Thomas Cartwright

Thomas Cartwright

Thomas Cartwright (* 1535 in Hertfordshire , † December 27, 1603 in Warwick ) was an English representative of Presbyterian Puritanism .

Life

Thomas Cartwright studied at St John's College (Cambridge) and became professor of theology there in 1569 . He denied the right of the Anglican episcopate and called for a presbyterial parish constitution. During the reign of Queen Mary I Tudor of England he had to leave Cambridge , but was able to return to his theological studies after her sister, Queen Elizabeth I , acceded to the throne . He stayed as a lecturer at Cambridge and became a well-known critic of the Church of England's episcopal system . In 1571 the future Archbishop of Canterbury , John Whitgift , drove Cartwright from Cambridge. Cartwright went to Ghent and when he returned to England in 1572 he became involved in the publication of the Admonition to Parliament . To avoid arrest, he returned to the continent , where he was pastor of the English colony in exile in Antwerp. In 1584 Cartwright returned to England. He was arrested twice, but was always released after the intervention of high-ranking supporters. In his writings, Cartwright advocated a church whose autonomous church council should be led by freely elected pastors and elders. This plan intervened in the established structure of the state church. Cartwright did not go as far as the extreme puritans , the barrowists, and the brownists . From 1595–98 he lived in Guernsey with the governor of the island, his friend, and from 1601 in his beloved hospital in Warwick.

literature

• AF Scott Pearson: Thomas Cartwright and Elizabethan Puritanism, 1925
• JD Douglas and Earle E. Cairns: The International Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1974
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Cartwright, Thomas. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 943-944.

Web links

• Thomas Cartwright in nndb (English)