Dooregeest, Engel Arendszoon van (1645-1706)

Engel Arendszoon van Dooregeest, was born 26 December 1645 at Dooregeest, a polder near Uitgeest, Dutch province of North Holland. At the age of about 30 he was ordained Mennonite minister at De Rijp, serving there until his death on 16 August 1706. At the same time he seems to have been a physician. He belonged to the more orthodox Zonists, but in his book Onderwijzinge in de Christelyke Leere na de Belijdenissen der Doopsgezinden (Amsterdam, 1692) he differs from Menno Simons' position with regard to original sin, ban, and communion, and he did not consider feetwashing a sign of the covenant.

When Professor Spanheim of the University of Leiden accused him of various heresies in his book Selectarum de religione Controversiarum elenchus (1687), van Dooregeest showed himself a real champion of Mennonitism in his reply, Brief aan den Heere Fredericus Spanhemius (Amsterdam, 1694). This publication was translated into German in 1694, and in its third edition in 1700 was combined with a Brief aen den Eerw. Heer Hermanus Schyn, Leeraar der Doopsgezinden (Amsterdam, 1700) in order to defend the good name of the Mennonites the better. In it van Dooregeest opposed Galenus Abrahamsz de Haan, who, as he thought, had deviated rather far from the old doctrines in his Körte Grondstellingen.

When the Frisian preacher Jan Klaasz van Grouw seemed in his writings to have unitarian and socinian views, Dooregeest again came to the defense of the ancient orthodox doctrine with his Verantwoordinge Voor de Leere der Doopsgezinden (Amsterdam, 1704); he likewise made an attack on the Reformed preacher at De Rijp in his Verdeediging van de Leere der Doopsgezinden, tot Wederlegginge van de twee Tractaaten, tegen dezelve uitgegeeven door Henricus Schevenhuisen, Predicant der Gereformeerden tot Rijp (Amsterdam, 1705).

The conference of the Zonist Societeit in June 1697 commissioned him together with Herman Schijn and Pieter Beets to draw up a Kort Onderwijs des Christelijke Geloofs, . . . geschickt na de Belijdenissen der Doopsgezinden (Amsterdam, 1697); its fifth reprint was issued in 1740. It is evident that van Dooregeest, though not formally educated, was a man of understanding, intelligence, and was highly respected. Though a Waterlander, who usually were more liberal, and serving a Waterlander congregation, he was an ardent adherent of the conservative Zonist principles. He was a coauthor of the booklet Grondtsteen van Vreede en Verdraegsaemheyt (1674), which invited the congregations to join the Zonist Conference. He was often the moderator of the Zonist Conference meetings. In 1684-1685, when efforts were made to reunite the separated groups of Zonists and Lamists, van Dooregeest was one of the representatives of the Zonist branch.

With C. A. Posjager, the minister of the neighboring Noordeinde van Graft, he also wrote De Ryper Zeepostil, bestaande in XXII Predicatien, toegepast op de Zeevaart (Amsterdam, 1699), to which he added a brief account of the rise of Holland, a description of Waterland (a district of the Dutch province of North Holland) and the origin of fishing for herring and whales. He also wrote a foreword for a new edition (1686) of the Belijdenis des Christelyken Geloofs by Hans de Ries and Lubbert Gerritsz.

Bibliography

Cate, Steven Blaupot ten. Geschiedenis der Doopsgezinden in Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht en Gelderland, 2 vols. Amsterdam: P.N. van Kampen, 1847: I, Nos. 293-296, 903-926.

Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1897): 87; (1898): 60, 78-99 passim; (1917): 40-46.

Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. I, 466.

Meihuizen, H. W. Galenus Abrahamsz, 1622-1706: strijder voor een onbeperkte verdgraagzaamheid en verdediger van het Doperse spiritualisme. Haarlem : H.D. Tjeenk Willink & Zoon, 1954: passim, see index.

Molhuysen, P. C. and P. J. Blok. Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, 10 vols. Leiden, 1911-1937: I, 518.

Schijn-Maatschoen. Uitvoeriger Verhandeling van de Geschiedenisse der Mennoniten II. Amsterdam, 1744: 157 ff., 548-573.

Visscher, H. and L. A. van Langeraad. Biographisch Woordenboek von Protestantsche Godgeleerden in Nederland. The Hague, 1903- : II, 548-550.

Author(s)	Jacob Loosjes
Date Published	1956

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MLA style

Loosjes, Jacob. "Dooregeest, Engel Arendszoon van (1645-1706)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 18 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Dooregeest,_Engel_Arendszoon_van_(1645-1706)&oldid=120695.

APA style

Loosjes, Jacob. (1956). Dooregeest, Engel Arendszoon van (1645-1706). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Dooregeest,_Engel_Arendszoon_van_(1645-1706)&oldid=120695.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pp. 89-90. All rights reserved.

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