Thomas Goodwin
Thomas Goodwin (
Early life
He studied at Cambridge from August 1613.[2] He was an undergraduate of Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating with a B.A. in 1616.[3]
In 1619 he removed to
Dissenter
Worried by his bishop, who was a zealous adherent of
Puritan leader
In 1643 he was chosen a member of the Westminster Assembly, and at once identified himself with the Independent party, generally referred to in contemporary documents as the "dissenting brethren" and was one of the authors of An Apologeticall Narration. He frequently preached by appointment before the Commons, and in January 1650 his talents and learning were rewarded by the House with the presidency of Magdalen College, Oxford, a post which he held until the Restoration of 1660.[7]
In December 1655 Goodwin attended the Whitehall Conference on the resettlement on the Jews, where he (with fellow Independent Philip Nye) argued for readmittance on the grounds that England was being punished by God for not readmitting the Jews, which was necessary for their conversion.[8] He was chaplain to Oliver Cromwell from 1656.[citation needed] He rose into high favour with Cromwell, and was one of his intimate advisers, attending him on his death-bed.[7]
He was also a commissioner for the inventory of the Westminster Assembly, 1650, and for the approbation of preachers, 1653, and together with
From 1660 until his death, he lived in London, in the parish of St Bartholomew-the-Great, and devoted himself exclusively to theological study and to the pastoral charge of the Fetter Lane Independent Church.[7] By the early 1670s he was in poor health, and he eventually died on 23 February 1680 ["An Exposition of Ephesians, Chapter 1 to 2:10"]. He was buried in Bunhill Fields burial ground: the Latin epitaph for his tomb, composed by Thomas Gilbert, was censored.
Works
The works published by Goodwin during his lifetime consist chiefly of sermons printed by order of the House of Commons. He was also associated with Philip Nye and others[9] in the preparation of the Apologeticall Narration (1643).[7]
In 1645 Goodwin published his treatise The Heart of Christ in Heaven towards Sinners on Earth, which was quickly reprinted, and translated into German. This work has been claimed to be an inspiration for the Roman Catholic devotion to the Sacred Heart.[10]
Five volumes of his sermons and other works were published from 1682 to 1704. They have been reprinted at least 47 times.[citation needed] His collected writings, which include expositions of the Epistle to the Ephesians and of the Apocalypse, were published in five folio volumes between 1681 and 1704, and were reprinted in twelve 8vo volumes (Edinburgh, 1861–1866).[7]
Edmund Calamy the Elder's estimated Goodwin's qualities as "a considerable scholar and an eminent divine, and had a very happy faculty in descanting upon Scripture so as to bring forth surprising remarks, which yet generally tended to illustration."[7]
A memoir, derived from his own papers, by his son Thomas Goodwin the Younger, Independent minister and author of the History of the Reign of Henry V, is prefixed to the fifth volume of his collected works. As a patriarch and Atlas of Independency he is also noticed by Anthony Wood in the Athenae Oxonienses.[7]
An amusing sketch, from Joseph Addison's point of view, of the austere and somewhat fanatical president of Magdalen, is preserved in No. 494 of The Spectator.[7]
References
- ^ Society and Puritanism in Pre-Revolutionary England (1969 edition), p. 30.
- ^ PDF Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, p. 4. "Thomas Goodwin (GDWN614T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. has Goodwin matriculating in April 1614
- ^ Concise Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ "Thomas Goodwin (GDWN614T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 239.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 239–240.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Chisholm 1911, p. 240.
- ISBN 9780521651141
- ^ Sidrach Simpson, Jeremiah Burroughs, William Bridge.[1]
- ^ Cook, P. Thomas Goodwin - Mystic? in Diversities of Gifts Westminster Conference 1980, pp45-56
Attribution:
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Goodwin, Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 239–240.
Further reading
- Jones, Mark (2010). Why Heaven Kissed Earth: The Christology of the Puritan Reformed Orthodox theologian, Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 978-3525569054.
- Lawrence, T. M. (2008) [2004]. "Goodwin, Thomas (1600–1680)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. . (subscription required)
External links
- Works by Thomas Goodwin at Post-Reformation Digital Library
- Sermons by Thomas Goodwin
- Works by Thomas Goodwin at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Biography from puritansermons.com, also [2]
- A blog devoted to Thomas Goodwin's writings and thought
- An index to literature by and about Goodwin from newble.co.uk
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