Geluwe, Arnout van (b. 1604)
Arnout van Geluwe (Gelouwe) was an opponent of the Protestants and Anabaptists, known as "the Flemish peasant." He was born in 1604 at Ardoye, a village between Rousselare and Thielt, and became a weaver. In Delft, Dutch province of South Holland, where he settled, he acquired a thorough knowledge of the Bible, then joined the Catholic Church and used his gifts in attacking Protestants as well as Anabaptists. In 1648 he betook himself to the Mennonite church in Aardenburg, and at the close of a religious service in the presence of the assembled congregation challenged the preacher Boudewijn de Meijer to a disputation. The rumor spread through the city that a Catholic priest had appeared in the Mennonite church and was trying to convert them; such a crowd gathered before the little church that the meeting had to be adjourned, and the disputation continued at the preacher's house. In 1651 also a violent polemic against the Mennonites came from Geluwe's pen, attacking the book of the Mennonite preacher Francois de Knuyt, Eene corte bekentenisse onses gheloofs, etc. Its verbose title reads, Een onverwinnelycke schrift-matighe Roomsche Catholycke belijdenisse des gheloofs, van Godt den Vater, Godt den Soon, Godt den H. Geest, den Kinderdoop, ende van het wettelyck eedtsweeren, ende van het ampt der Christelycke Overheydt, ofte een schrift-matighe teghen-gift, ghesteldt teghen de onschriftmatighe belijdenisse der nieuwghesinde Wederdooperen, voor desen uytgheeven tot verleydinghe van de eenvoudige onnoosele herten door François de Knuyt.
Bibliography
Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1877): 25 ff.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. II, 48.
| Author(s) | Christian Neff |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1956 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Neff, Christian. "Geluwe, Arnout van (b. 1604)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Geluwe,_Arnout_van_(b._1604)&oldid=145221.
APA style
Neff, Christian. (1956). Geluwe, Arnout van (b. 1604). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Geluwe,_Arnout_van_(b._1604)&oldid=145221.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pp. 451-452. All rights reserved.
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