Alting, Jacob, 1618-1679

Jacob Alting (27 September 1618 – 20 August 1679) studied in Groningen and was ordained as a Church of England priest. He was named professor of theology at Groningen University in 1667 after holding the chair of oriental languages since 1641. His publications were overseen in 1687 by Balthasar Bekker, and argued with Maresius on biblical exegesis when the latter accused him of heterodoxy (1688). Alting was born in Heidelberg, where his father Hendrik Alting was a professor. The 1618/1619 Synod of Dort forced the family to move to Leiden in 1622 and to Groningen in 1627. He was involved in various refutations of Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (TTP) and eagerly began drafting up arguments from the writings of Ezra and Nehemiah for a refutation of the 'Theological-Political Treatise' being published by the Cartesian Deventer theologian Antonius Perizonius.