Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert

Coornhert, Dirck Volckertszoon (1522–90), Dutch theologian. He defended liberalism against the strongly Calvinist doctrines then current in the Netherlands. He rejected the idea of a visible Church and maintained the sufficiency of a faith inspired by the Bible and the Apostles' Creed. Denying any doctrine of original sin, he urged the need for interior piety. The Arminians and the Pietists owed something to his influence.

Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert , 1522-90, Dutch humanist. His translation (1561) of the first 12 books of the Odyssey is considered the first major poetic work of the Dutch Renaissance. Coornhert also translated Cicero, Boccaccio, Seneca, and Boethius. His comedies, morality plays, and a philosophical treatise (1586) express his stoic and humanistic ideas. Coornhert, who had witnessed the methods of the Inquisition, was an active supporter of religious tolerance; his pamphlet (1585) on this subject led to his imprisonment and exile. He eventually returned to Holland and died at Gonda.