John Biddle

English theologian

• Born: January 14, 1615
• Birthplace: Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, England
• Died: September 22, 1662
• Place of death: London, England

Biddle was a controversial lay theologian who, through his writings and strong moral leadership, became known as the father of English Unitarianism.

Early Life

John Biddle was born in Gloucestershire and was the son of a tailor or a woolen-draper. He showed promise in the local school at an early age, impressing and allegedly surpassing his tutors with his translations of Juvenal and Vergil. He attracted aristocratic patronage, which assisted him in his preparation for university.

At the age of nineteen, he became a student in Magdalen Hall, Oxford. He took his arts degree and became a tutor there in 1638; in 1641, he was awarded the degree of master of arts. In this same year, he was elected headmaster of the Crypt Free Grammar School at Gloucester, where he was esteemed both as a teacher and for his personal character.

Biddle’s interest in the study of Scripture began at a young age and continued in earnest during his tenure at Gloucester. There, he became so well versed in the New Testament that he reportedly knew most of it by heart, both in English and in Greek. As a result of his studies, however, he became convinced that the theological doctrine of the Trinity as composed of three coequal and coeternal persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—had no support in Scripture. He compiled his scripturally based objections to the doctrine of the Trinity in a manuscript entitled Twelve Arguments Drawn Out of Scripture: Wherein the Commonly Received Opinion Touching the Deity of the Holy Spirit Is Clearly and Fully Refuted (wr. c. 1644, pb. 1647). Biddle had composed these arguments for the private use of his friends, but one of them betrayed him and reported his views to magistrates. As a result, in 1645 he was summoned before a parliamentary committee sitting in Gloucester; he would spend much of the remaining twelve years of his life in prison.

Life’s Work

The parliamentary committee at Gloucester sent Biddle to prison. In the summer of 1646, Archbishop James Ussher of Ireland visited Biddle and tried to convince him of his errors, basing his arguments on Church tradition and authorities rather than Scripture. Biddle remained unmoved and was transferred to London. There he admitted that he had denied the deity of the Holy Spirit, but he also asked permission to discuss the issue with a competent theologian.

Biddle was released from prison on bail in 1647 but shortly thereafter published his Twelve Arguments. The publication of this work caused a sensation, as his denial of the Trinity was offensive to both the Anglican and Puritan creeds. Biddle was once again taken into custody, and his Twelve Arguments was seized and burned by the hangman. Nevertheless, demand for it was so great that a second edition was reprinted before the year was out. Reaction to this work’s publication was severe: An ordinance of Parliament of May 2, 1648, made denial of the Trinity grounds for capital punishment.

Despite this prohibition, Biddle published two additional tracts in 1648: A Confession of Faith Touching the Holy Trinity, According to Scripture , and the testimonies of six church fathers and six later writers entitled The Testimonies Concerning That One God, and the Persons of the Holy Trinity . Both of these works refuted the belief that the three persons of the Trinity were coequal; Biddle elevated the Father and considered the other two persons subordinate. These works show a theological development in Biddle’s thought and an acquaintance with the writings of the Italian anti-Trinitarian Faustus Socinus (Fausto Paolo Sozzini; 1539-1604).

Both of Biddle’s later works were suppressed, but influential friends made it possible for Biddle to evade the death sentence and to live in Staffordshire under surveillance. There he preached until 1652, when he was recalled to London and again imprisoned. A sympathetic friend procured employment for him, and although in confinement, Biddle was permitted to engage in editorial work on the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

During the period of political uncertainty and religious instability following the Act of Oblivion, many anti-Trinitarian works produced on the Continent were imported into England, translated, and circulated. Biddle himself was responsible for many of these translations, including a life of Faustus Socinus. Due to the resemblance of the views of Biddle and his companions to those of Socinus, the group was sometimes called Socinians. Biddle continued to publish throughout 1662 and 1663, advocating religious tolerance and recommending that all Christians should decide questions of scriptural interpretation by reason rather than by reference to creeds or tradition.

