James Ussher and a Reformed Episcopal Church
Sermons and Treatises on Ecclesiology
Edited by Richard Snoddy
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About this book
“Christ our head is the main foundation of this heavenly union”
James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, is popularly known as a proponent of young earth creationism due to the insertion of dates from his biblical chronology into many editions of the King James Version of the Bible. Despite this popular portrayal, historians have recognized Ussher’s importance in the ecclesiological and theological debates of the seventeenth century and his stature as one of the great scholarly intellects of early modern Europe. This volume, complete with a helpful introduction by a leading scholar in the field, seeks to introduce four of Ussher’s sermons and two treatises on church government to a modern audience.
The writings of Ussher presented here contain some material printed for the first time as well as a selection of Ussher’s better known treatises, such as The Original of Bishops and Metropolitans (1644) and The Reduction of Episcopacy (1657). Together these sermons and treatises address the theme of the Church—its nature, its unity, its purity, its government, and how it must deal with difference. Combining these items together with helpful editorial notes, this volume promises to stimulate theological reflection on a theme highly relevant for the church today, especially for those within the Reformed and Anglican traditions.
Paperback | 222 pages | 6×9 | Published September 8, 2018 | ISBN 978-1949716993
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From the Introduction
The unity of the Church lies in the “unity of faith,” but how is this unity of faith preserved, one might ask, if there is no one church set above all the rest, and one bishop above all others? Ussher responded that unity must not be rooted in “any politic tricks of man’s devising,” but rather “compassed by such means as God hath ordained.” Those means lie in the teaching office of the church, the prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Scripture speaks of these as a plurality, and it is beyond belief that maintenance of unity depends on a single person overlooked in Ephesians 4:11. That a multitude of teachers, scattered all over the world, should agree in the foundations of the faith is a special work of God’s Spirit. Ussher then proceeded to a discussion of these foundations. These are a rule of faith, common to all, capable of being grasped by “common Christians” since heaven was not “prepared for deep clerks only.” These propositions are few and “of so much weight and moment” that they will be sufficient to make one wise unto salvation. Ussher found these fundamentals in the early creeds which the ancient church used in catechesis prior to baptism and admission to the fellowship of the Church. It is worth noting that they do not include episcopal succession. These foundations can be obscured or perhaps even overturned by the superstructure which is subsequently built on them.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
General Introduction
- A Sermon at Temple Church (1620)
- A Sermon at St. Margaret’s Church (1621)
- A Brief Declaration of the Universality of the Church (1624)
- A Sermon Before King Charles at Greenwich (1626)
- The Original of Bishops and Metropolitans (1644)
- The Reduction of Episcopacy (1657)
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, is popularly known as a proponent of young earth creationism due to the insertion of dates from his biblical chronology into many editions of the King James Version of the Bible. Despite this popular portrayal, historians have recognized Ussher’s importance in the ecclesiological and theological debates of the seventeenth century and his stature as one of the great scholarly intellects of early modern Europe.
Editor: Richard Snoddy is an Associate Research Fellow at London School of Theology and currently a Visiting Research Fellow at Queen’s University, Belfast. He is the author of The Soteriology of James Ussher (Oxford University Press, 2014), co-editor of Learning from the Past: Essays on Reception, Catholicity, and Dialogue in Honour of Anthony N. S. Lane (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015), and is editor of Evangelical Quarterly.
General Editor: Eric Parker (Ph.D, McGill University) is the General Editor of the Library of Early English Protestantism. Eric has published academic articles in historical theology treating figures such as Martin Luther, Martin Bucer and the Cambridge Platonists, and he is currently co-editing a volume on Nicholas of Cusa and early modern reform forthcoming with Brill. He lives in the deep South with his wife and two children, where he is seeking ordination in the Reformed Episcopal Church.
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