Eukleria, Labadism, and the Life of Anna Maria Van Schurman

The life and legacy of Anna Maria Van Schurman (1607–1678) pose many questions for modern-day historians. As a Dutch polymath, she represents the era of the Further Reformation, budding Enlightenment ideas, Renaissance women, and growing forms of religious expression. She was proficient in fourteen languages, many ancient and non-Indo-European, a skilled portraitist, and a well-known speaker. Yet, she abandoned those claims to fame in her sixties. She wanted to practice a more pietistic, ascetic lifestyle, and she found it in the small, convent-like church of Jean de Labadie. Labadie, the founder of the branch of Protestantism known as Labadism, led a small, radical church in Amsterdam. The Labadists’ communal style of living and the cohabitation of men and women scandalized Van Schurman’s followers; an unmarried woman living with men was unheard of. Having made this radical switch, Van Schurman soon felt compelled to explain her choice, and she published her autobiographical Eukleria, or Choosing the Better Part, in 1673, in which she explains her religious views and why she left the Dutch Reformed Church. Yet, despite receiving the education necessary to be considered an Early Modern theologian, possessing adequate language skills to read the Scriptures in their original form, and practicing a number of the arts, Van Schurman expresses regret in Eukleria. My poster seeks to explain that regret and explore the origins of these sentiments. Van Schurman’s influence and education proclaimed her as a great scholar of her day, but her historiography has not reflected that status, nor has her self-reflection within Eukleria been explored. By examining specific sentiments within this spiritual autobiography, my work will provide an alternative perspective to the Further Reformation, one from a woman’s point of view.