James Martineau

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Martineau

James Martineau (born April 21, 1805 in Norwich , †  January 11, 1900 in London ) was an English philosopher and theologian of Unitarianism and one of the most famous English religious philosophers of the 19th century.

Life

Martineau was born in Norwich on April 21, 1805. After his school days in Norwich (1815 to 1819) he studied history, geography, mathematics and biblical criticism with Lant Carpenter (1780 to 1840) in Bristol and then attended the Unitarian Manchester College (then in York ), where he was v. a. influenced and promoted by Charles Wellbeloved (biblical criticism) and William Turner (mathematics). In 1828 Martineau was called as a Unitarian clergyman, initially to Dublin , where his uncle was the head of the Unitarian community. (James Martineau, however, personally opposed the designation “Unitarians” and instead wanted to see himself referred to as “Presbyterian” or “Sub-Christian”.) His open advocacy of Catholic emancipation caused a great stir in Ireland .

From 1832 to 1857 he was active as a Unitarian clergyman in Liverpool with a significant effect on the intellectual life of England, and from 1840 he also taught philosophy at Manchester College (which had been relocated from York to Manchester ). When the college was relocated to London in 1857, he moved with it and was then a full-time teacher at the college. In 1872 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In the same year his public discussion with John Tyndall on questions of the (materialistically understood) natural sciences and the theory of evolution, in which Martineau took the opinion that matter could not be regarded as the sole basis for scientific knowledge, received much attention .

Martineau was a student of the Aristotelian Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg during a study visit to Berlin , initially represented a materialistic determinism in the sense of David Hartley and Joseph Priestley and was philosophically influenced by James Mill and Thomas Brown . From 1839 onwards he rejected determinism as incompatible with Christianity and advocated a philosophical theism that proceeded from a dualism between psychological phenomena and expressions of the will, which the latter refer back to God, who in each case realizes the ethically higher value in human moral action. During his lifetime, Martineau was considered to be one of the most influential theologians and religious philosophers in the Anglo-Saxon region, even beyond the borders of his community, and was compared in this respect to Cardinal Newman , who was about the same age .

Martineau died in London on January 11, 1900.

James Martineau, George Frederic Watts , 1873

Fonts

In addition to scientific works on the philosophy of religion in his function as a Unitarian clergyman, Martineau also published sermons and other liturgical texts that were reprinted several times. He was a co-founder of the Irish Unitarian Society and for a time one of the editors of The Christian Teacher magazine .

Major works:

  • A Collection of Hymns for Christian Worship. Dublin 1831 (including five hymns by his sister, the poet Harriet Martineau ).
  • Hymns for the Christian church and home. 1840.
  • Studies of Christianity. 1858
  • A world for scientific theology. 1868
  • A Study of Spinoza. 1882.
  • Types of ethical theory. 1885.
  • A study of religion its sources and contents. 1888.
  • The seat of authority in religion. 1890.
  • Essays, Reviews and Addresses. 4 volumes. Collected and reissued 1890–1891.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Martineau, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British pastor and theologian of Unitarianism
DATE OF BIRTH April 21, 1805
PLACE OF BIRTH Norwich
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 1900
Place of death London