Joseph Bingham (September 1668 – 17 August 1723) 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 ...

scholar and

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

, who wrote on ecclesiastical history.

Life

He was born at

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. He was educated at

Wakefield Grammar School Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) is an independent, public school for boys in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The school was founded by Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I in 1591 at the request of leading citizens in Wakefield (headed ...

and

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

, of which he was made fellow in 1689 and tutor in 1691. A sermon preached by him from the university pulpit in St Mary's church, on the meaning of the terms ''Person and Substance in the Fathers'', brought upon him an accusation of

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

. He was compelled to give up his fellowship and leave the university; but he was immediately presented by Dr John Radcliffe to the rectory of Headbourne Worthy, near Winchester (1695). In this country retirement he began his extensive work entitled ''Origines Ecclesiasticae, or Antiquities of the Christian Church'', the first volume of which appeared in 1708 and the tenth and last in 1722. His design, learnedly, exhaustively and impartially executed, was to give such a methodical account of the antiquities of the Christian Church as others have done of the Greek and Roman and Jewish antiquities, by reducing the ancient customs, usages and practices of the church under certain proper heads, whereby the reader may take a view at once of any particular usage or custom of

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

for four or five centuries. Notwithstanding his learning and merit, Bingham received no higher preferment than that of Headbourne Worthy until 1712, when he was collated to the rectory of

Havant Havant ( ) is a town in the south-east corner of Hampshire, England between Portsmouth and Chichester. Its borough (population: 125,000) comprises the town (45,826) and its suburbs including the resort of Hayling Island as well as Rowland's Cast ...

, near Portsmouth, by Sir Jonathan Trelawney, bishop of Winchester. Nearly all his little property was lost in the great South Sea Bubble of 1720. A grandson was Bishop

Richard Mant Richard Mant (12 February 1776 – 2 November 1848) was an English churchman who became a bishop in Ireland. He was a prolific writer, his major work being a ''History of the Church of Ireland''. s:Mant, Richard (DNB00) Life He was born at ...

of Down and Dromore. He is buried in the churchyard of St Swithun's, Headbourne Worthy.

References

;Attribution *

External links

*
Works by Joseph Bingham at the Post Reformation Digital Library
1668 births 1723 deaths Alumni of University College, Oxford Fellows of University College, Oxford People from Wakefield People educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield Historians of Christianity British historians of religion {{christianity-historian-stub