Becker (Or Bekker) Balthasar was born Mar. 30, 1634, in Friesland, and became a minister at Amsterdam. He was a zealous Cartesian, and was charged with Socinianism. His reputation chiefly rests upon a work in Dutch, entitled De Betooverde Wereld, "The Enchanted World" (Amnst. 1691-93), which undertakes to show that the devil never inspires men with evil thoughts, nor tempts them, and that men have never been possessed with devils, etc. His views of damoniacal possession, etc., are in substance those of the modern Rationalists, of whom he was a forerunner in other doctrines as well as in this. The Consistory of Amsterdam deposed him in 1692. The above work was translated into French (4 vols. Amst. 1694), into German (by Schwager, Amst. 1693, new ed. by Semler, Leipz. 1781 sq. 3 vols.), and into English. Becker died June 11, 1698. See Life by Schwabe (Kopenh. 1780); Mosheim, Ch. Hist. cent. 17, pt. 1, ch. 2, § 35; Hagenbach, Hist. of Doctrines, § 225; Landon, Eccl. Dict. 2, 116; Hurst, Hist. of Rationalism, 347.
The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature was edited by John McClintock and James Strong. It contains nearly 50,000 articles pertaining to Biblical and other religious literature, people, creeds, etc. It is a fantastic research tool for broad Christian study.
John McClintock was born October 27, 1814 in Philadelphia to Irish immigrants, John and Martha McClintock. He began as a clerk in his father's store, and then became a bookkeeper in the Methodist Book Concern in New York. Here he converted to Methodism and considered joining the ministry. McClintock entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1832 and graduated with high honors three years later. Subsequently, he was awarded a doctorate of divinity degree from the same institution in 1848.WikipediaRead More