Edward Gibbon |
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| Born | 27 April 1737
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| Died | 16 January 1794(1794-01-16) (aged 56)
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Edward Gibbon (8 May 1737[1] – 16 January 1794)[2] was anEnglishhistorian andMember of Parliament. His most important work,The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. TheDecline and Fall is known for the quality andirony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its open criticism ofChristianity.[3] Gibbon was educated atWestminster School. He died ofperitonitis inLondon.
His attack on Christianity caused several opponents to publishpamphlets against him. Gibbon defended his work with the 1779 publication of,A Vindication ... of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.[4] In the mid-twentieth century one author said that "church historians allow the substantial justness of [Gibbon's] main positions".[5]
- ↑O.S. 27 April
- ↑Gibbon's birthday is 27 April 1737 of the old style (O.S.) Julian calendar; England adopted the new style (N.S.) Gregorian calendar in 1752, and thereafter Gibbon's birthday was celebrated on 8 May 1737 N.S.
- ↑The most recent edition, in three volumes, is that of David Womersley. For commentary on Gibbon's irony and insistence on primary sources, see Womersley, "Introduction". Gibbon's caustic view ofChristianity is in chapters XV and XVI, and Gibbon rarely neglects to note its influence in the later volumes of theDecline and Fall.
- ↑Edward Gibbon (1779).A vindication of some passages in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire: By the author. Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, in the Strand.
- ↑The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. IV, eds. S.M. Jacksonet al. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1952, 483–484.online.
- Womersley, David, ed. 1994.The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 3 vols. London: Penguin.
