''Rivington's Theological Library'' was a series of 15 volumes, edited by

William Rowe Lyall William Rowe Lyall (11 February 1788 – 17 February 1857) was an English churchman, Dean of Canterbury from 1845 to 1857. Life He was born in Stepney, Middlesex, the fifth son of John Lyall and Jane Comyn. He was educated at Trinity College, C ...

and

Hugh James Rose Hugh James Rose (1795–1838) was an English Anglican priest and theologian who served as the second Principal of King's College, London. Life Rose was born at Little Horsted in Sussex on 9 June 1795 and educated at Uckfield School, where his fat ...

, and published in London during the 1830s by Rivington's. Rose as founder intended "to restore in England the tradition of the primitive church and revive a taste for patristic studies." His quest for contributors took him to Oxford in 1832, at a pivotal moment for what would become the

Tractarian movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

. A work by

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

, ''The Arians of the Fourth Century'' (1833), was intended for the ''Library''. Lyall, however, had objections, to its theology and its scope (Newman had been assigned the topic of Church Councils of the period), and it was published by Rivingtons, but outside the ''Library''. Rose told Newman privately that the series was playing too safe, and was not making its mark. A further work, commissioned from

Joseph Blanco White Joseph Blanco White, born José María Blanco y Crespo (11 July 1775 – 20 May 1841), was an Anglo-Spanish political thinker, theologian, and poet. Life Blanco White was born in Seville, Spain. He had Irish ancestry and was the son of the mer ...

, and announced as a ''History of the Inquisition'', as Newman's had been intended as a ''History of the Principal Councils'', took its own way, and became a work ''Observations on Heresy and Orthodoxy'' (1835) with a Unitarian aspect. Other announced volumes, by Rose on

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

, and by James Nichols on

Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot () and Hugo de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright. A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was born in Delft ...

, did not appear in the series.

Notes

{{Authority control Series of books 1830s books Theology books