John Spencer (Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge)
Encyclopedia
John Spencer was an English clergyman and scholar, Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
. An erudite theologian and Hebraist, he is now remembered as the author of De Legibus Hebraeorum, a pioneer work of comparative religion
, advancing the thesis that Judaism
was not the earliest of mankind’s religions.
, where he was baptised on 31 October 1630. He was educated at the King's School, Canterbury, became king's scholar there, and was admitted to a scholarship of Archbishop Parker's foundation in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, on 25 March 1645. He graduated B.A. in 1648, M.A. in 1652, B.D. in 1659, and D.D. in 1665. He was chosen a fellow of his college about 1655.
After taking holy orders he became a university preacher, served the cures first of St. Giles and then of St. Benedict, Cambridge, and on 23 July 1667 was instituted to the rectory of Landbeach
, Cambridgeshire
, which he resigned in 1683 in favour of his nephew and curate, William Spencer. On 3 August 1667 he was unanimously elected master of Corpus Christi College, a post he held for twenty-six years. He was appointed a prebendary in the first stall at Ely in February 1671-2, and served the office of vice-chancellor of the university in the academic year 1673-4, during which he delivered a speech addressed to the Duke of Monmouth on his installation as chancellor of the university.
He was admitted, on the presentation of the king, to the archdeaconry of Sudbury in the church of Norwich on 5 September 1677; and was instituted to the deanery of Ely on 9 September 1677. He died on 27 May 1693, and was buried in the college chapel, where a monument with a Latin inscription was erected to his memory. He was a major benefactor to the college.
.) The tract was republished in the following year, and afterwards, in 1744, by Blasius Ugolinus in 'Thesaurus Antiquitatum.' He contributed verses to the Cambridge University Collection on the death of Henrietta Maria, queen dowager, 1669.
In 1685 appeared Spencer's major work, his De Legibus Hebraeorum, Ritualibus et earum Rationibus libri tres (Cambridge, 1685; The Hague, 1686). In this work Spencer derived nearly all his data from classical writers of Greece and Rome, the Church Fathers
, the works of Josephus
, or from the Bible itself. Among his adverse critics were Hermann Witsius
in his Aegyptiaca in 1683, Joannes Wigersma, Ibertus Fennema, Andreas Kempfer and Joannes Meyer, John Edwards (1637–1716), and John Woodward
. Later writers hostile to Spencer's thesis were William Jones of Nayland, and Archbishop Magee, who rebuked William Warburton
for defending Spencer against Witsius. Later works on comparative religion
, such as Julius Wellhausen
's History of Israel (1878) and Cornelis Petrus Tiele
's Histoire Comparée des Anciennes Religions de l'Egypte et des Peuples Sémitiques, developed the lines of thought in Spencer. A second edition of Spencer's work appeared at Cambridge in 1727, (revised by Leonard Chappelow
), and another at Tübingen, 1732. Given the religious views at the time, it was indexed in The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature: K.Q (by William Thomas Lowndes
, published by W. Pickering, 1834, See p. 1722) as "a very learned but dangerous work, the great object of which is to show that the Hebrew ritual was almost entirely borrowed from the Egyptians".
Spencer also wrote A Discourse concerning Prodigies, wherein the vanety of Presages by them is reprehended, and their true and proper Ends asserted and vindicated, London, 1663; 2nd edit., 'to which is added a short Treatise concerning Vulgar Prophecies,' London, 1665.
Jan Assmann
suggests that Spencer was influenced by Maimonides
and that Karl Leonhard Reinhold
took the same approach.
on Christmas Eve.
In 1667, while Spencer was Master, his daughter was entertaining a young undergraduate when her father interrupted them. He was put into a wardrobe (which college records state only opened from the outside) and left for a long time and asphixiated. Elizabeth, in a fit of grief committed suicide.
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
. An erudite theologian and Hebraist, he is now remembered as the author of De Legibus Hebraeorum, a pioneer work of comparative religion
Comparative religion
Comparative religion is a field of religious studies that analyzes the similarities and differences of themes, myths, rituals and concepts among the world's religions...
, advancing the thesis that Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
was not the earliest of mankind’s religions.
Life
He was a native of Bocton, near Bleane, KentKent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, where he was baptised on 31 October 1630. He was educated at the King's School, Canterbury, became king's scholar there, and was admitted to a scholarship of Archbishop Parker's foundation in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, on 25 March 1645. He graduated B.A. in 1648, M.A. in 1652, B.D. in 1659, and D.D. in 1665. He was chosen a fellow of his college about 1655.
After taking holy orders he became a university preacher, served the cures first of St. Giles and then of St. Benedict, Cambridge, and on 23 July 1667 was instituted to the rectory of Landbeach
Landbeach
Landbeach is a small fen-edge English village about five miles north of Cambridge. The parish covers an area of .-History:The fen edge north of Cambridge was well populated in Roman times, and the village's situation on a Roman road will have helped its growth...
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, which he resigned in 1683 in favour of his nephew and curate, William Spencer. On 3 August 1667 he was unanimously elected master of Corpus Christi College, a post he held for twenty-six years. He was appointed a prebendary in the first stall at Ely in February 1671-2, and served the office of vice-chancellor of the university in the academic year 1673-4, during which he delivered a speech addressed to the Duke of Monmouth on his installation as chancellor of the university.
