Friedrich Spanheim the Younger

[1] He was born in Geneva, and studied at the University of Leiden, graduating M.A.

[1] In 1670 he moved to Leiden, replacing the late Johannes Cocceius as Professor of theology.

His theological position was expressed in dogmatic and polemical terms, as he took on Arminians, Cartesians, the followers of Cocceius and Jesuits.

[2] Spanheim encouraged the Voetians to stamp their orthodoxy on the Leiden theological faculty, and in 1676 pushed for the publication of 20 deprecated positions, marking out the Cocceian/Cartesian views.

In the longer term, however, the Voetian victory was pyrrhic, in that Cartesianism quite soon prevailed.