Valentin Alberti

{{Short description|Philosopher, theologian (1635–1697)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Valentin Alberti

| image = Valentin-Alberti.jpg

| caption = Alberti by Christian Romstet, {{circa}} 1690

| birth_date = 15 December 1635

| birth_place = Lehn, Saxony

| death_date = {{d-da|15 September 1697|15 December 1635}}

| death_place = Leipzig, Saxony

| occupation = Logician, philosopher, and theologian

| module = {{infobox academic

|child = yes

|workplaces = University of Leipzig

|alma_mater = University of Leipzig (Mg)

|doctoral_advisor =

|academic_advisors =

|doctoral_students = Christian Thomasius

|notable_students =

|known_for =

|influences =

|influenced =

|awards = }}

| module2 = {{infobox religious person

|child = yes

|religion = Lutheran

|known_for = Defending Lutheran orthodoxy}}

}}

Valentin Alberti (15 December 1635 – 15 September 1697) was a Lutheran, orthodox philosopher and theologian from Silesia and was the son of a preacher.[https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/artikelADB_pnd118644289.html?language=en Deutsche Biographie website, Alberti, Valentin]

He is known for defending Lutheran orthodoxy against the natural law views of Hugo Grotius, Samuel von Pufendorf and Christian Thomasius,[https://books.google.com/books?id=K59stsk3z5MC&dq=Valentin+Alberti+%281635%E2%80%931697%29+books&pg=PA256 Google Books website, Controversies Within the Scientific Revolution, edited by Marcelo Dascal and Victor D. Boantza, pages 255-7] and being an active polemicist against Roman Catholicism.

He began his studies at the University of Leipzig in 1656, obtaining the Magister degree in 1656. By 1663, he was already a professor of logic and metaphysics and in 1672 he became an associate professor of theology as well.[https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/religion-past-and-present/alphaRange/Ah%20-%20An/A?s.rows=50 Brill Online website, Religious Past and Present, edited by Hans Dieter Betz, Don S. Browning†, Bernd Janowski and Eberhard Jüngel] Alberti was one of the principal representatives of Christian natural law Juris Naturae Orthodoxae Compendium Theologiae Conformatum[https://books.google.com/books?id=3NgvvwEACAAJ Google Books, Compendium Juris Naturae, Orthodoxae Theologiae Conformatum Et In Duas Partes Distributum ..., Valentin Alberti, Frommannus, 1676] and Samuel von Pufendorf's main opponent.

In 1665, he married the daughter of the Leipzig city judge Johannis Preibisi.

Alberti supervised the thesis of Christian Stridtbeckh on the possibility of a pact with the devil. They published in 1690[https://www.abaa.org/book/1339865801 ABAA website, De Sagis, sive Foeminis, Commercium cum Malo Spiritu Habentibus by Stridtbeckh, Christian (FL. Circa 1700) & Valentin Alberti][https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/details/bsb10968537 MDZ website, Diss. acad. de sagis sive foeminis commercium cum malo spiritu habentibus, das ist: Von denen Zauberinnen und Hexen e Christiana pneumathologia desumpta by Alberti, Valentin and Stridtbeckh, Christian] and 1716 in Latin, and in 1723 in German. He held theological opinions maintaining the possibility of reincarnation of souls from purgatory.