Thomas Belsham
Thomas Belsham (26 April 1750 – 11 November 1829) was an English Unitarian minister.
Life
Belsham was born in
Belsham remained at Essex Street, in gradually failing health, until his death in Hampstead, on 11 November 1829.
Beliefs
Belsham's beliefs reflect that transition that the Unitarian movement was going through during his lifetime, particularly from the early Bible-fundamentalist views of earlier English Unitarians like Henry Hedworth (who introduced the word "Unitarian" into print in English from Dutch sources in 1673) and John Biddle, to the more Bible-critical positions of Priestley's generation. Belsham adopted critical ideas on the Pentateuch by 1807, the Gospels by 1819, and Genesis by 1821.[3] Later, following Priestley, Belsham was to dismiss the virgin birth as "no more entitled to credit, than the fables of the Koran, or the reveries of Swedenborg." (1806)[4]
Works
Belsham's first work of importance, Review of Mr Wilberforces Treatise entitled Practical View (1798), was written after his conversion to Unitarianism. His most popular work was the Evidences of Christianity; the most important was his translation and exposition of the Epistles of St Paul (1822). He was also the author of a work on philosophy, Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind (1801), which is entirely based on Hartley's psychology.[1]
In 1812 Belsham published the Memoirs of the Late Reverend
His main Christological work was A Calm Inquiry into the Scripture Doctrine concerning the Person of Christ (1817).[5]
Belsham was one of the most vigorous and able writers of his church, and the Quarterly Review and Gentlemans Magazine of the early years of the 19th century abound in evidences that his abilities were recognized by his opponents.[6]
[Thomas Belsham et al.,] The New Testament, An improved version upon the basis of Archbishop Newcome's new translation with a corrected text and notes critical and explanatory. London: Richard Taylor & Co., 1808. Boston 1809.[7]
Notes
- ^ a b c Chisholm 1911, p. 711.
- ^ "Thomas Gibson & Thomas Field Gibson". Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ^ "But by 1807, Belsham had already concluded that the Pentateuch was of composite authorship; by 1819, he had doubts about the present form of the gospels, and by 1821, he had concluded that the account of Creation in Genesis was ..." (Webb 2000, p. 120).
- ^ "Compare Richard Wright, the celebrated Unitarian missionary, An Essay on the Miraculous Conception of Jesus Christ (London, 1808)" (Webb 2000, p. 120 cf ref 22 p. 423).
- ^ Belsham, T. (1817) [1811]. A Calm Inquiry into the Scripture Doctrine concerning the Person of Christ (Second ed.). London: The Unitarian Society. [Reprint: Morrisville, North Carolina: Lulu.com, 2009.]
- ^ Humphreys 1885, p. 203.
- ^ bible-researcher.com Belsham Archived February 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
References
- Humphreys, Jennett (1885). . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 4. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 202–203.
- Webb, R. K. (2000). "Miracles in English Unitarian Thought Essay". In Micale, Mark S.; Dietle, Robert L.; Gay, Peter (eds.). Enlightenment, passion, modernity: historical essays in European thought and culture.
Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Belsham, Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 711.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
