# Collegiants > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Collegiants > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Collegiants.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiants > Source revision: 1319991595 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Dutch Christian denomination}} {{About|the religious sect||Collegian (disambiguation){{!}}Collegian}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} [[File:Doop bij de Rijnsburgse Collegianten, ca. 1735, Balthasar Bernards, after Louis Fabritius Dubourg, 1736 RP-P-OB-84.112.jpg|thumb|'Grote Huis', Rijnsburg, baptism, ca. 1735 (Balthasar Bernards, after [Louis Fabricius Dubourg](/source/Louis_Fabricius_Dubourg), 1736)]] In [Christian history](/source/Christian_history), the '''Collegiants''' ({{langx|la|Collegiani}}; {{langx|nl|Collegianten}}), also called '''Collegians''', were an [association](/source/Voluntary_association), founded in 1619 among the [Arminians](/source/Arminianism) and [Anabaptist](/source/Anabaptist)s in [Holland](/source/Holland). They were so called because of their colleges (meetings) held the first Sunday of each month, at which everyone had the same liberty of expounding the [scripture](/source/scripture) and [praying](/source/Prayer). ==History== Collegiants were an association, founded in 1619 among the Arminians and Anabaptists in Holland.{{sfn|Chambers|1728}} The practice originated in 1619 when, after the [Synod of Dort](/source/Synod_of_Dort) forced the [States of Holland](/source/States_of_Holland) to dismiss clerics for encouraging refuge to individuals being persecuted for religious beliefs, three brothers of [Warmond](/source/Warmond) by the name of van der Kodde (or Codde)—Gijsbert, Jan Jacobsz, and Adriaen—decided to hold religious services of their own.{{sfn|van Loon|2004}} The sect began as a refuge from the bitterness of the [Calvinist](/source/Calvinism) and Arminian controversies of the day. Their name is derived from the custom they had of calling their communities "Colleges", as did [Spener](/source/Philipp_Spener) and the [Pietists](/source/Pietism) of Germany.{{sfn|Blunt|1874}} The Collegiants' first place of meeting was at the village of [Warmond](/source/Warmond), at the residence of one of the brothers, but they shortly established their headquarters at [Rijnsburg](/source/Rijnsburg), a village {{convert|2.5|mi|abbr=on}} northwest from [Leiden](/source/Leiden), and were hence called the Rijnsburgers (Dutch: ''Rijnsburger Collegianten'').{{sfn|Blunt|1874}} In [Rijnsburg](/source/Rijnsburg), the Collegiants had a guest-quarter in the present-day alleyway of Kwakelsteeg called the ''Grote Huis'' (Large House).{{sfn|MK|2006}} There were also large communities of Collegiants in other places, for instance in [Amsterdam](/source/Amsterdam) and [Hoorn](/source/Hoorn). The Amsterdam college was founded in 1646 by [Adam Boreel](/source/Adam_Boreel) as a spiritualist cell, like those of [Sebastian Franck](/source/Sebastian_Franck) and [Kaspar Schwenkfeld](/source/Kaspar_Schwenkfeld), but Daniel De Breen, a Leiden-educated Remonstrant theologian, brought the college in line with Rijinsburger principles. A disaffected Mennonite, Galenus Abrahamsz (or Abrahamson), brought many other Mennonites to the Amsterdam college.{{sfn|Fix|1991}} In Amsterdam, the Collegiants ran an orphanage, 'De Oranjeappel', where the Dutch writer [Aagje Deken](/source/Aagje_Deken) was raised. ==Belief and practice== Their principle from the beginning had been to admit all individuals to their society who were willing to acknowledge their belief in the Bible as inspired scripture, and to take it as a guide for Christian life; but no confession of faith was used, and the widest diversity of opinion was permitted. Their form of worship consisted of prayer meetings held on Sundays and Wednesdays, at which any men of the community might pray and expound the scripture, but there was no regular organization of a [ministry](/source/Christian_ministry) among them. They recognized the necessity of [baptism](/source/baptism), which they administered by immersion, and twice a year they had a sacramental meeting extending over several days, similar to those of the [Scottish Presbyterians](/source/Church_of_Scotland).{{sfn|Blunt|1874}} ==The Collegiants and Spinoza== [Benedict Spinoza](/source/Baruch_Spinoza) joined the study groups of the Collegiants while living near [Leiden](/source/Leiden) from 1660 to 1663.