Choosing the Better Part: Anna Maria van Schurman (1607–1678)

196 Pages·1996·12.83 MB·English

by  Mirjam De Baar

CHOOSINGTHEBETTERPART
ARCHIVESINTERNATIONALESD'HISTOIREDES IDEES
INTERNATIONALARCHIVESOFTHEHISTORYOFIDEAS
146
CHOOSING THE BETTER PART
AnnaMaria van Schurman (1607-1678)
editedby
MIRJAM DE BAAR, MACHTELDLOWENSTEYN,
MARITMONTEIRO AND A. AGNES SNELLER
FoundingDirectors:
P.Dibont (Paris)andR.H.Popkin(WashingtonUniversity,St.Louis& UCLA)
Directors: Brian Copenhaver (University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles, USA), Sarah Hutton
(The University ofHertfordshire, United Kingdom), Richard Popkin (Washington Univer
sity,StLouis&UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles,USA)
EditorialBoard: 1.F.Battail(Paris); F. Duchesneau(Montreal); A. Gabbey (New York); T.
Gregory (Rome); J.D. North (Groningen); M.J. Petry (Rotterdam); 1. Popkin (Lexington);
Th.Verbeek(Utrecht)
AdvisoryEditorialBoard: 1.Aubin(Paris); A.Crombie(Oxford); H.Gadamer(Heidelberg);
H. Gouhier (paris); K. Hanada (Hokkaido University); W. Kirsop (Melbourne); P.O.
Kristeller (Columbia University); E. Labrousse (paris); A. Lossky (Los Angeles); J.
Malarczyk (Lublin); E. de Olaso (C.LF. Buenos Aires); J. Orcibal (Paris); W. ROd
(Munchen); G. Rousseau (Los Angeles); H. Rowen (Rutgers University, N.J.); J.P.
Schobinger(ZUrich);1.Tans(Groningen)
CHOOSING THE BETTER PART
Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678)
editedby
MIRJAMDE BAAR
MACHTELD LOWENSTEYN
MARIT MONTEIRO
and
A. AGNES SNELLER
KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
DORDRECHT / BOSTON / LONDON
Ac.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library ofCongress.
ISBN-13: 978-94-010-6549-8 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-0139-1
DOl: 10.10071978-94-009-0139-1
PublishedbyKluwerAcademicPublishers,
P.O. Box 17,3300AADordrecht,TheNetherlands.
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Translatedfrom theDutchbyLynneRichards
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© 1996KluwerAcademicPublishers
Softcoverreprintofthehardcover IstooitioD 1996
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Listofcontributors vii
Preface IX
1. AnnaMariavanSchurman. Ahistoricalsurveyofherreceptionsince
theseventeenthcentury
MirjamdeBaarandBritaRang
2. 'Anexceptionalmind'. ThelearnedAnnaMariavanSchurman 23
BritaRang
3. ThefirstDutchfeministtract?AnnaMariavanSchurman'sdiscussionof
women'saptitudeforthestudyofartsandsciences 43
Caroline vanEck
4. 'Etsesartistes mains ...'.TheartofAnnaMariavanSchurman 55
Katlijne VanderStighelen
5. '0Utreght,LieveStad...'. PoemsinDutchbyAnnaMariavanSchurman 69
Pieta vanBeek
6. 'Nowasforthefaintrumoursoffame attachedtomy name ...'.
TheEukleriaasautobiography 87
MirjamdeBaar
7. AnnaMariavanSchurman's 'reformation' ofphilosophy 103
AngelaRoothaan
8. OnAnnaMariavan Schurman's 'rightchoice' 117
EricaScheenstra
9. 'Ifshehadbeenaman...'. AnnaMariavanSchurmanin thesocialand
literarylifeofherage 133
A. AgnesSneller
VI
Chronologyofevents 151
Bibliography 155
List ofillustrations 173
Index 177
LIST OF CONTRmUTORS
MirjamdeBaarstudiedhistoryattheUniversityofUtrecht.Sheteacheschurchhis
tory and women's history at the Faculty ofTheology and Religious Studies of the
University ofGroningen and is working on athesis aboutAntoinetteBourignon and
herfollowers.ShewasoneofthefoundersoftheDutchWomen'sStudiesGroup1500
1800(foundedin 1988).
PietavanBeekstudiedDutchattheUniversityofUtrechtandclassicsatStellenbosch
UniversityinSouthAfrica.ShehasworkedasalecturerinDutchandasaresearchas
sistantattheUniversityofCapeTown.ShecurrentlylecturesinGreekatStellenbosch
University.ShehaspublishedAnnaMariavanSchurman'sDutchpoemsandisprepar
ingathesisaboutVanSchurman'spoetry.
