Synod on the Freedom of Conscience
A Thorough Examination during the Gathering Held in the Year 1582 in the City of Freetown
Distributed for Amsterdam University Press
This volume presents the first English-language translation of Synod on the Freedom of Conscience (1582), a book-length plea for religious freedom by Dutch humanist Dirck Vockertszoon Coornhert (1522–90). Coornhert’s central concern in his writings and exchanges with ministers of the Reformed Church was the safeguarding of freedom of conscience—the chief cause, he believed, for the struggle against Hapsburg Spain. The imaginary synod at the center of this text, held in “Freetown,” becomes a space of exchange for Catholic and Protestant leaders and theologians, whose spirited debates are concluded with remarks by Coornhert’s alter ego, the irenic Gamaliel, who shows that both parties sin equally on the side of intolerance.
Introduction
Preface
First Session
Whether or Not the True Visible Church of Christ May Err
Second Session
Proofs based on Antiquity, Customs, and Traditions
Third Session
Rules and Ceremonies not Based on Scripture
Fourth Session
The Credibility of the Patristic Writings
Fifth Session
Proofs based on Councils and Consensus
Sixth Session
Proofs Based on Examples from Ecclesiastical Histories
Seventh Session
Proofs from Pagans
Eighth Session
Passing Judgment on Everyone, Yet Not Wanting to Suffer Anyone’s Judgment
Ninth Session
Who is to Judge on Doctrine
II
Tenth Session
Whether Judgment of Heresy Belongs to the Civil
or the Ecclesiastical Authority
Eleventh Session
Freedom of Conscience in Faith as Well as in its Exercise
and Whether Only the Exercise of What the Civil Magistrate Judges to be the True Religion Shall Be Allowed, and None Else
Twelfth Session
Those Who Criticize Doctrine or Disturb the External
Peace of the Church, and how They Ought to Be Punished
Thirteenth Session
Those Whose Teachings Differ from Those of the
Church, and Whether They Ought to be Punished by Death
Fourteenth Session
Whether or not We Should Dispute with Those Who Teach
Differently
Fifteenth Session
The Writing, Publishing, Printing, Selling, Having
and Reading of Tracts and Books
Sixteenth Session
Condemning Others without Hearing Them
Seventeenth Session
Whether it is in Accord with Scripture That Religious
Leaders Appeal to the Magistrate for Support of
their Doctrine
Eighteenth Session
Denouncing Mercifulness, Praising Severity, and
Counseling Bloodshed in Matters of Faith
Nineteenth Session
Whether it is Right for Religious Leaders to Tell the
Civil Magistrate that They Have a Duty towards God to
Kill Some People for Matters of Religion
The Balance
Glossary
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