Adam Boreel and Galenus Abrahamsz. Against constraint of consciences: seventeenth-century dissenters in favor of religious toleration

This paper examines two seventeenth-century works written by Adam
Boreel and Galenus Abrahamsz, two most famous scholars among the
Amsterdam Collegiants who advocated ideas in favour of religious
toleration. This study is divided in three main parts. Firstly, I give
historical information on the circumstances that led Galenus Abrahamsz
to write his work. Secondly, I make a thorough comparison between
Abrahamsz’s work and Boreel’s treatise, arguing that the latter exerted
great influence on the former. However, despite major parallels, I also
show that there are deep differences in their works. Thirdly, I argue that
both Boreel and Abrahamsz pursued the same aim: to establish religious
toleration among Christians. In the conclusion, I suggest that we should
not regard Abrahamsz as a Collegiant himself, but only as a sympathizer
of Collegiant ideas. I also suggest the significance of further studies on
the Collegiants, their practices, and their ideas.