Joseph Stevens Buckminster (1784–1812) was an influential Unitarian

Unitarianism

Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....

 preacher in Boston, Massachusetts and a leader in bringing the German higher criticism of the Bible to America.

Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...

 to the Rev. Joseph Buckminster, Buckminster was a precocious child. He learned Latin and the Greek New Testament at age four, entered Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

 at 13, and graduated in 1800 at age 16 with both bachelor's and master's degrees. Upon his graduation, he spent two years as an instructor at Phillips Exeter Academy. In 1805 he became minister of the Brattle Street Church

Brattle Street Church

The Brattle Street Church was a Congregational and Unitarian church on Brattle Street in Boston, Massachusetts.- Brief history :...

 in Boston, and quickly launched an almost legendary career of eloquent preaching, biblical scholarship, and literary production which set the tone for the pattern of the minister as a man of letters.

In 1806 he traveled to Europe and returned with books purchased abroad, which formed the nucleus of his 3,000 volume library. He was the most brilliant member of the Anthology Club

Anthology Club

The Anthology Club, or Anthology Society was organized in 1804 in Boston, Massachusetts by the Rev. William Emerson, father of Ralph Waldo Emerson....

, an early editor of the Monthly Anthology

Monthly Anthology

The Monthly Anthology and Boston Review was a miscellaneous magazine published by the Anthology Club of Boston, Massachusetts from 1804-1811...

, and in 1811 was appointed Dexter Lecturer at Harvard where he occupied the first Chair in Scripture.

Buckminster's influence on his contemporaries was striking. His mastery of the emerging "New Criticism

New Criticism

New Criticism was a movement in literary theory that dominated American literary criticism in the middle decades of the 20th century. It emphasized close reading, particularly of poetry, to discover how a work of literature functioned as a self-contained, self-referential aesthetic...

" from German Biblical scholars led to his rational investigation of the Bible, subjecting its text to the same scrupulous scholarly investigation given other texts from antiquity. This approach heavily influenced William Ellery Channing

William Ellery Channing

Dr. William Ellery Channing was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton, one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. He was known for his articulate and impassioned sermons and public speeches, and as a prominent thinker...

, and gave rise to the first section of Channing's 1819 "Baltimore Sermon" for the ordination of the Rev. Jared Sparks

Jared Sparks

Jared Sparks was an American historian, educator, and Unitarian minister. He served as President of Harvard University from 1849 to 1853.-Biography:...

. Buckminster further convinced the young Edward Everett

Edward Everett

Edward Everett was an American politician and educator from Massachusetts. Everett, a Whig, served as U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State...

 to study for the ministry instead of the law.

Buckminster died at age 28 from epilepsy.

Literature

• Lee
  Eliza Lee
  Eliza Lee was an American author, the daughter of Joseph Buckminster. She was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; was well educated by her father and brother, Joseph Stevens Buckminster; married a Thomas Lee of Boston; became a writer; and was unusually felicitous in her descriptions of New...
  
  , Memoirs of the Buckminsters (Boston, 1851)