Toward the end of 1653, Cromwell was made protector of the Commonwealth , and he issued an Instrument of Government in forty-two articles, three of which concerned religion. While Cromwell promised complete freedom of worship for Christians professing the fundamentals of Christianity, he did not specify what these fundamentals were. Biddle took this opportunity to publish A Twofold Catechism (1654). This work was a catechism divided into two parts: One section was designed for adults, the other for children. In these catechisms, he examined the range of Christian doctrine and duty by citing scriptural examples; however, theologically he rejected the Trinity and the divinity of Christ, and he treated God in anthropomorphic terms.

Parliament was quick to take action in response to Biddle’s Twofold Catechism. Both Biddle and his catechism were examined; he was imprisoned on December 13, 1654, while all copies of his catechism were ordered to be seized and burned the next day. During his stay in prison, many members of Parliament urged that he be put to death. In May, however, Parliament was dissolved, and Biddle was again set free. Biddle’s popularity had grown while he was in prison, and demand for his catechism and his teachings had increased.

Less than a month after his release, Biddle was challenged to a debate by John Griffin, an illiterate Baptist preacher, on the supreme deity of Christ. During the debate, a group of fanatics managed to have Biddle arrested under the Ordinance of 1648 against denying the Trinity, which Cromwell’s Instrument of Government was supposed to have superseded. Biddle was again indicted and thrown into prison. Cromwell was pursued by religious groups of all hues of the spectrum, who demanded that he either enforce the older laws concerning blasphemy or uphold his own promise of religious freedom. Reluctant to see Biddle executed but unwilling to exonerate him either, Cromwell banished him for life to St. Mary’s Castle in the Isles of Scilly in October, 1655; Cromwell was also persuaded to grant Biddle a pension for sustenance. Despite numerous entreaties, Cromwell never released him.

Following Cromwell’s death, a group of Biddle’s friends sought and obtained his release in 1658, and he returned to the country to teach. After the Restoration of King Charles II (1660), all Nonconformist worship fell under a ban, and Biddle ceased attending public scriptural discussions, though he continued to worship privately. When detected in private worship by authorities in 1662, Biddle and some followers were hauled away to prison. As Biddle was unable to pay his fine of one hundred pounds, he was kept in prison, where he contracted a disease. Although he was permitted to be removed from the prison, he died shortly thereafter.

Significance

Biddle’s Unitarian congregation did not long survive him, but his influence continued in various ways. He was most noted for his great zeal in promoting life and manners. He also left a legacy of compassion and religious toleration. Finally, his works were reprinted throughout the seventeenth century, thus providing the basis of what would eventually develop into the English Unitarian tradition.

Bibliography

Hill, Christopher. The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. New York: Viking Press, 1972. A scholarly study of the varieties of Christian thought during the English Civil Wars. Contains excellent notes.

Lindley, Keith. Popular Politics and Religion in Civil War London. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Scholar Press, 1997. A good discussion about the interconnection between politics and religion in London during the English Civil Wars. Includes notes and a detailed bibliography.

McLachlan, H. John. Socinianism in Seventeenth-Century England. New York: Oxford University Press, 1951. An important study in the history of English Socinianism. Contains an extensive bibliography.

Spellman, W. M. The Latitudinarians and the Church of England, 1660-1700. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1993. A useful study of the divergence of religious thought in England during the Restoration. Contains excellent scholarly notes and a complete bibliography.

Toulmin, Joshua. Review of the Life, Character, and Writings of the Reverend John Biddle, M.A. London: J. Johnson, 1789. Early biography of Biddle.

Wilbur, Earl Morse. A History of Unitarianism in Transylvania, England, and America. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1952. Contains two excellent chapters on Biddle’s place within the background of the English Unitarian tradition. Also includes a detailed bibliography.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. A History of Unitarianism: Socinianism and Its Adherents. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1947. Contains an excellent theological background to the Unitarian movement in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Scholarly notes.