William Ashdowne

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William Ashdowne (1723–1810) was an English Unitarian preacher. [1]

Contents

Life

As a probationer for the ministry, William Ashdowne went to Dover, [2] then following the death of his father-in-law became minister in the (Unitarian) General Baptist denomination at Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. He was an active contributor to several magazines, but not always accepted for publication, as in 1786, an article on baptism by the editor of the Repository. [3]

Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement named for its belief that the God in Christianity is one person, as opposed to the Trinity which in many other branches of Christianity defines God as three persons in one being: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Unitarian Christians, therefore, believe that Jesus was inspired by God in his moral teachings, and he is a savior, but he was not a deity or God incarnate. Unitarianism does not constitute one single Christian denomination, but rather refers to a collection of both extant and extinct Christian groups, whether historically related to each other or not, which share a common theological concept of the oneness nature of God.

He was a friend and correspondent of Joseph Priestley. [4]

Joseph Priestley English theologian, chemist, educator, and political theorist

Joseph Priestley was an 18th-century English Separatist theologian, natural philosopher, chemist, innovative grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist who published over 150 works. He has historically been credited with the discovery of oxygen, having isolated it in its gaseous state, although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Antoine Lavoisier also have strong claims to the discovery.

Works

He wrote several religious booklets including one arguing for an allegorical reading of the New Testament devil passages: An attempt to shew that the opinion concerning the devil or satan, as a fallen angel, and that he tempts men to sin, hath no real foundation in scripture. [5] Ashdowne acknowledged continuity with

‘The Notions concerning Dæmons, about our Saviour’s time, have been collected, from the best authorities, by Dr Lardner, in his Tracts; by Dr Newton, in his Dissertations on Prophecy; and lately by Mr Farmer, in his Dissertations on Miracles: It only remains, that we should search the Scriptures, and point out some Errors in the application of known Truths.’. [6]

Ashdowne's view forms part of a wider stream of similar arguments in the writings of Thomas Hobbes (1651); Arthur Ashley Sykes (1737); Richard Mead (1755) and others, [7] and his 1794 work was cited in general reference works such as the Penny Cyclopedia of 1837. [8]

Thomas Hobbes 17th-century English philosopher

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Arthur Ashley Sykes (1684–1756) was an Anglican religious writer, known as an inveterate controversialist. Sykes was a latitudinarian of the school of Benjamin Hoadly, and a friend and student of Isaac Newton.

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Among his other works were several focussing on the subject of baptism, including: A dissertation on St. John, iii. 5. In which, from arguments intirely new, is fully made appear from the New Testament, that by the word Spirit, is meant the word of God; ... Likewise that baptism, ... is the only initiating right [sic] into the Kingdom of God, (1798)

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References

  1. ↑ Jennett Humphreys, ‘Ashdowne, William (1723–1810)’, rev. M. J. Mercer, first published Sept 2004, 240 words
  2. ↑ Winnifrith Alfred, Men of Kent and Kentish men: biographical notices of 680 worthies of Kent p.49 1913
  3. ↑ H. McLachlan, The Story of a Nonconformist Library (1923) p.99
  4. ↑ Schofield Robert E. The enlightened Joseph Priestley: a study of his life and work from 1773 to 1804 p.226
  5. ↑ by William Ashdowne 1791, printed by J. Grove; and sold by Johnson, in St. Paul's Church-yard; Marsom, bookseller, Holborn; Bristow, Canterbury; and Ledger,
  6. ↑ Ashdowne, ‘‘AN INQUIRY INTO THE Scripture Meaning of the Word SATAN, AND ITS SYNONIMOUS TERMS, The DEVIL, or the ADVERSARY, and the WICKED-ONE’, page 40, 1794
  7. ↑ Burke, J. Christianity in the Witch Hunt Era, 2008
  8. ↑ e.g. entry The Devil, in Penny cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful p.447
<i>Dictionary of National Biography</i> Multi-volume reference work

The Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) was published on 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes and online, with 50,113 biographical articles covering 54,922 lives.

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