CarolinevanEckstudiedarthistory,classicsandphilosophyinLeidenandParis.She
obtainedherdoctoratein1994withathesisonthephilosophicalbackgroundtoorganic
architecture in the nineteenthcentury. She is currently working as an editorwith the
publishinghouse Architectura& Naturaand as aresearchfellow inarchitectural his
toryattheFreeUniversity,Amsterdam.ShepublishedTheQuestionofStyleinPhilos
ophyandtheArts(CambridgeUniversityPress, 1995).
MachteldLowensteynisan arthistorian. Sheisaresearchfellow attachedtotheRe
searchGroupfortheHistoryofMentalitiesintheFacultyofHistoryandArtStudiesat
theErasmusUniversity, Rotterdam, andispreparingathesisabouttherepresentation
ofthewitches' sabbathintheartsoftheLowCountries(1450-1650). Sheisamember
oftheEuropeanEditorialCommitteeoftheEuropeanReviewofHistory.
MaritMonteirostudiedhistoryattheCatholicUniversityofNijmegen.Shewriteson
religiousandwomen'shistory.AtpresentsheiscompletingathesisaboutCatholicre
ligious virginsin theRepublicoftheUnitedProvincesintheseventeenthcentury.
Brita Rangstudied sociology, history and education at the universities ofFrankfurt
and Berlin. She obtained her doctorate in 1980 with the thesis Paedagogische Ge
schichtsschreibunginderDDR(1945-1965).Atpresentsheisanassociateprofessorin
thehistory ofeducationattheUniversityofUtrecht. Shehaspublishedmanyarticles
vii
Vlll Listofcontributors
onthehistoryofeducation,thehistoryofwomenandhighereducation,andtheeduca
tion ofgirls.
AngelaRoothaanstudiedphilosophyattheUniversityofLeiden.From1991 to 1993
sheheldthepostofresearchassistantattheFacultyofPhilosophy,UniversityofAm
sterdam. AtpresentsheiscompletingherdissertationonSpinoza. Shehaspublished
severalarticlesonphilosophyandtheology intheseventeenthcentury.
EricaScheenstra studied theology at the University ofLeiden. She now works as a
minister.
A. Agnes SnellerstudiedDutchand philosophy. Sheteaches historical linguistics at
the DepartmentofDutch, University ofLeiden, and linguisticsandphilosophy atthe
RotterdamHogeschool. Sheisparticularlyinterestedinthegenderaspectsoflanguage
andtheuseoflanguagein theearlymodernageandhaspublishedanumberofworks
onthissubject.
KatlijneVanderStighelenis anarthistorian. Shepublishedastudy ofAnnaMaria
vanSchurman'sartisticworkin1987,andobtainedherdoctoratein1988withathesis
on the portraits by Comelisde Vos (1584/85-1651). Shecurrently holds the posts of
part-time seniorlectureratthe CatholicUniversity ofLouvainand attheSt. Ignatius
UniversityFacultiesinAntwerp.Sheisalsotheco-directorofthecourse 'Womenand
Art' intheAntwerpUniversityInstitute'sinteruniversitywomen'sstudiesprogramme.
PREFACE
Fortheageinwhichshelived,AnnaMariavanSchunnan(1607-1678)wasanuncon
ventional womaninmany ways. Shewasagiftedlinguistandascholarofphilosophy
and theology. Shecorresponded withotherlearned womenand menalloverEurope.
Andsheachievedinternationalrenownforherdefenceofawoman'srighttoengagein
scholarly pursuits. In the centuries after her death, right up to the present day, the
'learnedmaid' ofUtrechthascontinuedtofueltheimaginationofmanyscholars.Des
pitethis, herintellectualandartisticversatilityhasnotyetbeencapturedinacompre
hensive study. Theologians, philosophers, literary scholars, historians, educationists
and art historians have all studied this Dutchfemme savante, each concentrating on
specificaspectsofherbiographyorwork. Theresult- inevitably- hasbeentocreate
adecidedlyfragmentedimageofthis learnedwoman.
This interdependent collection ofessays approaches Anna Maria van Schunnan's
lifeand workfrom an interdisciplinary- orrathermultidisciplinary- angle, inan at
tempt to do greaterjustice to her varied accomplishments and throw lighton herdi
lemmas.Ninechapterswrittenbyauthorswithbackgroundsinarangeofdifferentdis
ciplines (philosophy, theology, Dutch language and literature, intellectual and art
history, women'sstudies) shedlightonVanSchunnan'sideas on erudition andfem
ininity,ethics and philosophy, and on herreligious beliefs, in thecontextofthe early
modernintellectualcommunitytowhichshebelonged.
