Hugo Grotius’ Christology. The Sacrifice of Christ across His Religious and Political Works

The question of whether Hugo Grotius was aSocinian has puzzled intellectuals since the early seventeenth century. In recent decades, historians have paid increasing attentionto Grotius’ theology, highlighting how much he borrowed from theworks of Socinus. Building on this growing scholarly attention, thischapter examines how Grotius’s ideas about Christ, His divinity,and His sacrifice were translated from theology into poetry andinfluenced his political ideas. By analyzing Grotius’ works such asChristus Patiens (1608), Defensio Fidei (1617), De iure belli ac pacis(1625), and Annotationes in Novum Testamentum (1640–49), it aimsto assess whether and to what extent Grotius was close to keyaspects of Socinian thought.