COCCEIUS (Latin from KOCH), IOHANNES. — Protestant theological exegete, born in Bremen on 9 August 1603, died in Leiden on 4 November 1669. He began his studies, including Greek, under Metrofane Critopulo, in his native city. From 1625 in Hamburg and thereafter in Holland, C. deepened his knowledge of Hebrew, especially under the guidance of the Orientalist Sistino Amama. From 1630 he taught at the Gymnasium illustre of Bremen, from where he moved in 1636 to the chair of Hebrew at Franeker, and in 1650 to Leiden.
His theological-biblical works fill 8 folio volumes in the Amsterdam edition of 1673–75, and 10 volumes in that of 1701–1702, to which 2 volumes of Auecdota theologica et philologica were added in 1706. From the theological point of view, the most important work is Summa doctrinae de foedere et Testamento Dei (Franeker 1648), in which C. studies God’s relations with the world, dividing them into Foedus operum, Foedus gratiae, and Foedus iustitiae; the book is a vast theological and biblical synthesis. In this work, and even more in those of an exegetical character, particularly in Ad ultima Mosis, hoc est sex postrema capita Deuteronomii, considerationes (Franeker 1650), he develops the doctrine according to which every passage of the Bible would have a typical meaning. For this reason C. was regarded as the leader of the «figuriati» school. Among his disciples, Campedio Vitringa emerged as an exegete.
C. was an independent-minded character. Consequently, he had to engage in quite a few struggles, including with Protestant authors. C. has sometimes been regarded as a precursor of Pietism in Protestant theology.