BEKKER, Balthazar, a celebrated Dutch divine, was born in Friesland in 1634. He was the author of several works in philosophy and theology, which from their freedom of thought and critical rationalism excited considerable enmity against him. His most celebrated production was the work entitled Die Betooverde Wer eld, or The World Bewitched, in which he examined critically the phenomena generally ascribed to spiritual agency, and exposed with much force the many absurdities regarding the power of Satan that had become articles of Christian faith. The odiunι theologicum was fiercely roused by this book, and Bekker was deposed from the office of the ministry. He resided at Amsterdam till his death in 1698.
BEKKER, or Wolff, Elizabeth, a Dutch novelist, was born in 1738. She was married to Adrian Wolff, a Reformed clergyman, but is always known under her maiden name. After the death of her husband in 1777, she resided for some time in France, with her close friend, Agatha Deken. She was exposed to some of the dangers of the French Revolution, and, it is said, escaped the guillotine only by her great presence of mind. In 1795 she returned to Holland, and resided at the Hague till her death in 1804. Her novels were written in conjunction with Agatha Deken, and it is somewhat difficult to determine the exact qualities contributed by each. The Historie van William Levend (1785), Historie van Sara Burgerhart (yiW)), Abraham Blankaart (1787), Comelie Wildschut (1793-96), have been extremely popular. Some of them have been translated into German and French....
BEKKER, Immanuel, a distinguished philologist, was born at Berlin in 1785, and died 7th June 1871. He completed his classical education at the university of Halle under the famous F. A. Wolf, who was accustomed to speak of him as his most promising pupil. In 1810 he was appointed to a professorship in the university of Berlin. For several years, between 1810 and 1821, he travelled in France, Italy, England, and parts of Germany, examining classical manuscripts and gathering materials for his great editorial labours. Some detached fruits of his researches were given in the Anecdota Groeca, 3 vols., 1814-21; but the full result of his unwearied industry and ability is to be found in the enormous array of classical works edited by him. The most famous are Plato, 10 vols.,1814-21; Oratores Attici, 7 vols., 1823; Aristoteles (the Berlin edition), 4 vols., 1831-36; Thucydides, 3 vols., 1821; Aristophanes, 3 vols., 1825; Sextus Empiricus, 1842. He also edited 24 volumes of the Byzantine historians. Bekker confined himself entirely to textual recension and criticism, and contributed little to the extension of general scholarship. He was well read in the old French literature, particularly that of Provence, and contributed many papers on it to the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy.
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