Petrus van Mastricht

Petrus (or Peter or Pieter) van Mastricht (or Maastricht) (November 1630 – February 9, 1706) was a Reformed theologian.

He was born in Cologne to a refugee from Maastricht during the Dutch revolt. His father's family name was originally "Schoning," but he changed it to "van Mastricht" on moving to Cologne. Petrus occasionally used the Latinized pseudonym Scheuneneus. Johannes Hoornbeeck was Masticht's pastor from 1639 to 1643 and his teacher at the University of Utrecht starting in 1647, along with Gisbertus Voetius and others. From 1650 to 1652 he took a tour of study at Leiden University and possibly Oxford and the University of Heidelberg. From there he took pastorates at Xanten, Glückstadt, Frankfurt an der Oder, and Duisburg. While Mastricht is considered to be a follower of the school of Voetius, his Classis (ecclesiastical) in Xanten was predominantly Cocceian, a school to which Voetians were opposed. For this reason, and because of some irenic statements Mastricht made, he is considered to have been somewhat ecumenical in contrast to the vitriolic polemics common between Voetians and Coccieans of his day. He completed his Master of Arts and Doctor of Theology at the University of Duisburg in 1669 while serving as a pastor. Mastricht served as professor of Hebrew and theology at that university from 1670 to 1677. He then succeeded Voetius as professor of Hebrew and theology at the University of Utrecht in 1677. He also served as an elder and supply preacher for the classis of Amsterdam. He served there until he became too infirm and began teaching at home in 1700. He died February 9, 1706.

Mastricht, following his teachers Voetius and Hoornbeeck, saw theology as essentially practical, but did not see the use of scholastic theological method as antithetical to the practical use of theology for Christian piety. He opposed the rising influence of Cartesianism among the Reformed by writing treatises against Christopher Wittich, Petrus Allinga, and Balthasar Bekker.

A growing scholarship is anticipated in the fields of Post-reformation and Jonathan Edwards studies as translations of Mastricht's magnum opus of theology, the Theoretico-practica theologia, in an English edition and a new Dutch edition are released to the market in 2018. See Petrus van Mastricht, Theoretical-practical Theology, Todd M. Rester (transl.), Joel R. Beeke (ed.) (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2018—) three out of seven volumes have already been published; Petrus van Mastricht, Theoretisch- praktische godgeleerdheid (Barneveld: Gebr. Koster / Stichting Gereformeerd Erfgoed, 2018—).