Over the centuries the preoccupation with Anna Maria van Schunnan has been
promptedbymanydifferentmotives,assumptions,andexpectations.Inthefirstchap
ter ofthe bookMirjam de Baarand BritaRang lookat the way in whichVan Schur
man'slifeandworkhavebeenregardedandreceivedsincetheseve.nteenthcentury.It
was primarily the learned Van Schunnan who was the focus of interest during the
seventeenth andeighteenthcenturies; laterthe emphasis shiftedto herreligious con
versionandherquestforvirtue.Fromtheearlytwentiethcenturyonwards,however,it
has been chiefly women who have drawn attention to Van Schunnan, assessing the
'feminist',intellectualandartisticqualitiesofherwork.
ThenexttwochaptersareconcernedwithVanSchunnan'searlyscholarly work, in
particular the Dissertatio (1641), in which she deals with the question of whether
women were fitted for scholarly endeavours. Brita Rang discusses the question of
womenandlearning,athemethatVanSchunnandevelopedandarguedincorrespond
encewiththetheologianAndreRivet.TheletterswerelaterincorporatedintheDisser
tatio. RangalsoconsiderstheconnectionbetweenVanSchunnan'slearningandCar
tesianphilosophy.Inthefinalsectionofheressay,shetracesthepossiblestagesinVan
Schunnan'seducationandintellectualdevelopment.CarolinevanEckfocuses onthe
IX
x Preface
formandargumentoftheDissertatio.Thiswork- whichwaswritteninLatin- isprob
ably the earliestpublication in the Netherlands to deal with the question ofwhether
women should beallowed to take partin highereducation. Van Eckshows that Van
Schurmancarefullyconstructedhercontentionthatsomewomenwereindeedsuitedto
scholarly pursuits by selecting a traditional, 'recognized' academic genre and an
equally accepted argumentation technique, in order to win over her male academic
readersto herpointofview.
VanSchurmanalsodevotedaconsiderableamountoftimetoartisticandpoeticac
tivities. Katlijne Van der Stighelen demonstrates that, as an artist, Anna Maria van
Schurman wasamistressoftheminute. Shewasexceptionallyproficientinadiverse
range oftechniques which were normally notpractised by the professional artist but
onlybythedilettante.Andherartistrywasparticularlyappreciatedbyapublicofnon
artists. Van derStighelen discusses the artistic training Van Schurmanreceived, and
thevarious techniquessheused.
According to Pieta van Beek, matters ofbeliefplayakey role in AnnaMaria van
Schurman'slimitedextantpoeticoeuvreinDutch.Whileshealsowrotepoetryinother
languages,sheperhapsconsideredDutchasthemostappropriatelanguageinwhichto
express religious beliefs. Such questions also dominate the poem 'Aenmerckinghe
Over'tonderschijttussenUitrechtenCeulen'('Observationonthedifferencebetween
Utrecht and Cologne'), which Van Beek analyzes and compares with other Dutch
poems.
In 1669AnnaMariavan SchurmanjoinedJeande Labadie'sseparatistcommunity.
Herdecisioncausedgreatdismayamonghermanyfriendsandacquaintances. Yet,as
Van Schurmansaw it, insiding with DeLabadieandhisfollowers shewas choosing
thebetterpart.InanunmistakablereferencetoLuke'sgospel(10,38-42),VanSchur
manidentifiedwithMary,whosatlisteningatthefeetofJesuswhilehersisterMartha
busied herselfwith more worldly chores. Jesus assured Mary thatthe betterpart she
hadchosenwouldnotbetakenawayfromher.Threechaptersdealwiththepersonalor
autobiographical, the philosophical and the religious and theological background to
Van Schurman'schoice. Mirjam de Baar, AngelaRoothaan and EricaScheenstraall
useVanSchurman'slastpublishedwork,entitledEukleriaseuMeliorisPartisElectio
(1673), astheirmainsource.
DeBaarshowsthatthisbook, in which Van Schurmanjustifiestheseparatistposi
tion ofDeLabadie'scommunity,shouldnotberegardedasan autobiographical work
only. De Baar's analysis ofthe complex structure ofthe Eukleria reveals that Van
Schurman, using acombination ofstyles andgenres (autobiography, theological and
philosophicaltreatise,chronicle),iscontinuallystressingthatshehasindeedmadethe
right choice in her life. De Baar is also able to convince the reader that while Van
Schurman hadexplicitly renounced herformer intellectual endeavours, thejustifica
tionandelaborationofthisrenunciationclearlybearwitnesstohereruditionandtheo
logicallearning.BypresentingherselfintheEukleriaassomeonewhohadmadeare
ligiouschoiceonrationalgrounds,VanSchurmanenteredtheterritoryoftheology- a
domain consideredbarredtowomen.
One chapterin the Eukleria deals with the 'sciences' ofmetaphysics, physics and
ethics. Usingthis chapter, RoothaanexploresthepositionAnnaMariavanSchurman