JURIEU, PIERRE (1637-1713), French Protestant divine, was born at Mer, in Orleanais, where his father was pastor. He studied at Saumur and Sedan and completed his studies in Holland and in England, when he received Anglican ordination. Returning to France he was reordained, and succeeded his father at the church at Mer. His Traite de la devotion (1674) led to his ap pointment as professor of theology and Hebrew at Sedan. He was pastor of the Walloon church of Rotterdam from 1681 till his death on Jan. II, 1713. Jurieu helped many sufferers from the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685). He himself was per suaded (Accomplissement des propheties, 1686) that the over throw of Antichrist (i.e., the Roman church) would take place in 1689. H. M. Baird says that "this persuasion, however fanciful the grounds on which it was based, exercised no small influence in forwarding the success of the designs of William of Orange in the invasion of England." Jurieu defended Protestant doctrines
against Arnauld, Nicole and Bossuet, but was equally ready to dispute with his fellow Protestant divines (with Louis Du Moulin and Claude Payon, for instance) when their opinions differed from his own even on minor matters. The bitterness and persistency of his attacks led to the expulsion of Pierre Bayle from his chair in 1693.
Jurieu's Lettres pastorales adressees aux fideles de France (3 vols. Rotterdam, 1686-87; Eng. trans. 1689), found its way into France and produced a deep impression on the Huguenots. His last important work was the Histoire critique des dogmes et des cultes (1704; Eng. trans. 1715).
See Herzog-Hauck, Realencykloptidie; also H. M. Baird, The Hugue nots and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1895).