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Biography of Richard BaxterName: Richard BaxterBirth Date: November 12, 1615 Death Date: December 8, 1691 Place of Birth: Rowton, Shropshire, England Nationality: English Gender: Male Occupations: theologian, pastor Richard Baxter The English theologian, pastor, and Nonconformist Richard Baxter (1615-1691) was an advocate of ecumenism and the author of more than 160 books.The only son of a gentleman of "competent estate," Richard Baxter was born in Rowton, Shropshire, on Nov. 12, 1615, and was largely self-educated "out of books" with the "inconsiderable help of country tutors." After "it pleased God to awaken" his soul at age 15, he studied theology. Ordained in the Anglican ministry in 1638, 2 years later he began assisting the vicar in Kidderminster, Worcestershire. During the Puritan Revolution he served as a regimental chaplain, but 2 years of campaigning broke his ever-precarious health. Convalescing in 1647 he wrote The Saints' Everlasting Rest (1650), a huge tome which comforts the afflicted and reflects on life here and hereafter.Although ordained in the Church of England, Baxter objected to its "diocesan episcopacy," whereby a bishop's authority extended over a diocese containing many parish churches. This, he believed, was …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…Christian Directory (1673), Catholick Theology (1675), A Treatise of Episcopacy (1681), and his autobiography, Reliquiae Baxterianae (1696).Baxter died on Dec. 8, 1691. He was too outspoken and intense to succeed in his own time as a "reconciler." But if he had been heeded, the split between Anglicanism and Dissent, which has sullied British Christianity and is being healed only today, would have been avoided. Further Reading A study of Baxter should begin with The Autobiography of Richard Baxter, edited by J.M. Lloyd Thomas (1925; new ed. 1931), followed by F.J. Powicke, A Life of the Reverend Richard Baxter (1924). Hugh Martin, Puritanism and Richard Baxter (1954), untangles 17th-century politics and theology and provides basic bibliographical guidance. Richard Schlatter, ed., Richard Baxter and Puritan Politics (1957), admirably treats A Holy Commonwealth and related works. For the religious context see Irvonwy Morgan, The Nonconformity of Richard Baxter (1946).Baxter, Richard, The autobiography of Richard Baxter, London, Dent; Totowa, N.J., Rowman |