Anton van Dale (Anthonie, Antonius) (8 November 1638, Haarlem - 28 November 1708, Haarlem) was a Dutch Mennonite preacher, physician and writer on religious subjects, described by the contemporary theologian Jean Le Clerc as an enemy of superstition^[1]. He was a critic of witch-hunting^[2].

His De oraculis veterum ethnicorum dissertationes (1683) was an influential work on oracles, which he argued against the supernatural and the role of the Devil^[3] in the pagan oracular tradition. In this he was followed two decades later by Fontenelle, who wrote his Histoire des oracles as an adaptation and popularized version of van Dale's work.

[edit] Works

• De oraculis veterum ethnicorum dissertationes (1683)
• Dissertationes de origine ac progressu Idolatriae et Superstitionum, de vera ac falsa Prophetia, uti et de Divinationibus Idolatricis Judaeorum (1696)
• Commentatio super Aristeam de LXX interpretibus (1705)

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Jonathan Israel, The Dutch Republic (1995), p. 925.
2. ^ Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra, Hilary Marland, Hans de Waardt, Illness and Healing Alternatives in Western Europe (1997), p. 74.
3. ^ The History of the Devil: The Abolition of Witch-Prosecution

[edit] External links

• Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online