![John Pearson Escutcheon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/John_Pearson_Escutcheon.png)
John Pearson (28 February 1613 – 16 July 1686) was an English theologian and scholar.
Life
He was born at
Great Snoring
Great Snoring is a rural village in North Norfolk by the River Stiffkey, in the east of England. It is situated approximately north-west from the city and county town of Norwich, and north from the larger village of Little Snoring.
At th ...
, Norfolk.
From
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...
he passed to
Queens' College, Cambridge, and was elected a scholar of
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...
in April 1632, and a fellow in 1634. On taking orders in 1639 he was collated to the
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
prebend of
Nether-Avon. In 1640 he was appointed chaplain to the lord-keeper Finch, by whom he was presented to the living of Thorington in Suffolk. In the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
he acted as chaplain to
George Goring's forces in the west. In 1654 he was made weekly preacher at St Clement's,
Eastcheap
Eastcheap is a street in central London that is a western continuation of Great Tower Street towards Monument junction. Its name derives from ''cheap'', the Old English word for market, with the prefix 'East' distinguishing it from Westcheap, ...
, in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
With
Peter Gunning
Peter Gunning (1614 – 6 July 1684) was an English Royalist church leader, Bishop of Chichester and Bishop of Ely.
Life
He was born at Hoo St Werburgh, in Kent, and educated at The King's School, Canterbury and Clare College, Cambridge, wher ...
he disputed against two
Roman Catholics,
John Spenser
John Spenser (1559–1614) was an English academic, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
Life
He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, and Temple Beth-El.
After graduating he became Greek reader in Corpus Christi College, a ...
and
John Lenthall, on the subject of
schism, a one-sided account of which was printed in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
by one of the Roman Catholic disputants, under the title ''Scisme Unmask't'' (1658). Pearson also argued against the
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
party, and was much interested in
Brian Walton's polyglot
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 ...
. In 1659 he published in London his celebrated
Exposition of the Creed, dedicated to his parishioners of St Clement's, Eastcheap, to whom the substance of the work had been preached several years before. For example, in relation to the
Christian cross, he wrote in his commentary on the
Apostles' Creed
The Apostles' Creed (Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith".
The creed most likely originated in 5th-century ...
that the Greek word ''stauros'' originally signified "a straight standing Stake, Pale, or Palisador", but that, "when other transverse or prominent parts were added in a perfect Cross, it retained still the Original Name", and he declared: "The Form then of the Cross on which our Saviour suffered was not a simple, but a compounded, Figure, according to the Custom of the ''Romans'', by whose Procurator he was condemned to die. In which there was not only a straight and erected piece of Wood fixed in the Earth, but also a transverse Beam fastned unto that towards the top thereof".
Soon after the Restoration he was presented by
Juxon,
Bishop of London
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, to the rectory of St Christopher-le-Stocks; and in 1660 he was created doctor of divinity at Cambridge, appointed a royal chaplain, prebendary of
Ely,
archdeacon of Surrey, and
Master
Master or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
* Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans
*Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...
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 ...
. In 1661 he was appointed
Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity
The Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity is the oldest professorship at the University of Cambridge. It was founded initially as a readership by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, in 1502. Since its re-endowment at the end o ...
; and on the first day of the ensuing year he was nominated one of the commissioners for the review of the liturgy in the conference held at the Savoy. There he won the esteem of his opponents and high praise from Richard Baxter. On 14 April 1662 he was made Master of
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
. In 1667 he was admitted a fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
.
Upon the death of John Wilkins in 1672, Pearson was appointed
bishop of Chester
The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York.
The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the ...
. He died at Chester on 16 July 1686, and is buried in
Chester Cathedral
Chester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral and the mother church of the Diocese of Chester. It is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. The cathedral, formerly the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint ...
.
Theology
According to
Margaret Drabble, Pearson was one of the most erudite theologians of his age. Pearson's ''
Exposition of the Creed'', is considered one of the best products of English
dogmatic theology
Dogmatic theology, also called dogmatics, is the part of theology dealing with the theoretical truths of faith concerning God and God's works, especially the official theology recognized by an organized Church body, such as the Roman Catholic Ch ...
