BOREEL, ADAM. - Founder of the Boreelists, b. at Duinbeke (Holland), in 1603, d. in 1667. In his office of Protestant minister in the province of Zeeland, at a certain point he resigned from his post, giving as his explanation that he had realized that, with the death of the Apostles, the Christian Church had fallen into decay.

To repair the damage, around 1645 he founded, at Amsterdam, a sect of his own, without churches, Sacraments or outward worship, which advocated the Bible alone, austerity of morals and a philanthropic generosity. An imitation of the Quakers in truth, but not — as some insinuated — tinged with Socinianism. Among other things, B. — an expert in Hebraism — left the normative work of his group, Ad Legem et Testimonium. His followers — the Boreelists — still today constitute a minor sect within Protestantism.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: H. G. Kleyn, in Realencyklop. für protest. Theol. und Kirche, III (1987), pp. 325-326; F. Lichterberger, s. v. in Ent. d. Sciences religieuses, II, p. 363; C. Crivelli, Piccolo dizionario delle sette protestanti, Rome 1945, p. 222.

Piero Chiminelli

@incollection{ec2_boreel_adam, author = {Chiminelli, Piero}, title = {Boreel, adam}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {1903}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/boreel-adam} }

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Boreel, Adam

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