Thomas Bray (theologian)

Thomas Bray (* 1656 / 58 ; † 15. February 1730 ) was an English - British clergyman and abolitionist who build the Church of England in Maryland was involved and the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge and Society for the Propagation of the Co -founded Gospel in Foreign Parts .

Life

youth

Thomas Bray was born in Marton (Marton Crest), in what was then the Parish of Chirbury , Shropshire , in 1656 or 1658 in a house now known as Bray's Tenement and belonging to the Nicholls family. He received his education at Oswestry School and Oxford University where he earned a BA from All Souls College in 1678 and an MA from Hart Hall in 1693 . He also completed the work for a Bachelor of Divinity and a Doctor of Divinity at Magdalen College (December 17, 1696) on the orders of the Governor of Maryland , but did not have sufficient funds to pay the required fees.

service

After graduation and ordination, Bray returned to the Midlands and worked as a curate (assistant pastor) in Bridgnorth before becoming a chaplain (chaplain) of Sir Thomas Price's family in Warwickshire . Price also got Bray a job in Lea Marston , where his zeal and library caught the attention of a neighboring vicar, John Kettlewell of Coleshill . Kettlewell pointed out to Bray that the poverty of the country ministers meant that they could not read theological books, thereby spreading ignorance and hopelessness. Kettlewell also introduced Bray to Sir Charles Holt and Simon Digby, 4th Baron Digby , whose brother made Bray Vicar of Over Whitacre and, in 1690, Rector of St Giles' Church, Sheldon . In addition to his pastoral duties in Shelden, Bray wrote the first volume of his Catechetical Lectures . He dedicated it to the Bishop of Lichfield , William Lloyd .

The book sold well and attracted the attention of Henry Compton , Bishop of London . In 1696 Compton named Bray his commissioner for the Organization of the Church of England in the Colony of Maryland . Protestant rebels had deposed the Catholic "Proprietary Governor" Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore in the Protestant Revolution and in 1689 (the year after the Glorious Revolution in England) the British Crown abolished the function of "Proprietor Governor" and took over the stubborn one Colony. In Maryland there were already numerous parishes of the Church of England and an "experienced, unexceptionable priest" (experienced, impeccable priest) was sought to visit them. A reorganization, however, required both royal authorization and additional priests. Bray knew that clerics willing to take up positions overseas were often among the poorest and were rarely able to acquire theological literature. So he made his start on the spot dependent on the fact that he received funds to supply the parishes with books. And this educational mission was soon extended to the parishes (deanery) in England and Wales as the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (founded in March 1698). Meanwhile, the heir of the 3rd Baron Baltimore, Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore had fled to France because of his faith , but received a royal license to return to England in 1698.

England objected to the appointment of a commissioner, which delayed Bray's trip to Maryland and required a “resubmission of the act for His Majesty's assent”. It wasn't until 1699 that Bray sailed to Maryland with two enlisted priests. He began his library work by setting up libraries in the port cities of Gravesend , Deal and Plymouth in England before he left. When Bray left Maryland the following year, he had divided the colony's ten counties into 30 Anglican parishes in the Province of Maryland and established seventeen parish libraries. One of them, in the colony capital Annapolis , was partly financed by 400 silver pounds donated by Anna of Denmark . A total of ₤ 1,500 was used for this, which was raised by wealthy sponsors, including two archbishops and five bishops. Bray placed great emphasis on mission in the colonies, especially among slaves and Indians . But he left the colony very soon after he had completed the division of the Church of England in the colony by an Act of the Assembly 1700. He returned to England because the Quakers in the colony had lobbyists in England and were struggling to obtain a veto on this edict, which had already been successful twice before.

After returning to England in 1701, Bray published an expanded edition of his catechism and a report on the Church of England in North America, in which he refuted the arguments of the Quakers against organizing the church in the colony. However, Bray failed to get a bishop installed. But he made sure that a royal decree for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts came about.

