Theophilus Lindsey

Portrait of Theophilus Lindsey

Tomb of Theophilus Lindsey in the English Nonconformist Cemetery, Bunhill Fields

Theophilus Lindsey (born June 9 ^{. Jul} / 20th June  1723 ^greg. In Middlewich , † 3. November 1808 in London ) was an English theologian and a leading proponent of early English Unitarianism .

Live and act

Lindsey was in 1723 in Middlewich in the county of Cheshire born. He studied at St John's College of the University of Cambridge Theology. From 1754 to 1756 he accompanied the young Duke of Northumberland as an educator on a trip to the European continent. In 1760 he married Hannah Elsworth, stepdaughter of Francis Blackburne . The couple had no children together. In 1763 he moved to Catterick in Yorkshire , where he founded one of the first Sunday schools in England around 1764 .

By this time Lindsey had already begun to grapple with anti-Trinitarian views. In 1771 he appealed to Parliament , students of state universities and pastors of the Church of England , together with among others the theologian Francis Blackburne and the political reformer John Jebb, with a petition to the signing of the Thirty-Nine Articles , which among other things a Confession of the Trinity included to liberate and instead to be allowed to interpret the script as Protestants independently. The petition against the 39 articles received a total of 250 signatures, but was rejected by parliament in February 1772. Disappointed by the rejection, Lindsey resigned as Vicar of the Anglican Church in 1773 .

Lindsey openly turned to Unitarianism and began conducting the first Unitarian services in London's Essex Street in April 1774, with the support of Joseph Priestley and Richard Price . These assemblies became the nucleus of English Unitarianism. The Essex Street Chapel is still owned by the English Unitarians . Lindsey led the young Unitarian congregation until 1793, when he was replaced as the leader of the congregation by John Disney, who like him had left the established Anglican Church. In 1783, Lindsey was involved with John Disney in founding the Unitarian Society for Promoting the Knowledge of the Scriptures .

Theophilus Lindsey died on November 3, 1808 and was buried in the English Nonconformist Cemetery, Bunhill Fields .

Works

• Apology on Resigning the Vicarage of Catterick (1774)
• Sequel to the Apology (1776)
• The Book of Common Prayer, reformed according to the plan of the late Dr Samuel Clarke (1774)
• Dissertations on the Preface to St John's Gospel and on praying to Jesus Christ (1779)
• An Historical View of the State of the Unitarian Doctrine and Worship from the Reformation to our own Times (1783, considered Lindsey's main work)
• Vindiciae Priestleianae (1788)
• Conversations upon Christian Idolatry (1792)
• Conversations on the Divine Government, shewing that everything is from God, and for good, to all (1802).

literature

• GM Ditchfield: Theophilus Lindsey: From Anglican to Unitarian. Dr. Williams's Trust 1998, ISBN 978-0852170618

Web links

• Biography of Theophilus Lindsey