.
His
soteriological
Soteriology (; el, wikt:σωτηρία, σωτηρία ' "salvation" from wikt:σωτήρ, σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and wikt:λόγος, λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of Doctrine, religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation ...
views are discussed among scholars: Nicholas Tyacke have noted that Pearson, maintained the
Arminian view of
conditional election
In Christian theology, conditional election is the belief that God chooses for eternal salvation those whom he foresees will have faith in Christ. This belief emphasizes the importance of a person's free will. The counter-view is known as uncond ...
, in his ''Lectiones de Deo et Attributis'' (1660). On the other hand, Jake Griesel and Stephen Hampton have observed that Pearson upheld a
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
position on the doctrines of election and grace both in his ''
Exposition
Exposition (also the French for exhibition) may refer to:
*Universal exposition or World's Fair
* Expository writing
** Exposition (narrative)
* Exposition (music)
*Trade fair
A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade e ...
'' (1659) and his Cambridge lectures, and did so explicitly against the
Arminians
Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Rem ...
or
Remonstrants (''contra Remonstrantes, sive eos quos Arminianos vocant'').
[Cf. John Pearson, ''The Minor Theological Works of John Pearson'', ed. Edward Churton, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1844), 243–67; idem]
''An Exposition of the Creed'', 4th ed.
(London, 1676), 27–29, 129, 168, 236, 282–83, 306, 327–30, 332, 356, 380, 390.
Works
In 1659 his ''Golden Remains'' of
John Hales of Eton, with a memoir, was published. Also in 1659 was published his ''
Exposition of the Creed'' in which the lectures which were given at the church of St Clement, Eastcheap, London, were included. (The notes are a rich mine of patristic learning.) In 1672 he published at Cambridge ''Vindiciae epistolarum S. Ignatii'', in 4to, in answer to
Jean Daillé
Jean Daillé ( Dallaeus) (6 January 1594–15 April 1670) was a French Huguenot minister and Biblical commentator. He is mentioned in James Aitken Wylie's ''History of Protestantism'' as author of an ''Apology for the French Reformed Churches''.
L ...
. His defence of the authenticity of the letters of Ignatius has been confirmed by
J. B. Lightfoot and other scholars. In 1682 his ''Annales cyprianici'' were published at Oxford, with
John Fell's edition of
Cyprian
Cyprian (; la, Thaschus Caecilius Cyprianus; 210 – 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Christ ...
's works. His last work, the ''Two Dissertations on the Succession and Times of the First Bishops of Rome'', formed with the ''Annales Paulini'' the principal part of his ''Opera posthuma'', edited by
Henry Dodwell
Henry Dodwell (October 16417 June 1711) was an Anglo-Irish scholar, theologian and controversial writer.
Life
Dodwell was born in Dublin in 1641. His father, William Dodwell, who lost his property in Connacht during the Irish rebellion, was ...
in 1688.
See the memoir in ''
Biographia Britannica
''Biographia Britannica'' was a multi-volume biographical compendium, "the most ambitious attempt in the latter half of the eighteenth century to document the lives of notable British men and women". The first edition, edited by William Oldys (16 ...
'', and another by
Edward Churton
Edward Churton (26 January 1800 – July 1874) was an English churchman and Spanish scholar.
Life
He was born on 26 January 1800 at Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire, the second son of Ralph Churton, archdeacon of St David's. He was educated a ...
, prefixed to the edition of Pearson's ''Minor Theological Works'' (2 vols., Oxford, 1844). Churton also edited almost the whole of the theological writings.
Notes and references
Citations
Sources
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;Attribution
External links
The Master of Trinityat
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, John
1613 births
1686 deaths
17th-century Church of England bishops
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge
Bishops of Chester
Burials at Chester Cathedral
Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge
Fellows of King's College, Cambridge
Fellows of the Royal Society
Lady Margaret's Professors of Divinity
Masters of Jesus College, Cambridge
Masters of Trinity College, Cambridge
People educated at Eton College
People from North Norfolk (district)
17th-century Anglican theologians