John Davenant
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John Davenant (London, 20 May 1572- Salisbury, 20 April 1641) was an English academic and bishop of Salisbury from 1621.
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[edit] Life
He was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, elected a fellow there in 1597, and was its President from 1614 to 1621.[1] He was a representative for the Church of England at the Synod of Dort in 1618, along with Samuel Ward, Joseph Hall and George Carleton.
He later came into conflict with William Laud, who regarded him as a suspect Calvinist.
[edit] Views
At Dort there were divisions in the Anglican camp:
| “ | On the one hand Davenant, Ward and Martinius believed that Christ died for all particular men; Carleton, Goad, and Balcanquhall himself believed that Christ died only for the elect, who consisted of all sorts of men.[2] | ” |
A compromise pursued went in Davenant's direction. It has been said:
| “ | Davenant attempted to find a middle road between outright Arminianism and the supralapsarianism which some in England favored. He found in the theology of Saumur such a road and defended the Amyrauldian views of hypothetical universalism, a general atonement in the sense of intention as well as sufficiency, a common blessing of the cross, and a conditional salvation. All these views stood in close connection with the theology of the well-meant offer of salvation to all.[3] | ” |
Davenant sympathised with the aims of John Dury, as far as unifying Protestantism went, and wrote in his favour, a piece subsequently quoted by Gerard Brandt[4].
On the topic of predestination, he engaged in controversy with the Arminian Anglican Samuel Hoard.
Davenant's "Dissertation on the Death of Christ" was translated into English from Latin in 1831 by Josiah Allport and published as an appendix to his commentary on the Letter of Paul to the Colossians. The Commentary on Colossians was reprinted, without the "Dissertation", in 2005 by the Banner of Trust Trust (ISBN 0 85151 909 1). The "Dissertation" was republished by Quinta Press in 2006 (ISBN 978-1-89785-627-7).
[edit] References
- Concise Dictionary of National Biography
[edit] Notes
- ^ Davenant, John in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
- ^ W. B. Patterson, King James I and VI and the Reunion of Christendom, p. 271.
- ^ Davenant and the Westminster Assembly, PDF
- ^ PDF, p. 7.
[edit] External links
- [1]
- The life, letters & writings of John Davenant D.D., 1572-1641, Lord Bishop of Salisbury (1897) online text
- (German) [2]
| Church of England titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Robert Tounson |
Bishop of Salisbury 1621–1641 |
Succeeded by Brian Duppa |