His plan to set up Parish Libraries in England and America was a success: 80 libraries were set up in England and Wales during his lifetime, a royal decree was passed in 1709 to preserve the libraries and 39 libraries were established in the colonies. Bray had a vision that every parish in America should have its own library:

In order to purchase books for these libraries, inquiries must be made to the learned authors who are now living for copies of their books to be given, and to others, especially the merchants of the overseas Plantations, for money to be given, followed by a full report should be published. "

“These libraries were meant to spread the Church of England in the colonies, which is why they were mainly composed of theological books - an ambitious goal at a time when the other public libraries in the colonies were limited to a small number of universities . "

In 1706 Bray took the post of Rector of St Botolph's, Aldgate , a position he had turned down prior to his trip to Maryland. He spent the last decades of his life in service in this London parish and engaged in further philanthropic and literary activities until his death in February 1730. Visitors were particularly impressed by his catechism classes for disadvantaged children, which he held into old age, and his work among prisoners of Newgate Prison . There he held weekly beef and beer dinners and made proposals for prison reform. His last publication was a memorial book for John Rawlet of Newcastle, a friend of John Kettlewell.

Commemorative plaque in St Botolph's, Aldgate .

In 1723 Bray became seriously ill and worried that his evangelism work might stop. He formed a group of associates to continue the work. The group got a chancery charter soon after his death and publishes the annual report of its activities to this day.

Thomas Bray died on February 15 and was buried two days later in St. Botolph's Churchyard.

legacy

St. Botolph put a plaque in memory of Bray. In 1901 a plaque was unveiled in Chirbury. A contemporary described him as a "Big Little Man" of Bray's compassion for poor debtors and a plan to enable them to emigrate overseas and improve their living conditions caught the interest of General James Oglethorpe , who was two years after Bray's death received the royal charter to establish a colony in Georgia . The Episcopal Church , which received 50 libraries from Bray's society (17 of them in Maryland, Episcopal Diocese of Easton ), commemorates Bray with a memorial day in its saints calendar on the day of his death, February 15. The Special Collections Division of the University of Maryland retains much of its correspondence with officials of Maryland and the Diocese of Easton has named its administration building to Bray.

family

Bray had a wife and two children when he accepted the position at St. Botolph.

Works

• Bibliotheca parochialis or a scheme of such theological heads, 1697.
• Apostolick charity. 1698.
• Essay towards promoting all necessary and useful knowledge both divine and human, in all the parts of His Majesty's dominions, both at home and abroad. 1697.
• Proposals for the encouragement and promoting of religion. circa 1695.
• The acts of Dr Bray's visitation. 1700.
• A course of lectures.

literature

• Thomas Bray . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 4 : Bishārīn - Calgary . London 1910, p. 438 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
• Arthur Middleton: Thomas Bray . [1] .
• Helen West Ridgely: The Old Brick Churches of Maryland. New York, Anson DR Randolph & Co. 1894.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Gordon Dickins: An Illustrated Guide to Literary Shropshire. Shropshire Libraries 1987: 9, 102. ISBN 0-903802-37-6
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Thomas Bray (1656-1730) In: Dictionary of National Biography .
4. ↑ Middleton.
5. ↑ Middleton: 2.
6. ^ William D. Houlette: Parish Libraries and the Work of Reverend Thomas Bray. In: The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, 4, 13 March 2017, The University of Chicago Press.
7. ^ Ridgely 1894: 43.
8. ↑ Middleton: 3.
9. ^ Ridgely 1894: 48.
10. ^ Thomas Bray: A Memorial Representing the Present State of Religion, on the Continent of North America.
11. ↑ "To obtain books for these libraries, requests are to be made to the learned authors now living, to give copies of their books, and to others, especially merchants to the foreign plantations, to give money, of all of which there shall be a full account published. Bernard Steiner: Rev. Thomas Bray and His American Libraries. In: American Historical Review , October 1896, vol. 2, 1: 59–75. [jstor = 1833614 | doi = 10.2307 / 1833614]
12. ^ Bernard Steiner: Rev. Thomas Bray and His American Libraries. In: American Historical Review , October 1896, vol. 2, 1: 59-75. [jstor = 1833614 | doi = 10.2307 / 1833614]
13. ↑ Middleton: 5.
14. ^ Find-a-Grave, Thomas Bray .
15. ↑ "a Great Small Man." Glossary, Thomas Bray Episcopal Church.
16. ↑ Middleton: 4.

Web links

• Thomas Bray papers , Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.