Joseph Bingham (September 1668 – 17 August 1723) was anEnglish scholar anddivine, who wrote on ecclesiastical history.[1]
He was born atWakefield inYorkshire.[2]
He was educated atWakefield Grammar School[3] andUniversity College, Oxford, of which he was made fellow in 1689 and tutor in 1691. A sermon preached by him from the university pulpit inSt Mary's church, on the meaning of the termsPerson and Substance in the Fathers, brought upon him an accusation ofheresy. He was compelled to give up his fellowship and leave the university; but he was immediately presented byDr John Radcliffe to the rectory ofHeadbourne Worthy, nearWinchester (1695).[2]
In this country retirement he began his extensive work entitledOrigines Ecclesiasticae, or Antiquities of the Christian Church, the first volume of which appeared in 1708 and the tenth and last in 1722. His design, learnedly, exhaustively and impartially executed, was to give such a methodical account of the antiquities of theChristian Church as others have done of the Greek and Roman and Jewish antiquities, by reducing the ancient customs, usages and practices of the church under certain proper heads, whereby the reader may take a view at once of any particular usage or custom ofChristians for four or five centuries.[2]
Notwithstanding his learning and merit, Bingham received no higher preferment than that of Headbourne Worthy until 1712, when he was collated to the rectory ofHavant, near Portsmouth, bySir Jonathan Trelawney,bishop of Winchester. Nearly all his little property was lost in the greatSouth Sea Bubble of 1720.[2]
A grandson was BishopRichard Mant of Down and Dromore.
He is buried in the churchyard of St Swithun's, Headbourne Worthy.
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bingham, Joseph".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 948.| International | |
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