British bishop and scholar of early Christianity (1828?1889)
Joseph Barber Lightfoot
(13 April 1828 – 21 December 1889), known as
J. B. Lightfoot
, was an
English
theologian
and
Bishop of Durham
.
Life
[
edit
]
Lightfoot was born in
Liverpool
, where his father John Jackson Lightfoot was an accountant. His mother, Ann Matilda Barber, was from a family of Birmingham artists. He was educated at
King Edward's School, Birmingham
, under
James Prince Lee
. His contemporaries included
Brooke Foss Westcott
and
Edward White Benson
. In 1847, Lightfoot went to
Trinity College, Cambridge
, and read for his degree along with Westcott. He graduated senior classic and 30th
wrangler
, and was elected a fellow of his college.
[2]
From 1854 to 1859 he edited the
Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology
. In 1857, he became tutor and his fame as a scholar grew. He was made
Hulsean professor
in 1861, and shortly afterwards chaplain to the
Prince Consort
and honorary chaplain in ordinary to
Queen Victoria
.
In 1866, he was Whitehall preacher, and in 1871 he became canon of
St Paul's Cathedral
.
The Times
wrote after his death that
It was always patent that what he was chiefly concerned with was the substance and the life of Christian truth, and that his whole energies were employed in this inquiry because his whole heart was engaged in the truths and facts which were at stake.
In 1875, Lightfoot became
Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity
in succession to
William Selwyn
. In 1879, he was consecrated bishop of Durham in succession to
Charles Baring
; he was enthroned at
Durham Cathedral
on 15 May. He soon surrounded himself with a band of scholarly young men.
Lightfoot was never married. He died at
Bournemouth
and was succeeded in the episcopate by Westcott, his schoolfellow and lifelong friend. He served as
President
of the first day of the 1880
Co-operative Congress
.
[3]
He is buried in
Auckland Castle Chapel
, with a memorial in Durham Cathedral close to the choir stalls.
Work
[
edit
]
Lightfoot wrote commentaries on the
Epistle to the Galatians
(1865),
Epistle to Philippians
(1868) and
Epistle to the Colossians
(1875). In 1874, the anonymous publication of
Supernatural Religion
, a
skeptical
work by
Walter Richard Cassels
, attracted much attention. In a series of rebuttals published in the
Contemporary Review
, between December 1874 and May 1877, Lightfoot undertook the defense of the
New Testament
canon. The articles were published in collected form in 1889. About the same time he was engaged in contributions to
William Smith
's
Dictionary of Christian Biography and Dictionary of the Bible
, and he also joined the committee for revising the translation of the New Testament.
The corpus of Lightfoot's writings include essays on biblical and historical subject matter, commentaries on
Pauline epistles
, and studies on the
Apostolic Fathers
. His sermons were posthumously published in four official volumes, and additionally in the Contemporary Pulpit Library series. At Durham he continued to work at his editions of the
Apostolic Fathers
, and in 1885 published an edition of the
Epistles of
Ignatius
and
Polycarp
, collecting also materials for a second edition of
Clement of Rome
, which was published after his death (1st ed., 1869). He defended the authenticity of the
Epistles of Ignatius
.
Lightfoot had said that he was open to the idea of a diaconate that included women and in 1899
Emily Marshall
wrote
A Suggestion for our Times
on this theme. Marshall said she was told by Lightfoot to give her idea of training women in his diocese, to take on this role, "a practical form". Lightfoot's death resulted in her idea being shut down. Marshall created a new religious order within the church based on Lightfoot's discussion of the
Third Order of Saint Francis
who had historically consisted of men and women who did not live in monasteries or wear cowls. Marshall however regretted that diaconate idea had been lost due to his death.
[4]
In 2014, it was announced that
InterVarsity Press
had agreed to publish about 1500 pages of previously unpublished biblical commentaries and essays by Lightfoot found in
Durham Cathedral
.
[5]
The first of the three volume set covers the
Acts of the Apostles
,
[6]
the second is a commentary on the
Gospel of John
[7]
and the third is on the
Second Epistle to the Corinthians
and the
First Epistle of Peter
.
[8]
Family
[
edit
]
Lightfoot was the nephew of the artists
Joseph Vincent Barber
and
Charles Vincent Barber
and grandson of the artist and founding member of the
Birmingham School of Art
,
Joseph Barber
and great-grandson of the founder of Newcastle's first library, Joseph Barber whose tomb is in
Newcastle Cathedral
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"col. A"
.
Church Times
. No. 847. 18 April 1879. p. 253.
ISSN
0009-658X
. Retrieved
4 January
2021
– via UK Press Online archives.
- ^
"Lightfoot, Joseph Barber (LTFT847JB)"
.
A Cambridge Alumni Database
. University of Cambridge.
- ^
"Congress Presidents 1869-2002"
(PDF)
. February 2002. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 28 May 2008
. Retrieved
10 May
2008
.
- ^
Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004).
"The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"
.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. ref:odnb/42195.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/42195
. Retrieved
10 January
2023
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- ^
Ben Witherington III, "Text Archaeology: The Finding of Lightfoot's Lost Manuscripts,"
Biblical Archaeology Review
, Vol. 40, No. 2 (March/April 2014), pp. 28, 71.
- ^
- ^
Lightfoot, J. B. (2015). The Gospel of St. John: A Newly Discovered Commentary. InterVarsity Press.
ISBN
978-0-8308-2945-3
- ^
Lightfoot, J. B. (2016). The Epistles of 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter: A Newly Discovered Commentary. InterVarsity Press.
ISBN
978-0-8308-2946-0
Sources
[
edit
]
- Treloar, Geoffrey R. (1998).
Lightfoot the Historian: The Nature and Role of History in the Life and Thought of J.B. Lightfoot (1828?1889) as Churchman and Scholar
. Mohr Siebeck.
ISBN
978-3-16-146866-7
.
- McIntire, C.T. (2001). "Review of Lightfoot the Historian".
Anglican and Episcopal History
.
70
(2): 254?256.
ISSN
0896-8039
.
JSTOR
42612184
.
- Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911).
"Lightfoot, Joseph Barber"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Hort, Fenton John Anthony
(1893).
"Lightfoot, Joseph Barber"
. In
Lee, Sidney
(ed.).
Dictionary of National Biography
. Vol. 33. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Barrett, C. K. "Lightfoot, Joseph Barber (1828?1889)".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/16650
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- Chrystal, Paul; Laundon, Stan (2015).
Secret Newcastle
. Amberley.
ISBN
978-1-4456-4139-3
.
External links
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