James Ussher

Setting: Reformed Church of Ireland and British Reformed orthodoxy.

James Ussher was an Irish churchman, scholar, Archbishop of Armagh, and one of the most learned figures of the British Reformed world. He worked in theology, patristics, chronology, canon history, and the antiquities of the British churches. His Irish Articles helped shape the confessional setting that preceded Westminster.

For the Research Center, Ussher is important beyond his famous chronology. A Body of Divinity, his work on the origins of bishops and churches, and his historical study of canon and textual questions supply a broad witness to the doctrine and reception of Scripture.

Bibliological positions

Scripture is the perfect and sufficient rule of faith; the original-language text and canonical books are received under divine authority, while councils, fathers, chronology, and historical learning serve as subordinate witnesses.

Qualifications and disputes

Authorship and compilation questions surround some forms of A Body of Divinity. The precise relation of Ussher’s notes, catechetical material, and later editions must be documented.

Scholars debate the attribution and editorial history of A Body of Divinity and the relation of Ussher’s episcopacy to later Anglican models.

Sources

• PRDL search — James Ussher — Digital works catalogue
• Encyclopaedia Britannica — James Ussher — Biographical orientation

Principal works

• A Body of Divinity; or, The Sum and Substance of Christian Religion (1645; later editions); legacy WRK-0023; WRK; Ready after permanent-ID allocation and duplicate scan