GEMMS IDGEMMS-PERSON-000215
NameSamuel Parker
TitleBishop
Gendermale
DenominationChurch of England
Livedb. ca. 1640-09-01 - d. 1688-03-20 (new)
Linked Manuscripts
Linked SermonsSermon on 2 Timothy 3:5 -- preacher (autograph: uncertain)
Linked ReportsThe Persons appointed to Preach before the King the insuing Lent -- preacher
Associated PlacesOxford -- BishopricChartham -- ParishIckham -- ParishNorthampton Free School -- Place of StudySt Catharine's College (Katharine Hall) -- Place of StudyTrinity College -- Place of StudyWadham College -- Place of StudyCanterbury -- PostCanterbury Cathedral -- PostMagdalen College -- Post
Source of DataRichard Snoddy; David Robinson
Biographical Sources ConsultedODNB (Article: 21336); AO (Foster)
Other NoteSamuel Parker, the second son of John Parker, judge, was born in Northampton in September 1640. He matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford on 29 October 1647, where he lived strict religious life as a member of a group informally known as the “grewellers.” Having graduated B.A. on 28 February 1659, a difference in religious views led Parker to fall out with the warden of Wadham, precipitating his transfer to Trinity College for his MA. At Trinity he moved away from his Presbyterian leanings and became a staunch Anglican; he proceeded M.A. on 9 July 1663 and was ordained in the Church of England in 1664. In 1665 Parker published “Tentamina de Duo,” a theological essay arguing in favour of natural philosophy as a means of combatting atheism; he developed the arguments of the “Tentamina” in “A Free and Impartial Censure of the Platonick Philosophie” (1666) and “An Account of the Nature and Extent of the Divine Dominion and Goodness” (1667). In 1667, Parker was appointed the domestic chaplain of the archbishop of Canterbury; he received the rectory of Chartham, Kent and incorporated his M.A. at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge, later that year. In 1670 he became archdeacon of Canterbury, and the following year was admitted D.D. and became rector of Ickham, Kent. In 1672 he was installed a prebendary of Canterbury, and became master of the Eastbridge Hospital in 1673. During the late 1660s and 1670s Parker published several works opposing religious toleration and attacking nonconformists, the most well-known of which was “A Discourse of Ecclesiastical Polity” (1669). The controversies generated by his own publications and those he licensed caused Parker to take a step back from public life in the late 1670s; nevertheless, he continued to write on the subjects of science and fighting atheism, publishing his major work “Disputationes de Deo et providentia divine” in 1678. In the 1680s he penned a series of works outlining his ecclesiological stance. Parker’s beliefs endeared him to James II, who nominated him for the bishopric of Oxford in 1686. He was consecrated in 1686, and the following year was made president of Magdalen College, Oxford in after a controversial election. Although these appointments were made at the behest of the king, Parker ran afoul of James II on account of the latter’s pro-Roman Catholic policies; he died in disfavour on 20 March 1688 and was buried on the grounds of the college chapel with no memorial. Parker had two sons, Gilbert and Samuel, with his wife Rebecca Pheasant; Samuel (1681-1730) would follow his father’s footsteps by becoming bishop of Oxford.
Attached URLs:
| URL | Notes |
|---|---|
| https://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp1104-1131 | Alumni Oxonienses |
GEMMS record createdDecember 13, 2015
GEMMS record last editedAugust 02, 2021