Karel van Gent (Carel van Ghendt) was the reputed author of Het Beginsel en voortganck der geschillen, scheuringen, en verdeeltheden onder de gene die Doopsgesinden Genoemt warden, written in 1615 but first published in 1658 at Amsterdam. W. J. Kühler considers him to be the author and calls him "the best historian among the old Doopsgesinden" (Geschiedenis I, 365). De Hoop Scheffer held him to be the author, Karel Vos flatly denies the authorship, while N. van der Zijpp and Cornelius Krahn are uncertain. A certain Carel van Ghendt was one of the two secretaries who wrote the Protocol of the Emden disputation of 1578 (printed in 1579), but no trace of a Carel van Gent has been found among the Doopsgezinden of the first century.

For the details of the life of the author of Het Beginsel, who might be Carel van Gent, see the article Het Beginsel. The most thorough discussion of the identification problem is that by Samuel Cramer in Bibliotheca Reformatoria Neerlandica 7, 491-500

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 151. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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