RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Griswold Orroningen
worked, though it originated at the sister university of Utrecht, under the influence of Philip Willem
van Heusde, a Platonist, who was pro- Origin, fessor there of history and Greek from
1804 to his death, in 1839, and exerted much influence. He studied Christianity, according to his own statement, by reading the Bible and "then only Plato." Christianity was to him a doctrine of love, "which by its very nature is, by the fear of God, to reconcile men with men as children of the same Father." A number of disciples gathered around Van Heusde, who all aimed at reaching a deeper and independent knowledge of Christianity and the truth by the study of the Gospel. At Groningen there existed a similar circle of students who were not satisfied with the orthodox doctrine of the Reformed Church of Holland. The leading spirit of this circle was Petrus Hofstede de Groot (q.v.). They pursued before everything else the study of the New Testament, but were also greatly influenced by German theologians like Usteri, Twesten, and Ullmann. They too began to study Plato and soon became acquainted with Van Heusde. From Benjamin Constant's De la religion (6 vols., Paris, 1824-32) they adopted the idea — to them wholly new — "that religion has its source in a special religious feeling which is innate, natural." The two circles of students came into closer contact when certain of them were called from Utrecht to Groningen as professors (J. F. van Oordt in 1829; L. G. Pareau, 1831; W Muurling, 1840). Hofstede de Groot became professor in 1829; and his friends, C. H. van Herwerden and M. A. Amshoff, gained wider influence as pastors in Groningen. They met together once a week to read the New Testament, and it became evident to them that the older Reformed theologians had understood the Gospel better than they. In 1835 a theological society came into existence, which met once every month. This society, called Waarheid in Liefde ("Truth in Love"), in 1837 began to publish a magazine which bore the same name and spread the fruit of the studies of its members in larger circles. The "Groningen School" then began to be talked about, and while violent opponents arose, its influence among the churches spread farther and farther.
The great merit of the Groningen School consisted in the fact that its system centered in the personality, work, and example of Christ. In this way it set a check to the intellectualistic orthodoxy
which overemphasized the teachings Distinctive of Christ. According to the school, Doctrines. Christ is subordinated to God. He is
not God and man at the same time. He has in his heavenly as well as in his earthly life only one nature, namely the divine or spiritual nature, which is possessed by both God and man. God has given his revelation in Jesus Christ in order that mankind may become more and more similar to himself. In regard to its form, the revelation of God in Christ was new and peculiar, and accordingly was confirmed by miracles; but in regard to its content, it was the development and perfection of what God granted from the beginning. It must be conceived and explained as a historical phenomenon V.-6
that was prepared by everything which God did before the birth of Christ, especially among the Greeks and Romans, and, in an extraordinary degree, in Israel; it was realized by the sending of Jesus, by his activity among men, and the end to which he was destined; it is continued by his rule of the faithful, whose head he is, next to God. The entire theology of the Groningen School was naturally closely connected with these Christological views, and it is self-evident that the School had decisively to oppose Reformed dogmatics and to depart from the confessional standards. The dogma of the Trinity was rejected. The doctrine of predestination was restricted to the acceptance of election, while reprobation was rejected and its sense was changed. Christ did not die in order to satisfy God's justice which demands punishment; the death of Christ is a revelation of God's love which impels and guides man to crucify his sensual life and rise to the spiritual life. The Groningen School denied the infallibility of the Bible, and attributed higher authority to the New Testament than to the Old. It declared itself decisively against restrictions on liberty of doctrine, and against the obligation of the teachers of the Church to agree with the confessional standards.
In 1835 the General Synod of the Reformed Church of Holland approved of liberty of doctrine in the sense of the representatives of the Groningen School. In 1842 a new dispute arose concerning its theology, but the synod adopted no measures against the school. Although the op- Growth position to the new tendency did not and cease, for a time it seemed as if the Decline, influence of the Groningen School would continue dominant. Its adherents filledvarious chairs in universities, and thus many future theologians were won for its views. Among its preachers it counted many adherents who distinguished themselves by scholarship and ability to popularize their ideas — A. Rutgers van der Loeff of Zutphen and Leyden, L. S. P Meyboom of Amsterdam and Groningen, A. T. Reitsma of Groningen, J. Donwes of Leens, and others. The periodical Waarheid in Liefde lasted many years. In 1867 a second periodical, Geloof en Vrijheid ("Faith and Freedom") was started and is still in existence. The adherents of the school distinguished themselves also by their practical labors for home and foreign missions, circulation of the Bible, schools for children, etc. For a long time they constituted the majority of synods. But conditions have changed. In the judgment of many, the Groningen School did not go far enough; it was not sufficiently negative for the more modern tendencies; and, on the other hand, it did not satisfy others because it was not positive enough. The older Reformed principles, which give Christian life a firmer basis, revived. The founders of the school are dead, and their successors in professorial chairs represent other views. Of the nineteen members of the synod, only one or two can now be classed with the Groningen School.
(S. D. van Veen.)
Bibliography: P. Hofstede de Groot, De Groninger Godgeleerden in hunne eigenaardigheid, Groningen, 1855; idem,
Groote Gropper