Thomas Jackson (theologian) facts for kids
Thomas Jackson (born in 1579, died in 1640) was an important English thinker and leader at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, a famous university college. He started out believing in a set of ideas called Calvinism, but later in his life, he changed his mind and followed ideas known as Arminianism. These were different ways people thought about faith and God's plan back then.
His Life Story
Thomas Jackson was born in a place called Witton-le-Wear in County Durham, England. He went to the University of Oxford to study when he was about 16 years old, starting at Queen’s College in 1595.
In 1606, he became a special member, called a fellow, at Corpus Christi College. Soon after, he was chosen to be the vice-president there, which meant he helped run the college.
Later, in 1623, he became a priest at a church called St Nicholas, Newcastle. Around 1625, he also took on another church role in Winston, County Durham. His career continued to grow, and in 1631, he was made the President of Corpus Christi College. This was a very important job!
In 1632, King Charles I himself gave Thomas Jackson another church position in Witney, Oxfordshire. He also became a special church official in Winchester in 1635 and was the Dean of Peterborough from 1635 to 1639.
His Writings
Thomas Jackson's most important work was a series of books where he explained the Apostles' Creed. The Apostles' Creed is a very old statement of Christian beliefs. All his writings were later put together in a complete collection called The Works of Thomas Jackson, D.D. This book was published in London in 1673 and was put together by a person named Barnabas Oley.
His commentaries were first published between 1613 and 1657. There were twelve books in total, each with a different title. The very first one was called The Eternal Truth of Scriptures, published in London in 1613.
His Ideas
Thomas Jackson strongly disagreed with the Catholic idea of transubstantiation, which is a belief about how bread and wine change during a church service. He was part of a group called the "Durham House group" led by Richard Neile.
He was one of the first thinkers at Oxford University to speak out against some of the ideas of Calvinism, especially the idea of predestination. Predestination is the belief that God has already decided everything that will happen, including who will go to heaven. Even though he only shared his views publicly in the late 1620s, he said he had decided against predestination as early as 1605.
In his thinking about faith, he combined ideas from different philosophies, especially Platonism. He was also interested in the Epicurean idea of free will, which is the idea that people can make their own choices. However, he tried to find a middle ground that also included ideas from Stoicism, another ancient philosophy.
Some people compared his way of thinking to that of Robert Burton. A person named William Prynne even argued that Jackson's great knowledge made his ideas more dangerous, especially when William Laud supported him.
