Joseph Benson
Joseph Benson | |
---|---|
Thomas Taylor | |
Succeeded by | Charles Atmore |
Personal details | |
Born | 26 January 1749 Kirkoswald, Cumberland |
Died | 16 February 1821 | (aged 72)
Occupation | Methodist minister |
Joseph Benson (26 January 1749 – 16 February 1821) was an early English Methodist minister, one of the leaders of the movement during the time of Methodism's founder John Wesley.
Life
The son of John Benson and Isabella Robinson, his wife, he was born on 26 January 1749, in the parish of
Aged 15, Benson opened a small school in
Benson went in 1769 to
With a presentation to
In a clash with Thomas Coke of 1780, Benson found he had been called a heretic. Wesley managed to smooth over the affair. The contentious matter of the mid-1790s, of Methodist ministers and the sacrament, saw Benson opposed by others such as John Murlin, who disagreed with his view that Methodists should take it in Anglican churches.[3] Benson was a vocal critic of women preachers and he spoke out against Mary Taft.[4]
In 1803, Benson became editor of the Methodist Magazine, and held the post for the rest of his life.[3][5]
Benson was
Works
Benson was an apologist for Methodism, as seen in:[1]
- Defence of the Methodists in Five Letters to the Rev. Dr. Tatham (1793), addressed to Edward Tatham;
- A sequel, A Farther Defence, in five letters to the Rev. William Russell, in answer to his Hints to the Methodists and Dissenters, and to which Russell again replied;[7]
- Vindication of the People called Methodists, in answer to a report from the Clergy of a district in the Diocese of Lincoln (1800); and
- Inspector of Methodism inspected, and the Christian Observer observed (1803), a reply to William Hales.
Benson crossed swords with
Other writings were:[1]
- A Demonstration of the Want of Common Sense in the New Testament Writers, on the Supposition of their believing and teaching Socinianism (1791), which was appended to Fletcher's Socinianism Unscriptural;
- Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments ... with Notes, Critical, Explanatory, and Practical, 2nd edition, 1811–18, 5 vols.
- "Sermons on Various Occasions, Most of them on the Principal Subjects of Genuine Christianity", 1814
Family
Benson married Sarah Thompson at Leeds, 28 January 1780. They had at least two sons.[3]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1885). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 4. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ISBN 978-0-19-160743-1.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2142. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ "Mary Barritt Taft · Fifty Women · Bridwell Library Special Collections Exhibitions". bridwell.omeka.net. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19568. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 9780862924188. UOM:39015032179791.
- ^ Robert Watt (1824). Bibliotheca Britannica, Or a General Index to British and Foreign Literature. Constable. p. 823.
- ^ Gavin Budge et al. (editors), The Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Philosophers (2002), Thoemmes Press (two volumes), article Benson, Joseph, p. 83–4.
- ^ The Life of Joseph Benson: Abridged from Authentic Sources. J. Emory and B. Waugh. 1832. p. 44.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1885). "Benson, Joseph". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 4. London: Smith, Elder & Co.