ALTING, JOHAN HEINRICH. – Dutch Calvinist theologian, born on 17 February 1583 at Emden, where his father Menso (1541–1612) was a Protestant preacher; died at Groningen on 25 August 1644. He first studied at Groningen, then, from 1602, at Herborn. In 1608 he was entrusted with the education of the future Elector Palatine, Frederick V, first at Sedan (1608–10), and subsequently at Heidelberg, when the fourteen-year-old prince had already assumed the government; in 1612 he accompanied him to England for his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of James I. Upon returning to Heidelberg, he was appointed there (1613) professor of dogmatic theology at the university and director of the seminary in the “Collegium Sapientiae” (1616). When Tilly sacked Heidelberg in 1622, A. managed to take refuge in the Netherlands, where Frederick V entrusted him with directing the studies of his eldest son at Leiden (1623–27). There he also collaborated on the official Dutch version of the Bible (Staatenbijbel). In 1627 he obtained a chair of theology at Groningen, which he held until his death. Opposed to the scholastic subtleties and the semi-Pelagianism of the Lutherans, he followed a biblical and practical approach, adhering strictly to traditional Calvinist doctrine. At the Synod of Dordrecht (1618), in which he participated as the representative of the Palatinate, he upheld the most uncompromising predestinarianism and opposed the innovative ideas of the Remonstrants.
Among his works, most of which were published after his death by his son, we note: Notae in decadem problematum Jacobi Behm (Heidelberg 1618); Scripta theologica Heidelbergeniia, 3 vols.: I, Loci communes; II, Problemata theologica; III, Explicatio cathecheseos Palatinae (Amsterdam 1646); Exegesis Augustanae confessionis, with a Syllabus controversiarum quae Reformatis hodie intercedunt cum Lutheranis (Amsterdam 1652); Theologia historica sive systematis historici loca quattuor usque ad Costantinum Magnum (Amsterdam 1664), noteworthy as a precursor to modern studies of the history of dogma; Historia Ecclesiae Palatinae a prima Reformatione usque ad Joannem Casimirum administratorem, that is, up to 1583, in Monumenta Pietatis (Frankfurt 1701), very important for the local religious history. All A.’s works are on the Index (decrees of 25 January 1684 and 10 May 1757).