Society For Promoting Knowledge Of The Scriptures
The Society for Promoting the Knowledge of the Scriptures was a group founded in 1783 in London, with a definite but rather constrained plan for Biblical interpretation. While in practical terms it was mainly concerned with promoting Unitarian views, it was broadly based. Founders The founding group included John Disney, the initial Secretary, and John Jebb.(ODNB). The membership was 30 to 40, of varied denominations. Among them were Dr. John Calder, Michael Dodson, Andrew Kippis, Theophilus Lindsey and Richard Price in London. Those in the provinces giving at least financial support included Joseph Priestley, Bishop Edmund Law, Joshua Toulmin, and William Turner. Robert Tyrwhitt joined in 1784. ''Commentaries and Essays'' The Society produced two volumes of ''Commentaries and Essays'' (1787), as its major achievement, before subsiding as inactive. Among the contributors were Michael Dodson and Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an En ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Disney (Unitarian)
John Disney (1746–1816) was an English Unitarian minister and biographical writer, initially an Anglican clergyman active against subscription to the Thirty Nine Articles. Life He was the third son of John Disney of Lincoln, born 28 September 1746. His grandfather John Disney was rector of St. Mary's, Nottingham, his great-grandfather was Daniel Disney. Disney was at Wakefield grammar school, under John Clarke, and subsequently at Lincoln grammar school. He was intended for the bar, but his health broke down under the preliminary studies, and he turned to the church. He entered Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1764 (admitted pensioner 15 June 1765), and after graduation was ordained in 1768; in 1770 he proceeded LL.B. Sympathies with the latitudinarians were early; Disney appeared as a writer in April 1768 in defence of ''The Confessional'', by Francis Blackburne. Immediately after his ordination he was appointed honorary chaplain to Edmund Law, Master of Peterhouse and Bishop o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Jebb (reformer)
John Jebb (1736–1786) was an English divine, medical doctor, and religious and political reformer. Life Jebb was the son of John Jebb, Dean of Cashel, a member of the Irish branch of a distinguished family which came originally from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire: among his Irish cousins was John Jebb, Bishop of Limerick and the bishop's brother Richard Jebb, judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland). His mother was Anne Gansel, daughter of David Gansel of Donnyland House, Colchester, and sister of Lieutenant General William Gansel, who was noted as the protagonist in ''Gansel's case'' (1774), on whether a lodger had a legal right to resist being evicted from his lodgings. John Jebb was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he was elected fellow in 1761, having previously been Second Wrangler at Cambridge in 1757. He was a man of independent judgement, and he and his wife Ann warmly supported the movement of 1771 for abolishing university and clerical subscription to th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Calder (writer)
John Calder D.D. (1733–1815) was a Scottish dissenting minister and author. Life He was a native of Aberdeen, and educated at the university there. The Duke of Northumberland employed him as private secretary, both at Alnwick Castle and in London. Subsequently he for some time had charge of Dr. Williams's Library, and he also acted as minister at a meeting-house near the Tower of London. He then became a professional writer. Around 1789 Calder moved from Furnival's Inn to Croydon, where he knew the scholar East Apthorp well enough to send John Nichols details which were inserted in ''Literary Anecdotes''. He was a collector with an extensive library, and a large cabinet of Greek and Roman coins. His last years were spent at Lisson Grove, London, where he died 10 June 1815. Works When a new edition of the '' Cyclopædia'' of Ephraim Chambers was proposed, Calder was engaged as provisional editor, drew up a plan, and wrote some articles. Samuel Johnson who was involved in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michael Dodson
Michael Dodson (1732–1799) was an English lawyer and writer on religious subjects. Life The only son of Joseph Dodson, dissenting minister at Marlborough, Wiltshire, he was born there in September 1732. He was educated at Marlborough Grammar School, and then, in accordance with the advice of Sir Michael Foster, justice of the King's Bench, was entered at the Middle Temple 31 August 1754. He practised for many years as a special pleader; and was finally called to the bar on 4 July 1783. In 1770 he had been appointed one of the commissioners of bankruptcy. This post he held until his death, at his house, Boswell Court, Carey Street on 13 November 1799. In 1778 Dodson married his cousin Elizabeth Hawkes, also of Marlborough. Works Dodson's legal writings were an edition with notes and references of Sir Michael Foster's '' Report of some Proceedings on the Commission for the Trial of Rebels in the year 1746 in the County of Surrey, and of other crown cases'' (3rd edition 1792). I ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Andrew Kippis
Andrew Kippis (28 March 17258 October 1795) was an English nonconformist clergyman and biographer. Life The son of Robert Kippis, a silk-hosier, he was born at Nottingham. Having gone to Carre's Grammar School in Sleaford, Lincolnshire he passed at the age of sixteen to the Dissenting academy at Northampton, of which Dr Philip Doddridge was then president. In 1746 Kippis became minister of a church at Boston; in 1750 he moved to Dorking, Surrey; and in 1753 he became pastor of a Presbyterian congregation at Westminster, where he remained till his death. Kippis took a prominent part in the affairs of his church. From 1763 till 1784 he was classical and philological tutor in the Coward Trust's academy at Hoxton, and subsequently in the New College at Hackney. In 1778 he was elected a fellow of the Antiquarian Society, and a fellow of the Royal Society in 1779. Works Kippis was a voluminous writer. He contributed largely to ''The Gentleman's Magazine'', ''The Monthly Review'' an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Theophilus Lindsey
