John Jortin (23 October 1698 – 5 September 1770) was an English church

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

Life

Jortin was the son of Renatus Jordain, a

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

refugee and government official, and Martha Rogers, daughter of Daniel Rogers. He was educated at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

, and in 1715 became a pensioner of

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, where he became a Fellow in 1721. He was

Rede lecturer The Sir Robert Rede's Lecturer is an annual appointment to give a public lecture, the Sir Robert Rede's Lecture (usually Rede Lecture) at the University of Cambridge. It is named for Sir Robert Rede, who was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in th ...

at Cambridge in 1724,Sir Robert Rede's Lecturers (and Mathematical Lecturers)
and

Boyle lecturer The Boyle Lectures are named after Robert Boyle, a prominent natural philosopher of the 17th century and son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork. Under the terms of his Will, Robert Boyle endowed a series of lectures or sermons (originally eight e ...

in 1749. A churchman, he held various benefices, becoming in 1764

Archdeacon of London The Archdeacon of London is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England. They are responsible for the eastern Archdeaconry (the Archdeaconry of London) of the Two Cities (London and Westminster) in the Diocese of London, an area with ...

Works

Jortin briefly (1731–2) established a magazine, ''Miscellaneous Observations upon Authors, Ancient and Modern'', in which he wrote on Spenser and

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

. In 1722 he published a small volume of Latin verse entitled ''Lusus poetici''. ''Discourses Concerning the Truth of the Christian Religion'' (1746) was a work of Christian apologetics. His '' Remarks on Ecclesiastical History'' (5 vols, 1751‑73), has been labelled "the most significant Anglican ecclesiastical history of the eighteenth century"; written "from a markedly latitudinarian perspective", it was respected by

Gibbon Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical rainforest from eastern Bangladesh to Northeast India ...

. Jortin mostly avoided controversy, though a dissertation on

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

's treatment of the dead, by conflicting with Warburton's treatment, drew attack from Warburton's disciple Richard Hurd. A two-volume ''Life of

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

'' (1758, 1760) drew upon Jean Le Clerc: "Jortin was in many ways a late representative of

Christian humanism Christian humanism regards humanist principles like universal human dignity, individualism, individual freedom, and the importance of happiness as essential and principal or even exclusive components of the teachings of Jesus. Proponents of the te ...

, as well as an active citizen in the protestant

republic of letters The Republic of Letters (''Respublica literaria'') is the long-distance intellectual community in the late 17th and 18th centuries in Europe and the Americas. It fostered communication among the intellectuals of the Age of Enlightenment, or ''phil ...

". Jortin published other miscellaneous pamphlets and tracts, and seven volumes of sermons appeared after his death. All his works showed learning, and were written in a lively style. A collection of three volumes of his works was printed in 1805 and can be found at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

: *
Discourses Concerning the Truth of the Christian Religion and Remarks on Ecclesiastical History
', Volume 1 *
Discourses Concerning the Truth of the Christian Religion and Remarks on Ecclesiastical History
', Volume 2 *
Discourses Concerning the Truth of the Christian Religion and Remarks on Ecclesiastical History
', Volume 3

References

External links

* 1698 births 1770 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge 18th-century English Anglican priests Archdeacons of London 18th-century English historians English male non-fiction writers {{England-historian-stub