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The Commentary on the Book of Revelation by James Durham (1622–58)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2016
Extract
In the seventeenth century the Church in Scotland was for the most part engaged in working out an ecclesiastical polity acceptable to itself and to the civil authorities. Hence matters of Church government and of Church/state relations occupied much of the attention of leading theologians such as Samuel Rutherford (1600–61) and George Gillespie (1613–49). Yet there were others who, while deeply involved in the conflicts within the life of the Church, also devoted their attention to the study of the Scriptures and to contemporary theological debates. Prominent among them, on the Episcopal side, was John Forbes (1593–1648) of Corse, the leading member of that group of distinguished scholars know as the ‘Aberdeen Doctors’. Forbes was internationally celebrated for his Institutiones Historico-Theologicae de Doctrina Christiana, published in Holland in 1645. On the Presbyterian side, James Durham (1622–58) was at the same time beginning to make a name for himself as an outstanding exponent of the Scottish Calvinist ethic and would undoubtedly have gone on to enhance a rapidly growing reputation had not his life been cut short by death at the early age of 36. Of his works which were subsequently published his extensive commentary on the Book of Revelation isjustly one of the most important. Between 1658 and 1799 it went through no fewer than seven editions, one of which was printed in Amsterdam in 1660.
- Type
- Part I: The Apocalypse
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1994
References
1 DNB 16, pp. 25 $f. On Durham’s contribution to Calvinist ethics see Marshall, Gordon, Presby teries and Profits: Calvinism and the Development of Capitalism in Scotland 1560–1707 (Oxford. 1980), pp. 94–103Google Scholar.
2 See Christie, G., ‘A Bibliography of James Durham’ in Papers of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 1912–10.20 (Edinburgh, 1921), pp. 37ffGoogle Scholar. Durham’s commentary was published in Scot land in 1658, 1680 (twice), 1739, 1764, 1788, 1790. See also A Short-Title Catalogue of Boohs Printed in England, Scotland and Ireland 1475–1640, ed. D. Wing, 2nd ed. (New York, 1972), 1, No. 2805.
3 The edition used in the pteparation of this atticle is that printed at Glasgow in 1764.
4 From ‘A Letter to the Reader’ written by Robert Baillie, printed on p. vi.
5 P. xv.
6 On Napier see Firth, Katharine R., The Apocalyptic Tradition in Reformation Britain, 1530–1655 (Oxford, 1979)Google Scholar.
7 P. 50.
8 Pp. 193ff.
9 P. 282.
10 P. 354.
11 P. 364.
12 P. 375.
13 P. 382.
14 Pp. 375f.
15 P. 388.
16 Pp. 418ff.
17 Pp. 458ff.
18 P. 484.
19 Pp. 486ff.
20 P. 494.
21 P. 509.
22 Pp. 511ff.
23 Pp. 519ff.
24 Pp. 723ff.
25 On Grotius see his Annotationes in Apocalypsin, Opera Theologica (London, 1679), 2, pp. 1158ff.
26 On Hammond see his Paraphrases and Annotations on the New Testament (1653). His ‘Interpretation of the Apocalypse’ is to be found in the 4th edition (London, 1675), pp. 855ff.
27 Pp. 797f.