William Whitaker (theologian)

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William Whitaker

William Whitaker (* 1548 in Holme, Borough of Burnley ; † December 4, 1595 ) was an English Reformed theologian and professor in Cambridge .

Life

Whitaker was the third son of Thomas Whitaker and Elizabeth Nowell. At first he was likely to attend school at home, then he was sent to live with his uncle, Alexander Nowell, the pastor at St Paul's Cathedral in London . In 1564 at the age of 16 he went to Cambridge, where he was able to attend Trinity College thanks to financial support from his uncle . In gratitude, Whitaker dedicated his Greek translation of the Book of Common Prayer to Nowell . He was an avid student of John Whitgift . He was installed as a canon in Norwich Cathedral on February 3, 1578 , and in the same year was admitted to Oxford on July 14 . In 1580 he was appointed Regius Professor of Theology at Cambridge by the Crown.

In 1582 he took part in a disputation, where he defended the thesis that the Roman Pope was the Antichrist. In his lectures as a professor, which were co-written by John Allenson, he refuted Roman Catholic theologians such as Robert Bellarmin ( Disputationes ) and Thomas Stapleton . His work "Disputatio de Sacra Scriptura contra hujus temporis papistas, inprimis Robertum Bellarminum" from 1588 is one of the first Reformed teachings on the Holy Scriptures of an Englishman. For him, Scripture alone was the authority of faith and practice.

On February 28, 1586, Whitaker, on the recommendation of Whitgift and Burghley, was given the direction of St. John's College by the Crown. In 1593 he should also take over the leadership of Trinity College and the bishoprics of Bath and Wells , but this failed. On April 18, 1594 he published "De Authoritate Scripturae" with a dedication to Whitgift, which could be seen as an answer to the Catholic Stapleton. Shortly before his death in 1595, he became a canon at Canterbury in May . With Humphrey Gower, President of Queens' College, he was seconded to represent the Lambeth Articles, but this was unsuccessful. He returned disappointed and ill to Cambridge, where he died on December 4, 1595.

Lambeth article

Lambeth articles are theological doctrinal statements that determine the position of the Church of England primarily on the question of predestination . The Lambeth Articles took a clearly Calvinist standpoint, postulating that God alone chooses individuals according to His will, regardless of human works. The Lambeth articles were supported by Archbishop John Whitgift, but of Queen I. Elisabeth attacked.

Private

His first wife was Laurence Chaderton. His second wife, who survived him, was Dudley Fenner's widow. He had eight children; one of his sons, Alexander Whitaker, who was educated at Trinity College, later known as the "Apostle of Virginia" and had baptized Pocahontas . Another son, Jabez, was one of the early planters in Jamestown , Virginia, and has welcomed newcomers to America.

Fonts

  • Liber Precum publicarum Ecclesiae Anglicanae ... Latine Græceque æditus , London 1569. Greek verses from Carr's 'Demosthenes' added 1571.
  • Κατηχισμός, ... τἢτε 'Ελλήνων καὶ τἢ' Ρωμαίων διαλέκτῳ ὲκδοθεἷσα , London, 1573, 1574, 1578, 1673 (Greek version by Whitaker, Latin by Alexander Nowell).
  • Ioannis Iuelli Sarisbur ... adversus Thomam Hardingum volumen alterum ex Anglico sermone conversum , London 1578.
  • Ad decem rationes Edmundi Campiani ... Christiana Responsio , London, 1581. Translation by Richard Auf, London 1606.
  • These proposita ... in Academia Cantabrigiensi die Comitiorum anno Domini 1582; cujus summa haec, Pontifex Romanus est seine Antichristus , London 1582.
  • Responsionis ... defensio contra confutationem Ioannis Duraei Scoti, presbyteri Iesuitse , London 1583.
  • Nicolai sanderi Quadraginta demonstrationes, Quod Papa non-est Antichristus individuelle insignis ... et earundem demonstrationum solida Refutatio , London 1583.
  • Fragmenta veterum haereseon ad constituendam Ecclesiæ Pontificiae ἀποστασίαν collecta , London 1583.
  • Disputatio de Sacra Scriptura contra hujus temporis papistas, inprimis Robertum Bellarminum ... et Thomam Stapletonum ... sex quaestionibus proposita et tractata , Cambridge 1588.
  • Adversus Tho. Stapletoni Anglopapistæ ... defensionem ecclesiasticae authoritatis ... duplicatio pro authoritate atque αύτοπιστίᾳ S. Scripturae , Cambridge 1594.
  • Praelectiones in quibus tractatur controversia de ecclesia contra pontificios, inprimis Robertum Bellarminum Iesuitam, in septem qusestiones Distributa , Ed. John Allenson, Cambridge 1599 and Hanau 1608.
  • Cygnea Cantio ... hoc est, ultima illius concio ad clerum, habita Cantabrigiæ anno 1595 , Cambridge 1599.
  • Controversia de Conciliis, contra pontificios, inprimis Robertum Bellarminum Iesuitam, in sex quaestiones Distributa , Cambridge 1600.
  • Tractatus de peccato originali ... contra Stapletonum , Cambridge 1600.
  • Aliquot praelectiones contra Bellarminum habitæ . In: Conr. Decker De proprietatibus Iesuitarum , Oppenheim 1611.
  • A dversus universalis Gratiae assertores prælectio in 1 Tim. ii. 4. In: Pet. Baro der Summa Triurn de praedestinatione Sententiarum , Harderwyk 1613.
  • Prælectiones de Sacramentis in Genere et in Specie de. SS. Baptismo et Eucharistia , Frankfurt 1624.
  • Articuli de praedestinatione ... Lambethæ propositi et L. Andrews de iisdem Iudicium , London 1651.

Individual evidence

  1. a b James Bass Mullingar, Whitaker, William (1548-1595) in the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 61 on Wikisource.
predecessor Office successor
William Chaderton Regius Professur of Divinity
1580 - 1595
John Overall