{{Short description|Anglican bishop (1609–1683)}} {{more citations needed|article|date=January 2017}} {{Use British English|date=March 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} [[Image:Benjamin Whichcote by Mary Beale.jpg|thumb|right|Benjamin Whichcote, portrait by [[Mary Beale]]]] '''Benjamin Whichcote''' (March 1609 – May 1683) was an English [[Church of England|Establishment]] and [[Puritan]] [[Anglican priest|priest]], [[Provost (education)|Provost]] of [[King's College, Cambridge]] and leader of the [[Cambridge Platonists]]. He held that man is the "child of reason" and so not [[Total depravity|completely depraved]] by nature, as Puritans held. He also argued for religious toleration.
==Life and career== Whichcote was born at Whichcote Hall in [[Stoke upon Tern]], [[Shropshire]]. He entered [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]] in 1628,<ref name=venn>{{acad|id=WHCT626B|name=Whichcote, Benjamin}}</ref> and became a [[fellow]] in 1633.<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Whichcote, Benjamin |volume=28 |pages=587–588}}</ref> In 1637, he was [[ordination|ordained]] a [[deacon]] and [[priest]] at the same time. In 1643, he married and took up priestly duties in a Cambridge-dispensed parish in [[North Cadbury, Somerset]]. In 1644, he became 19th Provost of King's College due to [[Parliament of England|Parliamentary]] control of the universities. However, he was the only new head of house who did not subscribe to the [[National Covenant]]. In 1650, during the [[Interregnum]], he was [[Chancellor (education)|vice-chancellor]] of the [[University of Cambridge]], and advised [[Oliver Cromwell]] on the subject of toleration of the [[Jewish people|Jews]]. After the [[English Restoration|Restoration]] he was removed from his position at King's College, but reinstated when he accepted the [[Act of Uniformity 1662|Act of Uniformity]] in 1662.
From that time he was the Curate of [[St. Anne's Church, Blackfriars]], until it burnt down in 1666. In 1668, he was appointed Vicar of [[St Lawrence Jewry]].<ref name="EB1911"/> He was a brother to [[Sir Jeremy Whichcote, 1st Baronet|Jeremy Whichcote]] and Elizabeth Foxcroft, wife of [[Ezechiel Foxcroft]].<ref name="geni">{{Cite web |title=Elizabeth Whichcote b. 1604 2nd dau |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Elizabeth-Whichcote-b-1604-2nd-dau/6000000022905108520 |website=geni_family_tree |publisher=Geni.com |access-date=20 January 2018}}</ref>
Whichcote was one of the leaders of the [[Cambridge Platonists]], and had liberal views. In 1650, he was involved in a controversy with his former teacher and friend [[Anthony Tuckney]]. He was opposed to the doctrine of total depravity and adopted a [[semi-Pelagianism|semi-Pelagian]] position, holding that man is the "child of reason", and therefore not, as the Puritans held, of a completely depraved nature. He argued that there are some questions beyond the ability of reasonable and religious people to solve, and he therefore called for religious toleration. He was accused at various times by various persons of being an [[Arminianism|Arminian]], [[Socinianism|Socinian]], and [[Latitudinarianism|Latitudinarian]].
He died in [[Cambridge]] in May 1683 aged 74 and was buried in London at the church of St Lawrence Jewry.
==Works== Nearly all of his works were published posthumously. They include ''Select Notions of B. Whichcote'' (1685), ''Select Sermons'' (1689), ''[[Discourses (1609–1683)|Discourses]]'' ([[1701 in literature|1701]]), and ''Moral and Religious Aphorisms'' ([[1703 in literature|1703]]).
==References== {{wikisource|works=or}} {{reflist|30em}} *Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''. London: Oxford UP, 1978
==External links==
{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box |title = [[List of Provosts of King's College, Cambridge|Provost of King's College, Cambridge]] |years =1644-1660 |before =[[Samuel Collins (theologian)|Samuel Collins]] |after =[[James Fleetwood]] }} {{end}}
{{Provosts of King's College, Cambridge|state=collapsed}} {{Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge|state=collapsed}} {{Portal bar |England |Biography |Christianity |Philosophy}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whichcote, Benjamin}} [[Category:1609 births]] [[Category:1683 deaths]] [[Category:English theologians]] [[Category:17th-century English Anglican priests]] [[Category:17th-century Christian mystics]] [[Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge]] [[Category:Fellows of King's College, Cambridge]] [[Category:Provosts of King's College, Cambridge]] [[Category:Cambridge Platonists]] [[Category:Clergy from Shropshire]] [[Category:Protestant mystics]] [[Category:Vice-chancellors of the University of Cambridge]] [[Category:17th-century Anglican theologians]]