{{Short description|English Unitarian minister (1750–1829)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} [[Image:Thomas Belsham.jpg|thumb|right|Thomas Belsham]] '''Thomas Belsham''' (26 April 1750{{snd}}11 November 1829) was an [[England|English]] [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] minister.
== Life == Belsham was born in [[Bedford]], [[England]], and was the elder brother of [[William Belsham]], the English political writer and historian. He was educated at the [[dissenting academy]] at [[Daventry]], where for seven years he acted as assistant tutor. After three years spent in a charge at [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], he returned as head of [[Daventry Academy]], a post which he continued to hold till 1789, when, having adopted Unitarian principles, he resigned. With [[Joseph Priestley]] for colleague, he superintended during its brief existence the [[New College at Hackney]], and was, on Priestley's departure in 1794, also called to the charge of the [[Gravel Pit congregation]]. In 1805, he accepted a call to the [[Essex Street Chapel]],{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=711}} which was also headquarters and offices of the Unitarian Church under [[John Disney (Unitarian)|John Disney]], there succeeding as minister [[Theophilus Lindsey]] who had retired and died three years later in 1808.
[[File:Bunhill Lindsey tomb 3.JPG|thumb|right|Tomb of [[Theophilus Lindsey]] (died 1808), [[Elizabeth Rayner]] (died 1800) and Thomas Belsham (died 1829) in [[Bunhill Fields]] burial ground]] Belsham remained at Essex Street, in gradually failing health, until his death in Hampstead, on 11 November 1829.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=711}} He was buried in [[Bunhill Fields]] burial ground, in the same tomb as Theophilus Lindsey. His joint [[executors]] were [[Thomas Field Gibson]] and his father.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uudb.org/articles/thomasgibson.html|title=Thomas Gibson & Thomas Field Gibson|website=Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography|access-date=20 November 2017|archive-date=4 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504212608/https://uudb.org/articles/thomasgibson.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Beliefs == Belsham's beliefs reflect that transition that the Unitarian movement was going through during his lifetime, particularly from the early Bible-fundamentalist views of earlier English Unitarians like [[Henry Hedworth]] (who introduced the word "Unitarian" into print in English from Dutch sources in 1673) and [[John Biddle (Unitarian)|John Biddle]], to the more Bible-critical positions of Priestley's generation. Belsham adopted critical ideas on the Pentateuch by 1807, the Gospels by 1819, and Genesis by 1821.<ref>"But by 1807, Belsham had already concluded that the Pentateuch was of composite authorship; by 1819, he had doubts about the present form of the gospels, and by 1821, he had concluded that the account of Creation in Genesis was ..." {{harv|Webb|2000|p=120}}.</ref> Later, following Priestley, Belsham was to dismiss the [[Virgin birth of Jesus|virgin birth]] as "no more entitled to credit, than the fables of the Koran, or the reveries of Swedenborg." (1806)<ref>"Compare [[Richard Wright (Unitarian)|Richard Wright]], the celebrated Unitarian missionary, An Essay on the Miraculous Conception of Jesus Christ (London, 1808)" {{harv|Webb|2000|p=120 cf ref 22 p. 423}}.</ref>
== Works == Belsham's first work of importance, ''Review of Mr Wilberforces Treatise entitled Practical View'' (1798), was written after his conversion to Unitarianism. His most popular work was ''the Evidences of Christianity''; the most important was his translation and exposition of ''the Epistles of St Paul'' (1822). He was also the author of a work on [[philosophy]], ''Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind'' (1801), which is entirely based on Hartley's psychology.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=711}}
In 1812 Belsham published the ''Memoirs of the Late Reverend [[Theophilus Lindsey]], M.A.'', his predecessor at Essex Street. This included a chapter titled "American Unitarianism" arguing that many American clergy entertained Unitarian views. The [[Calvinist]] minister [[Jedidiah Morse]] published the chapter separately, as part of his campaign against New England's liberal ministers—contributing to "the [[Unitarian history|Unitarian Controversy]]" (1815) that eventually produced permanent schism among New England's [[Congregationalism|Congregationalist]] churches.
His main Christological work was ''A Calm Inquiry into the Scripture Doctrine concerning the Person of Christ'' (1817).<ref>{{cite book|last=Belsham |first=T. |year=1817 |orig-year=1811 |edition=Second |title=A Calm Inquiry into the Scripture Doctrine concerning the Person of Christ |url=https://archive.org/details/acalminquiryint01belsgoog |location=London |publisher=The Unitarian Society}} [Reprint: Morrisville, North Carolina: Lulu.com, 2009.]</ref>
Belsham was one of the most vigorous and able writers of his church, and the ''[[Quarterly Review]]'' and Gentlemans Magazine of the early years of the 19th century abound in evidences that his abilities were recognized by his opponents.{{sfn|Humphreys|1885|p=203}}
Thomas Belsham took credit for the anonymously published 1808 ''The New Testament'', ''in an Improved Version, upon the Basis of [[William Newcome|Archbishop Newcome]]'s New Translation''.<ref>[http://www.bible-researcher.com/belsham.html bible-researcher.com Belsham] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223223516/http://www.bible-researcher.com/belsham.html |date=February 23, 2010 }}</ref> This text's rendering of John 1:1{{Efn|THE Word was in the beginning and the Word was with God and the Word was a god.}} has been cited since the 1950s by the [[Corporations of Jehovah's Witnesses|Watchtower Society]] in defense of their rendering{{Efn|"Originally the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god." — 1950 [[New World Translation|NWT]] <br> "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god" — 2013 NWT}} of the same passage.<ref>{{cite book |last=Countess |first=Robert H. |url=https://archive.org/details/the-jehovahs-witnesses-new-testament/page/43/ |title=The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New Testament: A Critical Analysis of the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures |publisher=Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing |year=1982 |isbn=0-87552-210-6 |location=Phillipsburg, NJ |page=58 |quote=The remainder of the appendix calls attention to a number of passages in the Gospel of John where the ‘"definite article" precedes the noun in the predicate; and finally, a confession that NWT cannot lay claim to being the first to translate John 1:1 with "а god." The claim must reside with ''The New Testament, in an Improved Version, upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcome's New Translation: with a Corrected Text, printed in London, 1808.'' |access-date=2025-09-30}}</ref>
== Explanatory Footnotes == {{Notelist}}
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== *{{Cite DNB|last=Humphreys |first=Jennett |wstitle=Belsham, Thomas |volume=4 |pages=202–203}} *{{cite book|last=Webb |first=R. K. |chapter=Miracles in English Unitarian Thought Essay |editor-first=Mark S. |editor-last=Micale |editor2-first=Robert L. |editor2-last=Dietle |editor3-first=Peter |editor3-last=Gay |title=Enlightenment, passion, modernity: historical essays in European thought and culture |year=2000}}
'''Attribution''' *{{EB1911 |wstitle=Belsham, Thomas |volume=3 |page=711}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Belsham, Thomas}} [[Category:1750 births]] [[Category:1829 deaths]] [[Category:English Unitarian ministers]] [[Category:Dissenting academy tutors]] [[Category:Burials at Bunhill Fields]]