Arthur Ashley Sykes (1684–1756) was an Anglican religious writer, known as an inveterate controversialist. Sykes was a

latitudinarian Latitudinarians, or latitude men, were initially a group of 17th-century English theologiansclerics and academicsfrom the University of Cambridge who were moderate Anglicans (members of the Church of England). In particular, they believed that ...

of the school of

Benjamin Hoadly Benjamin Hoadly (14 November 1676 – 17 April 1761) was an English clergyman, who was successively Bishop of Bangor, of Hereford, of Salisbury, and finally of Winchester. He is best known as the initiator of the Bangorian Controversy. ...

, and a friend and student of

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the g ...

Life

Sykes was born in London in 1683 or 1684 and educated at St. Paul's School. In 1701 he was admitted to

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th centur ...

, where he received a scholarship (1702), B.A. (1705), M.A. (1708), and D.D. (1726). He was vicar of

Rayleigh Rayleigh may refer to: Science *Rayleigh scattering *Rayleigh–Jeans law *Rayleigh waves *Rayleigh (unit), a unit of photon flux named after the 4th Baron Rayleigh *Rayl, rayl or Rayleigh, two units of specific acoustic impedance and characte ...

in Essex from 1718 till his death in 1756. In 1739 with

Thomas Birch Thomas Birch (23 November 17059 January 1766) was an English historian. Life He was the son of Joseph Birch, a coffee-mill maker, and was born at Clerkenwell. He preferred study to business but, as his parents were Quakers, he did not go to ...

he helped George Turnbull become ordained in the Church of England.

Controversialist

Sykes took part successively in many of the Anglican theological controversies of his time.

Trinitarian controversy

Sykes wrote in support of

Samuel Clarke Samuel Clarke (11 October 1675 – 17 May 1729) was an English philosopher and Anglican cleric. He is considered the major British figure in philosophy between John Locke and George Berkeley. Early life and studies Clarke was born in Norwich ...

's line on the Trinity, against an attack of 1718 by Thomas Bennet, in ''A Discourse of the Ever-Blessed Trinity in Unity'' (1718).

Bangorian controversy

The sermon of Hoadly that set off the Bangorian Controversy had been anticipated by Sykes preaching in January 1717, on the same text with essentially the same theme. Sykes answered the ''Discourse of the Visible and Invisible Church of Christ'' in the controversy, by John Rogers, with his own ''The Authority of the Clergy and the Liberties of the Laity Stated''; to which Rogers replied.

Bentley controversy

In 1718 he wrote to defend

Richard Bentley Richard Bentley FRS (; 27 January 1662 – 14 July 1742) was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. Considered the "founder of historical philology", Bentley is widely credited with establishing the English school of Helle ...

in the '' St James's Post'', who had been deprived of his degrees by

Thomas Gooch Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the ...

acting as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. The controversy was continued by

Thomas Sherlock Thomas Sherlock (167818 July 1761) was a British divine who served as a Church of England bishop for 33 years. He is also noted in church history as an important contributor to Christian apologetics. Life Born in London, he was the son of the ...

and Conyers Middleton.

Miracles and prophecy

Sykes made some concessions to

deist Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin ''deus'', meaning " god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...

criticism of the reliability of the testimony to the biblical

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

s. He also restricted the scope of the miraculous, for example rejecting the reports associated to the Convulsionnaires of Saint-Médard, and the tomb of the

Jansenist Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by t ...

supporter

François de Pâris François de Pâris (; 3 June 1690 – 1 May 1727) was a French Catholic deacon and theologian, a supporter of Jansenism. He became deacon of the Oratory of St. Magloire and was noted for his critique of the papal bull ''Unigenitus'', which co ...

. He also stated that the cures of Valentine Greatrakes were not miraculous. His doctrine of the working of the biblical miracles linked them to an active spiritual dimension of fulfilment of

prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a '' prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pre ...

Demoniacs and mental illness

In 1737 Sykes published ''An enquiry into the meaning of demoniacks in the New Testament'', rejecting any belief in the existence of demons and regarding those possessed as simply suffering from

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

. In this he went further than

Joseph Mede Joseph Mede (1586 in Berden – 1639) was an English scholar with a wide range of interests. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he became a Fellow from 1613. He is now remembered as a biblical scholar. He was also a naturalist ...

's exposition of the Doctrine of Demons, as in the later work of Dr.

Richard Mead Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

. He was answered by Thomas Church, in an anonymous work of the same year. Sykes also rejected the devil as a supernatural evil being, anticipating the allegory argument of John Epps. Two replies to this work were published in 1737 and 1738 by

Leonard Twells Leonard Twells (1684?–1742) was an English cleric and theological writer. Life His father John was Master of Newark School. He received his education at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1704. In 1722 Twells was presented to ...

. These works were part of a larger debate on

demonology Demonology is the study of demons within religious belief and myth. Depending on context, it can refer to studies within theology, religious doctrine, or pseudoscience. In many faiths, it concerns the study of a Classification of demons, hierarch ...

and possession, with Sykes siding with the sceptics Francis Hutcheson and

Thomas Woolston Thomas Woolston (baptised November 166827 January 1733) was an English theologian. Although he was often classed as a deist, his biographer William H. Trapnell regards him as an Anglican who held unorthodox theological views. Biography Thomas ...

, against

Zachary Pearce Zachary Pearce, sometimes known as Zachariah (8 September 1690 – 29 June 1774), was an English Bishop of Bangor and Bishop of Rochester. He was a controversialist and a notable early critical writer defending John Milton, attacking Richard Ben ...

and Richard Smalbroke.

Pseudonyms

Sykes used many pseudonyms, some of them shared with others. One, used in the book on "demoniacks", was T.P.A.P.O.A.B.I.T.C.O.S., standing for "The Precentor and Prebendary of Alton Borealis in the Church of Sarum".

Newton papers

Sykes at the end of his life was passed Isaac Newton's papers on theology and chronology. He prepared a digest of the material, but found almost none of it fit for publication. The papers went next to Jeffery Ekins.The Newton Project, ''History of his Papers 1727–1872''.
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References

External links

CERL page.Open Library page.Arthur Ashley Sykes papers, 1730-1752
at Pitts Theology Library,

Candler School of Theology Candler School of Theology is one of seven graduate schools at Emory University, located in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. A university-based school of theology, Candler educates ministers, scholars of religion and other leaders. It is al ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sykes, Arthur Ashley 1684 births 1756 deaths 18th-century English Anglican priests People educated at St Paul's School, London Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge People from Rayleigh, Essex