He was admitted, on the presentation of the king, to the archdeaconry of Sudbury in the church of Norwich on 5 September 1677; and was instituted to the deanery of Ely on 9 September 1677. He died on 27 May 1693, and was buried in the college chapel, where a monument with a Latin inscription was erected to his memory. He was a major benefactor to the college.
Works
In 1669 he published a 'Dissertatio de Urin. et Thummin' (Cambridge, 8vo), in which he referred those mystic emblems to an Egyptian origin. (See Urim and ThummimUrim and Thummim
In ancient Israelite religion and culture, Urim and Thummim is a phrase from the Hebrew Scriptures or Torah associated with the Hoshen , divination in general, and cleromancy in particular...
.) The tract was republished in the following year, and afterwards, in 1744, by Blasius Ugolinus in 'Thesaurus Antiquitatum.' He contributed verses to the Cambridge University Collection on the death of Henrietta Maria, queen dowager, 1669.
In 1685 appeared Spencer's major work, his De Legibus Hebraeorum, Ritualibus et earum Rationibus libri tres (Cambridge, 1685; The Hague, 1686). In this work Spencer derived nearly all his data from classical writers of Greece and Rome, the Church Fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
, the works of Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
, or from the Bible itself. Among his adverse critics were Hermann Witsius
Hermann Witsius
Hermann Witsius was a Dutch theologian.- Life :...
in his Aegyptiaca in 1683, Joannes Wigersma, Ibertus Fennema, Andreas Kempfer and Joannes Meyer, John Edwards (1637–1716), and John Woodward
John Woodward (naturalist)
John Woodward was an English naturalist, antiquarian and geologist, and founder by bequest of the Woodwardian Professorship of Geology at Cambridge University...
. Later writers hostile to Spencer's thesis were William Jones of Nayland, and Archbishop Magee, who rebuked William Warburton
William Warburton
William Warburton was an English critic and churchman, Bishop of Gloucester from 1759.-Life:He was born at Newark, where his father, who belonged to an old Cheshire family, was town clerk. William was educated at Oakham and Newark grammar schools, and in 1714 he was articled to Mr Kirke, an...
for defending Spencer against Witsius. Later works on comparative religion
Comparative religion
Comparative religion is a field of religious studies that analyzes the similarities and differences of themes, myths, rituals and concepts among the world's religions...
, such as Julius Wellhausen
Julius Wellhausen
Julius Wellhausen , was a German biblical scholar and orientalist, noted particularly for his contribution to scholarly understanding of the origin of the Pentateuch/Torah ....
's History of Israel (1878) and Cornelis Petrus Tiele
Cornelis Petrus Tiele
Cornelis Petrus Tiele, was a Dutch theologian and scholar.-Life:He was born at Leiden. He was educated at Amsterdam, first studying at the Athenaeum Illustre, as the communal high school of the capital was then named, and afterwards at the seminary of the Remonstrant Brotherhood.He was destined...
's Histoire Comparée des Anciennes Religions de l'Egypte et des Peuples Sémitiques, developed the lines of thought in Spencer. A second edition of Spencer's work appeared at Cambridge in 1727, (revised by Leonard Chappelow
Leonard Chappelow
Leonard Chappelow was an English clergyman and orientalist. Hwe was Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge, from 1720, for life, and also Lord Almoner's Professorship of Arabic.-Life:...
), and another at Tübingen, 1732. Given the religious views at the time, it was indexed in The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature: K.Q (by William Thomas Lowndes
William Thomas Lowndes
William Thomas Lowndes , English bibliographer, was born about 1798, the son of a London bookseller.His principal work, The Bibliographer’s Manual of English Literature—the first systematic work of the kind—was published in four volumes in 1834...
, published by W. Pickering, 1834, See p. 1722) as "a very learned but dangerous work, the great object of which is to show that the Hebrew ritual was almost entirely borrowed from the Egyptians".
Spencer also wrote A Discourse concerning Prodigies, wherein the vanety of Presages by them is reprehended, and their true and proper Ends asserted and vindicated, London, 1663; 2nd edit., 'to which is added a short Treatise concerning Vulgar Prophecies,' London, 1665.
Jan Assmann
Jan Assmann
Jan Assmann is a German Egyptologist who was born in Langelsheim.-Education and teaching:He went to school in Lübeck and Heidelberg before going on to study Egyptology, Classical Archeology and Greek Studies in Munich, Heidelberg, Paris and Göttingen...
suggests that Spencer was influenced by Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
and that Karl Leonhard Reinhold
Karl Leonhard Reinhold
Karl Leonhard Reinhold was an Austrian philosopher. He was the father of Ernst Reinhold, also a philosopher.-Life:...
took the same approach.
Family
He married Hannah, daughter of Isaac Puller of Hertford, and sister of Timothy Puller. She died in 1674, leaving one daughter (Elizabeth) and one son (John).Corpus Ghost
Although not meant to be Spencer himself, an apparition of his daughter is said to walk the courts of Corpus ChristiCorpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
on Christmas Eve.
In 1667, while Spencer was Master, his daughter was entertaining a young undergraduate when her father interrupted them. He was put into a wardrobe (which college records state only opened from the outside) and left for a long time and asphixiated. Elizabeth, in a fit of grief committed suicide.