James Ussher : theology, history, and politics in early-modern Ireland and England / Alan Ford.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ford, Alan, 1956-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ussher, James, 1581-1656.

Ussher, James.

Theologians--Great Britain--Biography.

Theologians.

Christianity and politics.

Protestantism--Ireland--History--17th century.

Protestantism.

Church history.

History.

Ireland--Church history--17th century.

Ireland.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xi, 315 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2007.

Summary:

Though known today largely for his dating of the creation of the world to 4004BC, James Ussher (1581-1656) was an important scholar and ecclesiastical leader in the seventeenth century. As Professor of Theology at Trinity College Dublin, and Archbishop of Armagh from 1625, he shaped the newly Protestant Church of Ireland. Tracing its roots back to St Patrick, he gave it a sense of Irish identity and provided it with a theology which was strongly Calvinist and fiercely anti-Catholic. In exile in England in the 1640s he advised both king and parliament, trying to heal the ever-widening rift by devising a compromise over church government. Forced finally to choose sides by the outbreak of civil war in 1642, Ussher opted for the royalists, but found it difficult to combine his loyalty to Charles with his detestation of Catholicism.

A meticulous scholar and an extensive researcher, Ussher had a breathtaking command of languages and disciplines-'learned to a miracle' according to one of his friends. He worked on a series of problems: the early history of bishops, the origins of Christianity in Ireland and Britain, and the rather unpleasant implications of double predestination, and made advances which were to prove of lasting significance.

This important re-evaluation of James Ussher's life and works-the most thorough for over a hundred and fifty years-traces the interconnections between his scholarship and his wider ecclesiastical and political interests, and throws new light on the character and attitudes of a seminal figure in the history of Irish Protestantism.

Contents:

I Ussher in Ireland

1 Controversy and Religious Identity in Sixteenth-Century Ireland 11

2 Intellectual Formation: Trinity College, Dublin 32

3 Ussher and the Shaping of Irish Protestant Theology 57

4 Ussher and the Irish Articles of 1615 85

5 Theology and Politics: 1615-25 104

6 Religion, History, and Protestant National Identity 119

7 Defending Calvinism: 1626-33 133

8 Internal Exile: Ussher and Laudianism: 1633-40 175

9 Ussher and Irish History: Britannicarum ecclesiarum antiquitates 208

II Ussher in England

10 Ussher and the Defence of Episcopacy 223

11 'No Man Can Serve Two Masters': The Civil War and After 257

12 Conclusion: History, Theology, and Politics in Ireland and Britain 272.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199274444

0199274444

OCLC:

84150764