Theophilus Lindsey (20 June 1723 O.S.3 November 1808) was an English theologian and clergyman who founded the first avowedly Unitarian congregation in the country, at Essex Street Chapel. Early life Lindsey was born in Middlewich, Cheshire, the son of Robert Lindsey, a mercer, and godson of Theophilus Hastings, 9th Earl of Huntingdon, for whose mother his mother had been a servant. He was educated at the Leeds Free School and at St John's College, University of Cambridge, where in 1747 he became a fellow. Ordained deacon in 1746 and priest in 1747, Lindsey's church career advanced by aristocratic patronage. For some time he was a curate in Spitalfields, London, a position found for him by Lady Ann Hastings, aunt to the 9th Earl. The nomination was by Granville Wheler, Lady Ann's brother-in-law. Lindsey was domestic chaplain to Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset, who died in 1750. Then he was employed as tutor to the Duke's young grandson, Lord Warkworth— Hugh Percy, o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Price
Richard Price (23 February 1723 – 19 April 1791) was a British moral philosopher, Nonconformist minister and mathematician. He was also a political reformer, pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the French and American Revolutions. He was well-connected and fostered communication between many people, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington, Mirabeau and the Marquis de Condorcet. According to the historian John Davies, Price was "the greatest Welsh thinker of all time". Born in Llangeinor, near Bridgend, Wales, Price spent most of his adult life as minister of Newington Green Unitarian Church, on the then outskirts of London, England. He edited, published and developed the Bayes–Price theorem and the field of actuarial science. He also wrote on issues of demography and finance, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society. Early life Born on 23 February 1723, Richard Price was the son of Rhys Price, a dissenting minister. H ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted experiments in electricity and other areas of science. He was a close friend of, and worked in close association with Benjamin Franklin involving electricity experiments. Priestley is credited with his independent discovery of oxygen by the thermal decomposition of mercuric oxide, having isolated it in 1774. During his lifetime, Priestley's considerable scientific reputation rested on his invention of carbonated water, his writings on electricity, and his discovery of several "airs" (gases), the most famous being what Priestley dubbed "dephlogisticated air" (oxygen). Priestley's determination to defend phlogiston theory and to reject what would become the chemical revolution eventually left him isolated within the scientific community. Prie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Edmund Law
Edmund Law (6 June 1703 – 14 August 1787) was a priest in the Church of England. He served as Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, as Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy in the University of Cambridge from 1764 to 1769, and as bishop of Carlisle from 1768 to 1787. Life Law was born in the parish of Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands, Lancashire on 6 June 1703. The bishop's father, Edmund Law, descended from a family of yeomen or ''statesmen'', long settled at Askham in Westmoreland, was the son of Edmund Law, of Carhullan and Measand (will dated 1689), by his wife Elizabeth Wright of Measand. The bishop's father was curate of Staveley-in-Cartmel, and master of a small school there from 1693 to 1742. He married at Kendal 29 November 1701 Patience Langbaine, of the parish of Kirkby-Kendal, who was buried in Cartmel Churchyard. He seems on his marriage to have settled on his wife's property at Buck Crag, about four miles from Staveley. There his only son, Edmund - the future bishop, was bo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joshua Toulmin
Joshua Toulmin ( – 23 July 1815) of Taunton, England was a noted theologian and a serial Dissenting minister of Presbyterian (1761–1764), Baptist (1765–1803), and then Unitarian (1804–1815) congregations. Toulmin's sympathy for both the American (1775–1783) and French (1787–1799) revolutions led the Englishman to be associated with the United States and gained the prolific historian the reputation of a religious radical. Rose, Hugh J., (1857). Google Book Search.''A New General Biographical Dictionary.'' Vol. I. London: B. Fellowes, 1857. Obtained 21 October 2006. Biography Early life Toulmin was born in London, England on 30 April 1740 to Caleb Toulmin and Mary Skinner, daughter of Thomas Skinner.On 14 September 1752, the British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar, making it necessary to skip eleven days (i.e. 2 September was followed directly by 14 September 1752). Since Toulmin was alive at the time of Gregorian calendar transition, his birth date was ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Turner (minister At Wakefield)
William Turner (1714–1794) was an English dissenting minister. He became liberal in theology, a supporter of rational dissent, and with his congregation in favour of social and political reform. He was a contributor to Theological Repository. Life William Turner was born at Preston, Lancashire, on 5 December 1714. His father, John Turner (1689–1737), was a restless man, who was minister for short periods at Preston, Rivington, Northwich, Wirksworth, and Knutsford, distinguished himself on the Hanoverian side in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. His mother was Hannah Chorley (d. 20 February 1747), daughter of William Chorley of Preston. From 1732 until 1736, Turner was educated at Findern Academy under Ebenezer Latham. He then attended Glasgow University from 1736-1737. He was dissenting minister at Allostock, Cheshire (1737–46). He was ordained on 7 August 1739. Ill-health caused him to retire from the ministry for eight years, during which he kept a school. In 1754 he became ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Tyrwhitt
Robert Tyrwhitt (1735–1817) was an English academic, known as a Unitarian. Life Born in London, he was younger son of Robert Tyrwhitt (1698–1742), residentiary canon of St Paul's Cathedral, by his wife Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edmund Gibson, bishop of London. Thomas Tyrwhitt was his eldest brother. He entered as a pensioner at Jesus College, Cambridge on 9 March 1753, and graduated B.A. in 1757, M.A. in 1760. On 3 November 1759 he was admitted Fellow of his college. He was early influenced by the theological writings of Samuel Clarke, but he went much further, renounced the doctrine of the 39 Articles, and took part with John Jebb in the movement (1771–72) for abolishing subscription to the articles at graduation. In 1777 he resigned his fellowship, and ceased to attend the college chapel, though still residing in college. On 5 January 1784, he became a member of the largely Unitarian Society for Promoting the Knowledge of the Scriptures, and contributed papers to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |