JURIEU, PIERRE. – Protestant controversialist, born on 24 December 1637 at Mer (diocese of Blois), died at Rotterdam on 11 January 1713. He studied at the Calvinist Academy of Saumur, in Holland, and in England, where he received Anglican Orders. Returning to his homeland, he succeeded his father as minister and was reordained according to the Calvinist rite. Having become professor of theology and Hebrew at the Academy of Sedan, he remained there until it was closed by royal order (1682). Taking refuge in Holland, he was immediately appointed professor at the University of Amsterdam and minister of the Walloon Church. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), he devoted himself to aiding his expatriated coreligionists and, through constant secret action, rekindled all the hatreds that the French monarchy had aroused by its religious policy.
A man of talent, a convinced Calvinist and at times a fanatic, for many decades he was the most formidable opponent of Catholic doctrine, which he attacked in numerous works: Examen du livre de la réunion du christianisme (Paris 1671); in it he refutes the anonymous work of certain Calvinists who advocated the reunion of all Christians on the basis of the articles of the Apostles’ Creed alone; fundamental articles (v.) already makes its appearance here, later defended sophistically; Apologie pour la morale des réformés (there 1675); he answers Arnauld’s accusations; Traité de la puissance de l'Église (there 1677); this is an attempt to attenuate the antinomies of Calvinism, which in theory accepted the sole authority of the Bible but in practice submitted to synodal decisions; Préservatif contre le changement de religion (there 1677); in it he refutes Bossuet’s work, L'exposition de la doctrine de l'Église catholique sur les matières de controverse; whereas the latter had emphasized the points of contact between the two confessions in order to facilitate the return of the Calvinists, J. aimed to magnify their opposition; the work did not succeed in arresting the rapid pace of the conversions which, beginning with that of Turenne (1668), brought eminent personalities back to the Church. Humiliated by these successes of Catholicism, he anonymously published a series of pamphlets in which he attempted to explain everything by legal coercion. He also wrote: Examen de l'Eucharistie de l'Église romaine (Amsterdam 1682); this was a response to the 2nd edition of the classic work by Arnauld and Nicole, Perpetuité de la foi touchant l'Eucharistie. Shortly afterward he wrote two defamatory libels against Arnauld, in which his religious intolerance overstepped every limit. In 1683 he published four volumes on the history of Calvinism, Lutheranism, and papism, in response to Maimbourg’s attacks. Other writings include: Vray système de l'Église (there 1686); Traité de l'unité de l'Église et des points fondamentaux (there 1688); he answers Nicole, returning to the principles developed in the analogous work of 1677. After 1688 he was engaged in refuting Bossuet’s celebrated work, Histoire des variations; his Lettres pastorales, which he wrote for this purpose, enjoyed extraordinary success in France, but did not neutralize the beneficial effect of the work he opposed. In his final writings he became involved in the Quietist controversy and sought once more to make himself heard in his homeland, but his hour had been appointed, and he died, as a contemporary attests, in dejection.