Herbert Marsh

Herbert Marsh (1757 - 1839) was a bishop in the Church of England.

Life

He was educated at Cambridge University in St. John's College, where he was elected a fellow in 1779. He studied with J. D. Michaelis in Germany and learned the Higher criticism.

When he returned to England, he translated Michaelis's "Introduction to the New Testament" and added his own "hypothesis" on the inter-reliance of the Gospels (that they might have derived from each other, see synoptic problem). This brought him under attack from the conservatives of his church.

In 1805 he began to preach against Calvinism, and in particular against the doctrines of justification by faith and the inamissability of grace, which brought him into conflict with the Evangelicals. He was elected the Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at Cambridge in 1807 and began presenting lectures on Higher Criticism. In 1819 he was appointed the bishop of Llandaff and was translated to bishopric of Peterborough in 1822.

As a bishop, Marsh was controversial for preaching against the Evangelicals and for refusing to license clergy with Calvinist beliefs (for which he incurred the ire of Sidney Smith). He was a rigorous proponent of strict ecclesiastical conformity.