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Balthasar Bekker (20 March 1634 – 11 June 1698) was a Dutch minister and author of philosophical and theological works. Opposing superstition, he was a key figure in the end of the witchcraft persecutions in early modern Europe. His best-known work is De Betoverde Weereld (1691), or The World Bewitched (1695). He was also known for his travels to England and France
From 1679, he worked in Amsterdam, after being driven from Friesland. In 1683, he traveled to England and France. In two months,e Bekker visited London, Cambridge, Oxford, Paris, and Leuven, with a great interest in the art of fortification.Bekker, Balthasar (1998) Beschrijving van de reis door de Verenigde Nederlanden, Engeland en Frankrijk in het jaar 1683. Fryske Akademy.
His best known work was De Betoverde Weereld (1691), or The World Bewitched (1695), in which he examined critically the phenomena generally ascribed to spiritual agency. He attacked the belief in sorcery and "possession" by the devil. Indeed, he questioned the devil's very existence. He applied the doctrine of accommodation to account for the biblical passages traditionally cited on the issue. Bekker argued that practices decried as witchcraft were little more than fatuous but harmless superstitions. The book had a sensational effect and was one of the key works of the Early Enlightenment in Europe. It was almost certainly the most controversial.
The publication of the book led to Bekker's deposition from the ministry. The orthodox among Dutch theologians saw his views as placing him among notorious atheists: Thomas Hobbes, Adriaan Koerbagh, Lodewijk Meyer and Baruch Spinoza. Eric Walten came to his defence, attacking his opponents in extreme terms. Bekker was tried for blasphemy, maligning the public Church, and spreading atheistic ideas about Scripture. Some towns banned the book, but Amsterdam and the States of Holland never did, continuing his salary, without formally stripping him of his post.
The World Bewitched is now considered interesting as an early study in comparative religion.Nooijen, Annemarie (2009) "Unserm grossen Bekker ein Denkmal?" Balthasar Bekkers 'Betoverde Weereld' in den deutschen Landen zwischen Orthodoxie und Aufklärung
Margaret Jacob coined the term "Radical Enlightment" with regards to Bekker, the brothers Johan and Pieter de la Court, and Baruch de Spinoza, that affirmed the equality of all men based on their common reason. The definition was subsequently popularized by Jonathan Israel. Jacob defined them as "pantheism, freemason and repubblicana" characterized by a Radical criticism of religion that "anticipated Dutch 'Patriots' and Enlightment philosophers in the late eighteenth century "M.C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightment: Pantheists, Freemasons and Republicans (London and Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1981); J.I. Israel, Radical Enlightment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernità, 1650-1750 (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001). As quotes by
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