{{sfn|Thompson|Thompson|2006}} It was during this period that he began working on his major book, ''The Ethics''. At the end of the 17th century, the opinions of Spinoza had obtained a strong hold upon the Collegiants, and caused a temporary division of their members into two parties, with separate places of meeting. The leader of the Spinozist party was John Bredenburg, a merchant of [Rotterdam](/source/Rotterdam), and he was opposed by a bookseller from Amsterdam, named Francis Couper, who attained some eminence by a work which he wrote against Bredenburg under the title ''Arcana Atheismi detecta'' ("The Secrets of Atheism Revealed"); he was also the publisher of the ''Bibliotheca [Fratrum Polonorum](/source/Polish_Brethren) seu Unitariorum''. The two parties were reunited on the death of these two controversialists, and attracted many to their society from other sects during the 18th century. ==Final years as a religious group and ongoing legacy== The last (open) meetings of the Collegiants were held in Rijnsburg om 27 May 1787, in Rotterdam on 9 September 1788, and in Amsterdam in 1791. The last baptism in Rijnsburg was in 1801. The center in Rijnsburg was sold in 1828, after the last Collegiant had died. The orphanage of the Collegiants called 'De Oranjeappel' survives to this day as a foundation promoting youth work ("Stichting Weeshuis der Doopsgezinde Collegianten "De Oranjeappel").{{sfn|Loosjes|Thompson|1925}} ==See also== * ''[The Light upon the Candlestick](/source/The_Light_upon_the_Candlestick)'' ==Notes and references== ===Citations=== {{reflist}} ===Sources=== * {{cite book |language=en |last1=Blunt |first1=John Henry |title=Dictionary of Sects, Heresies, Ecclesiastical Parties, and Schools of Religious Thought |location= |publisher=Rivingtons |year=1874 |page=110 }} * {{cite book |language=en |last1=Chambers |first1=Ephraim |chapter=Collegiants |title=Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences |location=New York |publisher=James and John Knapton |year=1728}} * {{cite book |language=en |last1=Fix |first1=Andrew Cooper |title=Prophecy and Reason: The Dutch Collegiants in the Early Enlightenment |location=Princeton |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1991 |pages=45}} * {{cite book |language=nl |last1=Loosjes |first1=A. |last2=Thompson |first2=Garrett |title=Het weeshuis der Collegianten "De Oranjeappel" 1675–1925 |location= [Hilversum] |publisher=Weeshuis "De Oranjeappel" |year=1925 |url=https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMKB02:000118637:pdf}} * {{cite web|language=nl |last1=MK |title=Plangebied: inventarisatie en onderzoek (Plan area: Inventory and research) |url=http://www.katwijk.nl/ktw/internet/webgen.nsf/(Publ+paginas+op+Unid)/3BA8195EE6E49FFFC125713700579A69/$file/Hst%202.pdf |website=Municipality of [Katwijk](/source/Katwijk) |date=2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928130539/http://www.katwijk.nl/ktw/internet/webgen.nsf/(Publ+paginas+op+Unid)/3BA8195EE6E49FFFC125713700579A69/$file/Hst%202.pdf |archive-date=28 September 2007 }} * {{cite book |language=en |last1=Thompson |first1=Daniel |last2=Thompson |first2=Garrett |title=The Longman Standard History of Philosophy |location= |publisher=Pearson Longman |year=2006 |pages=423}} * {{cite book |language=en |last1=van Loon |first1=Hendrik Willem |title=Life & Times of Rembrandt |location= |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=2004 |page=532 }} ==Further reading== * {{cite book |language=en |last1=Andrew C. |first1=Fix |title=Prophecy and reason: the Dutch Collegiants in the early Enlightenment |location=Princeton, NJ |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1991 }} * {{cite journal |language=en |last1=Fix |first1=Andrew Cooper |title=Angels, Devils, and Evil Spirits in Seventeenth-Century Thought: Balthasar Bekker and the Collegiants |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=50 |issue=4 |year=1989 |pages=527–547 |jstor=2709796 |doi=10.2307/2709796 }} * {{cite book |language=nl |last1=J.V.C. |first1=Slee |title=De Rijnsburger Collegianten. Geschiedkundig onderzoek |location=Haarlem |publisher=Erven F.Bohn |year=1895}} * {{cite journal |language=en |last1=Preus |first1=J. S. |title=The Bible and Religion in the Century of Genius Part I: Religion on the Margins: Conversos and collegiants |journal=Religion |volume=28 |issue=1 |year=1998 |pages=3–14|doi=10.1006/reli.1997.0115 }} *{{cite book |language=en |last1=Lee |first1=Rosa Ethel |title=The influence of Mennonites, Collegiants and Quakers on the life and writings of Spinoza ...|year=1917 }} * {{cite book |language=en |last1=Kolakowski |first1=Leszek |chapter=Dutch seventeenth-century non-denominationalism and Religio Rationalis: mennonites, collegiants and the Spinoza connection |title=The two eyes of Spinoza & other essays on philosophers |location=South Bend, IN |publisher=St. Augustine's Press |year=2004 }} ==External links== * [https://deoranjeappel.com Stichting Weeshuis der Doopsgezinde Collegianten "De Oranjeappel" ] Category:Former Christian denominations Category:Reformed Christianity in the Dutch Republic Category:1619 establishments in the Dutch Republic Category:Organizations established in 1619 Category:Religious organizations established in the 1610s Category:Protestant denominations established in the 17th century Category:1828 disestablishments in the Netherlands Category:Organizations disestablished in 1828 Category:Dutch Baptists Category:Arminian denominations Category:Christian pacifism --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Collegiants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiants) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiants?action=history)). 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