John Biddle (Unitarian)

:"See also: John Biddle (Michigan)"

John Biddle or Bidle (born Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, England, January 14, 1615 – died September 22, 1662) was an influential English nontrinitarian, and Unitarian. He is often called "the Father of English Unitarianism"Christopher Hill, "Milton and the English Revolution", p. 290.] [ [http://www.theopenmind.org.uk/heritage/History/England.html] , [http://www.bartleby.com/65/un/Unitarnsm.html] , [http://www.nndb.com/people/073/000094788/] , [http://www.ccg.org/english/S/P170.html] , [http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/religion/UUCH/history.htm] , [http://www.exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/socinians.html] ] .

Life

He studied at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, taking an M. A. in 1641"Concise Dictionary of National Biography"] . At the age of twenty-six, he became headmaster of the Crypt Grammar School, Gloucester.The school had links to Gloucester Cathedral, and since he was obliged to teach his pupils according to the Catechism of the Church of England, he immersed himself in the study of the Bible. He concluded from his studies that the doctrine of the Trinity was not supported by the Bible, and set about publishing his own views on the nature of God.

He was imprisoned in Gloucester in 1645 for his viewsdummy] , but released on bail.He was imprisoned by Parliament in 1646. In 1647, while he was still a prisoner, his tract "Twelve Arguments Drawn Out of Scripture" was published. Henry Vane defended Biddle in the House of Commons, and he was released on bail in 1648dummy] . After a short while he was again imprisoned, in Newgate, where he remained until amnestied by the 1652 Act of Obliviond] . Bidle and the MP John Fry, who had tried to aid him, were supported by the 1649 Leveller pamphlet "Englands New Chaines Discovered" [Hill, Milton, p. 293.] . He was strongly attacked by John Owen.

In 1654-5 he was again in trouble with Parliament, which ordered his book "A Two-fold Catechism" seized [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36731 Guibon Goddard's Journal - January 1654-5 | British History Online ] ] ; Oliver Cromwell exiled him to the Scilly Isles. He was released in 1658 [Hill, "Change and Continuity in Seventeenth-Century England", p. 267.] . He was imprisoned once more, and became ill, leading to his deathd] .

A biography of Biddle by Joshua Toulmin was published in 1789.

Views

He "denounced original sin" [Hill, Milton, p. 313.] , denied eternal punishment [Hill, "The World Turned Upside Down", p. 177.] , and translated a mortalist tract [Hill, Milton, p. 320.] . He condemned the Ranters [Hill, "A Nation of Change and Novelty", p. 189.] .

He is believed to have translated the Racovian Catechism into English. [Hill, Milton p. 294, thinks this is probably the case, but adds that Biddle was "not exactly a Socinian", something he was often accused of being.] He denied that the Bible was the Word of God [Hill, "The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution", p. 235. Hill considers Biddle narrowly escaped the death penalty on this matter.] .

Notes

External links

* [http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc02/htm/iv.v.lxxxviii.htm "Schaff" article]
* [http://home.pacific.net.au/~amaxwell/biddle/biddlbio.htm, Biography, taken from a Biblical Unitarian source]
* [http://www.gadarg.org.uk/essays/e008.htm, Biography, Gloucester amd District Archaeological Group]