Faustus Socinus; Johannes Crellius, Explicatio variorum S. Scripturae locorum; A Response to Hugo Grotius’s Book *De satisfactione Christi* [...] [*Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum*] [ca. 1665–1668]

Title: Fausti Socini Senensis *Explicatio variorum S. Scripturae locorum*; Johannis Crellii Franci *Ad librum Hugonis Grotii, quem De satisfactione Christi [...] responsio*. Bound together in 1 vol.

Author: Faust Socyn (Fausto Sozzini, 1539–1604) [Italian anti-Trinitarian theologian, in Poland since 1579, a leading thinker of the Polish Brethren, from whose surname the term “Socinianism” derives]; Jan Crell (Johannes Crellius, 1590–1633) [German Arian theologian, rector of the Raków Academy, one of the most outstanding writers of the Polish Brethren].

Publisher: Irenopoli [Amsterdam], sumptibus Irenici Philalethi. Series: Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum quos Unitarios vocant.

Year of publication: post annum Domini 1656 [actually ca. 1665–1668].

Format: 33 cm.

Volume: 416, [8] pp.; [13], 234, [2] pp.; 34 pp.

Binding: Half-leather binding.

This volume comes from the “Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum quos Unitarios vocant,” a monumental, multi-volume edition of the writings of the Polish Brethren (Arian). It was published in exile in Amsterdam by Andrzej Wiszowaty, the grandson of Faustus Socinus, and Frans Kuyper. The background to this undertaking was a Sejm resolution from 1658 ordering the Polish Brethren to leave the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or renounce their faith under threat of the death penalty. The exiled scholars moved their publishing activities to the Netherlands. The title pages bore a fictitious address: “Irenopoli” (City of Peace) and the publisher’s name “Irenici Philalethi” (Peaceful Lover of Truth). Instead of a date, the phrase “post annum Domini 1656” was used; in reality, the volumes were printed between 1665 and 1668. The ideas promoted in the series—such as the primacy of reason in the interpretation of Scripture, religious tolerance, and the separation of religion from state coercion—entered Western European discourse. John Locke owned the complete set of volumes. This volume brings together two key texts from one of the most famous theological controversies of the 17th century. The first is Faust Socinus’s “Explicatio variorum S. Scripturae locorum,” an exposition of difficult passages in Scripture based on a rational analysis of the text. The second is Jan Crell’s response to Hugo Grotius’s work on Christ’s atonement. Grotius, the founder of modern international law, spoke out in 1617 in defense of the traditional doctrine of redemption against Socinus. Crell’s polemic with Grotius became one of the most important Socinian texts and earned the respect of his adversary himself.

Faust Socinus was born in Siena. He arrived in Poland in 1579, where he became the spiritual leader of the Polish Brethren and shaped their theology. He died in Lusławice in 1604. Jan Crell, a German from Franconia, arrived in Raków in 1612; he served as rector of the local academy and as a preacher for the congregation. He died in 1633 as one of the most prominent Arian writers.

Provenance: on the inside of the cover is an ex-libris reading “Library of the Episcopal Theological School Cambridge” from 1915. It comes from the library of the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This volume is from the most important edition of the Polish Brethren’s writings, published in exile in Amsterdam, featuring Crell’s polemic with Grotius, and bearing American academic provenance. A must-have for scholars of the Reformation and Arian thought, historians of modern philosophy, and collectors of 17th-century Polish Brethren prints.

The block of three bound-together works is intact; the pages show minor soiling from use, without affecting the legibility of the text. Half-leather binding, with signs of age.

Catalog ID: 9331-33-C-Z