologicalstatusof God, on proofsfortheexist-
ence of God, his properties,and on the possibilityof knowingGod. The second
partdiscussesDescartesin focusingon his turntowardsepistemologyand subjec-
tivityin metaphysics.This resultsin his new concept of the Idea of God from
whichcertainpropertiesmay(or maynot) be derived.Descartes'argumentsforthe
existenceof God are extensively explained.Here is also theplace to connectSuarez
withDescartes.Goudriaanshowsconvincingly thattheJesuit's hesitatingtreatment
of theknowledgeof God as visiobeatificaand Descartes'optimismabout thepossi-

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 REVIEWS 753

bilityof knowingGod (whichcame close to such vision) are a common featureof

both- and bothwererejectedby theirDutch readers.
The discussionsare thoroughlyarguedand documented.However,specialists
of seventeenth-century intellectualhistorymighthave theworksof both majorfig-
ures at hand, but thisis not sure forGoudriaan'sDutch sources,such as Franco
Burgersdijk,AdriaanHeerebord,AbrahamHeidanus,and JacobusRevius.None of
thesehas been reprintedsince theseventeenth century, but theauthoris preparing
an edition of some of Revius' texts.Thereforeinsteadof quoting diligentlyDes-
cartesand SuArezmore servicewould have been givenby quotations fromtheir
critics.Given thestyleof thisbook it would be of littlehelp to argueabout details
of scholasticintricacies.No doubt the authoris familiarwiththese,as well as with
the problemsof Descartes' metaphysics.He himselfis largelyinfluencedby the
Frenchinterpretation,of his sources, especiallyby Jean-LucMarion and Jean-
Franois Courtine.As he takesseventeenth-century reformedthinkersas a lead in
his interpretationhe seems to underestimatethe nominalistinfluenceon both
Suarez and on Descartes. But, in the firstplace, the author endorsesa biblicist
standpoint:while philosophical(or rather,natural)theologystrivesat establishing
thetruthof Christianbeliefbyexclusively referringto rationalarguments,thisposi-
tion does not exclude the existenceand validityof revelation.But forthe Dutch
readersthisseemsto have been an originalsin. They couldn'tacceptfromthevery
beginningthatDescartes' skepticismextended(if only methodicallyand tempo-
rarily)evento theBible.They also could not understandtheJesuit's approachwhen
he triedto prove the existenceof God without referring to God as the creator.
SuArezarguedthatevenifwe takethewhole ofwhatthereis as a "collection"(i.e. a
whole withoutany statementabout its innerstructureand dependencies) there
mustbe 'somethingindependent'(63 sq.). Reformedtheologiansinsistedon the
teachingof St. Paul and othersthattheworldyieldssome knowledgeof itscreator,
and thereforetheydidn'tsee SuArez'sstrategicmove against materialism- and
Goudriaandoesn'teither.
Renaissancescholarswill profitfromthisbook as it presentstwo majorfigures
of late Renaissancephilosophyon theirway intothebaroque era. Earlymodernists
will appreciatethe theologicaldiscussionbetweena Catholic, an ex-Catholicand
the Calvinists. Presentday philosophersof religionwill findquite a numberof
problems in the area of justifiedbeliefand of the existenceof God, which are
unknowingly lurkingbehindongoingdiscussions.
PAUL RICHARD BLUM
Catholic P6terPa'zmAny University Budapest/Piliscsaba(Hungary)

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