On the duty to keep faith with heretics
By: Martinus Becanus ; edited by Wim Decock ; translated by Isabelle Buhre ; introduction by Tobias Dienst and Christoph Strohm
Series: Sources in early modern economics, ethics, and law. Second series; Sources in early modern economics, ethics, and law
Publisher: CLP Academic
Published: 2019
Place of publication: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Language: eng
Translated from: lat
Number of pages: 129
ISBN-13: 9781949011036; 9781949011043; 9781949011050
Subjects: Religious tolerance; Christianity; Early works to 1800; Christian heretics
Work titles: De fide haereticis servanda
Description: "This work offers an extraordinary perspective on the early modern debates about toleration and the binding force of agreements between people of different Christian faiths. Drawing on principles of contract law developed by jurists and theologians from the School of Salamanca, the Jesuit controversialist Martinus Becanus (1563-1624) argues in favor of the duty to honor promises beyond confessional boundaries. Although hostile to religious freedom as a matter of principle, he acknowledges that a prince may have good reasons to grant exceptions. In particular circumstances the toleration of religious diversity may not only prevent greater evil, but also advance the greater good, especially by stimulating a kind of pious competition between confessional communities. This first English translation of Becanus's De fide haereticis servanda allows modern scholars to discover a major work of one of the most prominent advocates of a permission concept of tolerance in the early modern period"--
Notes: Translation of: De fide haereticis servanda.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction. Confessional controversy, coexistence, and tolerance : Becanus's De fide haereticis servanda in its literary context. Theological disputation : should one keep his faith with heretics?; title: Three types of promise : gratuitous, onerous, and under oath; title: Under which circumstances is a gratuitous promise valid?; title: Under which circumstances is an onerous promise valid?; title: Under which circumstances is a promise under oath valid?; title: Where does the obligation of a valid promise come from?; title: How strong is the obligation of a valid promise?; title: Do we have to keeo our faith with heretics in the case of a valid promise with obligatory force?; title: Do we have to keeo our faith with heretics when they have been executed?; title: Do we have to keeo our faith with heretics in marriage contracts?; title: Do we have to keeo our faith with heretics when it comes to freedom of religion?; title: Do we have to keeo our faith with heretics in wartime?; title: Do we have to keeo our faith with heretics regarding safe conduct?; title: Appendix : addressing the false claims made in the little book Third Defense of the Federated States of Lower Germany against the Calumnious Reproach That We Are Disturbing the Peace.