Adriaan Koerbagh ─ A Light Shining in Dark Places, to Illuminate the Main Questions of Theology and Religion

In 1668, Koerbagh (1633-69) tried to publish the Dutch-language original of his systematic philosophical critique of organized religion and its dogmatic pretensions. The authorities intervened to stop the printing and throw him in jail where he died shortly afterward. Two printed copies survive, but it is not clear whether they are from his now lost autograph, or from some intermediary copy. A scholarly edition was published in Dutch in 1974, and this is the first English edition of one of the earliest libertine documents from early modern Europe. Dutch and English are on facing pages. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Michiel Wielema, Ph.D. (1999) in Philosophy, Free University Amsterdam, is a professional Dutch-English translator and copy-editor. He has also published widely on the history of Spinozism and is the author, most recently, of The March of the Libertines (Verloren, 2004).