John Biddle (Unitarian)

John Biddle , also John Bidle , (born January 14, 1615 in Wotton-under-Edge , Gloucestershire , † September 22, 1662 in London ) was an English theologian and preacher. Biddle founded the English Unitarianism and is accordingly also referred to as the father of the English Unitarians.

life and work

John Biddle studied at Magdalen College of Oxford University and was subsequently director of the Crypt Grammar School in Gloucester . It was at this time that Biddle was delving into the study of the Bible and came to the conclusion that the Trinity was unbiblical. In 1644 he published the work Twelve Arguments from Scripture , in which publicly criticized the dogma of the Trinity . Because of the time as heretical respected anti-Trinitarian statements, he was appointed in 1645 before a parliamentary committee and eventually arrested. He was only able to leave the prison on bail a year later. However, the publication of further Unitarian writings brought another parliamentary inquiry. Under pressure from the Westminster Synod , which was meeting at the time of the English Civil War , he was threatened with the death penalty. John Owen in particular attacked him. However, influential friends enabled Biddle to live relatively freely under supervision in Staffordshire until 1652. Biddle found support among others in Henry Vane , who spoke out for him in the House of Commons . The writing England's New-Chaines , with which the Levellers spoke out in favor of freedom of expression in 1649, also had a supportive effect . In 1652 he was arrested again for a short time and only released after an amnesty law, the Act of Oblivion of 1652, was released.

After his release, Biddle finally began to establish a Unitarian congregation and hold Sunday services under the protection of Oliver Cromwell . The group around Biddle was called Unitarians, Sozzinians or also as Bidllenians ( Biddellians ). After Biddle had translated Samuel Przypkowski's biography of Fausto Sozzini from Latin into English in 1653 and wrote two Unitarian catechisms in 1654, he was summoned before Parliament again in December 1654 and arrested. His catechisms were burned in public. In October 1655, Cromwell finally exiled him on the Cornish Scilly Isles , outside the jurisdiction of the English Parliament. After his return to London in 1662 he worked again as a Unitarian preacher, but was arrested again and died in prison in London in September of the same year.

theology

John Biddle is best known as the founder of English Unitarianism. Theologically he was close to Socinianism . Biddle negated the Trinity , the pre-existence of Christ, and the idea of original sin .

literature

• Joshua Toulmin: A review of the life, character and writings of the Rev. John Biddle . J. Johnson, London 1789.

Web links

• John Biddle in nndb (English)
• Encycolædia Britannica on John Biddle
• Biography of the Unitarian Church in Ipswich