Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Turretin
TURRETIN, or Turretini. Three theologians of this name figure in the history of Genevan theology.
1. Benoit Turretin (1588-1631), the son of Francesco Turretini, a native of Lucca, who settled in Geneva in 1579, was born in that town on 9th November 1588. He was ordained a pastor in Geneva in 1612, and became professor of theology in 1618. In 1620 he represented the Genevan Church at the national synod of Alais, when the decrees of the synod of Dort were introduced into France; and in 1621 he was sent on a successful mission to the states general of Holland, and to the authorities of the Hanseatic towns, with reference to the defence of Geneva against the threatened attacks of the duke of Savoy. He published in 1618-20 a defence of the Genevan translation of the Bible. Benoit Turretin died at Geneva on 4th March 1631.
2. François Turretin (1623-87), son of the preceding, was born at Geneva on 17th October 1623. After studying theology in Geneva, Holland, and France, he became a pastor in Geneva in 1647; after a brief pastorate at Leyden, he again returned to Geneva as professor of theology in 1653. He was one of the most influential supporters of the Formula Consensus Helvetica, drawn up chiefly by Heidegger, in 1675, and of the particular type of Calvinistic theology which that symbol embodied. His Institutio Theologiæ Elencticæ (3 vols. 4to, Geneva, 1680-83) has passed through frequent editions, the last reprint having been made in Edinburgh in 1847. F. Turretin died at Geneva on 28th September 1687. He was also the author of volumes entitled De Satisfactione Christi Disputationes (Geneva, 1666) and De Necessaria Secessione Nostra ab Ecclesia Romano (Geneva, 1687).
3. Jean Alphonse Turretin (1671-1737), son of the preceding, was born at Geneva on 13th August 1671. He was educated at Geneva and in Holland, and after travelling in England and in France was received into the "Vénérable Compagnie des Pasteurs" of Geneva in 1693. In 1697 he became professor of church history. During the next forty years of his life he enjoyed great influence in Geneva as the advocate of a more liberal theology than had prevailed under the preceding generation, and it was largely through his instrumentality that the use of the Formula Consensus Helvetica as a symbol was discontinued in 1725. He also wrote and laboured for the promotion of union between the Reformed and Lutheran Churches, his most important work in this connexion being Nubes Testium pro Moderate et Pacifico de Rebus Theologicis Judicio, et Instituenda inter Protestantes Concordia (Geneva, 1719). Besides this he wrote Cogitationes et Dissertationes Theologicæ, on the principles of natural and revealed religion (Geneva, 1737); and commentaries on Thessalonians and Romans were published posthumously. He died at Geneva on 1st May 1737.