John Hutchinson (1674 – 28 August 1737) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

natural philosopher Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior throu ...

. He was born at

Spennithorne Spennithorne is a village and civil parish in lower Wensleydale in North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of the market town Leyburn, on a slight elevation above the River Ure, which forms the so ...

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, and served as steward in several families of position, latterly in that of the Duke of Somerset, who ultimately obtained for him the post of riding purveyor to the master of the horse, a sinecure worth about £200 a year. In 1700 he became acquainted with Dr. John Woodward (1665–1728), physician to the duke and author of a work entitled ''The Natural History of the Earth'', to whom he entrusted a large number of fossils of his own collecting, along with a mass of manuscript notes, for arrangement and publication. A misunderstanding as to the manner in which these should be dealt with was the immediate occasion of the publication by Hutchinson in 1724 of ''Moses's Principia'', part i., in which Woodward's ''Natural History'' was bitterly ridiculed, his conduct with regard to the mineralogical specimens not obscurely characterized, and a refutation of the Newtonian doctrine of

gravitation In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stron ...

seriously attempted. It was followed by part ii. in 1727, and by various other works, including ''Moses's Sine Principio'', 1730; ''The Confusion of Tongues and Trinity of the Gentiles'', 1731; ''Power Essential and Mechanical, or what power belongs to God and what to his creatures, in which the design of

Sir 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 great ...

and Dr

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, ...

is laid open'', 1732; ''Glory or Gravity'', 1733; ''The Religion of Satan, or Antichrist Delineated'', 1736. He taught that the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

contained the elements not only of true religion but also of all rational philosophy. He held that the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

must be read without points, and his interpretation rested largely on fanciful

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ism. Bishop George Horne of Norwich was during some of his earlier years an avowed Hutchinsonian; and William Jones of Nayland continued to be so to the end of his life. A complete edition of his publications, edited by

Robert Spearman Robert Spearman (1703–1761) was an English theologian, known as a Hutchinsonian. Life He was the eldest son of Robert Spearman, attorney of Durham, by his wife Hannah, only daughter of William Webster, merchant, of Stockton-on-Tees. He studied ...

and

Julius Bate Julius Bate (1711–1771) was an English divine, known as a Hutchinsonian and Hebraist. Life Bate was one of the ten children of the Rev. Richard Bate, by his wife, Elizabeth Stanhope. He entered St John's College, Cambridge, became B.A. 1730, a ...

, appeared in 1748 (12 vols.); an ''Abstract'' of these followed in 1753; and a ''Supplement'', with ''Life'' by Spearman prefixed, in 1765.

Notes

References

* * John C. English, "John Hutchinson's Critique of Newtonian Heterodoxy", ''Church History'' 68 (1999) pp. 581–597 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchinson, John 1674 births 1737 deaths English theologians English male non-fiction writers 17th-century Anglican theologians 18th-century Anglican theologians