Abstract
John Rainolds was the highest authority English Puritan theologian of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. He was educated at Corpus Christi College in Oxford, where he converted from Catholicism to Protestantism. He read Greek from 1572, and from his readings we received the discussion manuscript of Aristotle’s Rhetoric, the first critical work to be written on the text of the Greek philosopher. From 1578 Rainolds dedicated his studies to theology, highlighting in the Sex theses written in 1580 a steadfast commitment to Calvinism and a rigid anti-Catholic attitude. Rainolds soon became the figurehead of the Puritan movement in Oxford: the many religious public disputes, his charisma, coupled with the intellectual stature of Rainolds increased his authority to the point of attracting the attentions and suspicions of Elizabeth I, so the queen decided to co-opt Rainolds in the Anglican episcopate in order to “neutralize” him and appointed him Bishop of Lincoln in 1579. The theologian could not refuse the assignment; however, he was able to postpone his inauguration until he gained the coveted appointment of the president of Corpus Christi College in 1598. Once James I Stuart ascended to the English throne in 1603, Rainolds confided in a Presbyterian sense reform of the Anglican church, which seemed possible when the king decided to convene a religious conference at Hampton Court. Here Rainolds led the Puritan delegation, but, despite the favorable conditions, the king did not make any concessions in ecclesiastical matters, and therefore, Rainolds only obtained the consent for a new English translation of the Bible, satisfying his expectations in the last years of his life, which ended in 1607 in Oxford.
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References
Primary Literature
Rainolds, John. 1580. Sex theses de sacra scriptura et ecclesia. Londini: Excudebat Henricus Middletonus, impensis Georgii Bishopi.
Rainolds, John. 1584. The summe of the conference betweene Iohn Rainoldes and Iohn Hart: touching the head and the faith of the Church. Wherein by the way are handled sundry points, of the sufficiencie and right expounding of the Scriptures, the ministerie of the Church, the function of priesthood, the sacrifice of the masse, with other controuerises of religion: but chiefly and purposely the point of Church-gouernment ... Penned by Iohn Rainoldes, according to the notes set downe in writing by them both: perused by Iohn Hart, and (after things supplied, and altered, as he thought good) allowed for the faithfull report of that which past in conference betweene them. Whereunto is annexed a treatise intitled, Six conclusions touching the Holy Scripture and the Church, written by Iohn Rainoldes. With a defence of such things as Thomas Stapletonand Gregorie Martin haue carped at therein. London: Printed by Iohn Wolfe, for George Bishop.
Rainolds, John. 1596. De Romanae Ecclesiae idololatria, in cultu sanctorum, reliquiarum, imaginum, aquae, salis, olei, aliarumq rerum consecratarum, & sacramenti Eucharistiæ, operis inchoati libri duo: In quibus cum alia multa variorum papismi patronorum errata patefiunt: tûm inprimis Bellarmini, Gregoriiq de Valentia, calumniae in Calvinum ac ceteros Protestantes, argutiaeq pro papistico idolorum cultu discutiuntur & ventilantur. Oxoniae: Apud Josephum Barnesium.
Rainolds, John. 1599. Th'overthrow of stage-plays by the way of controversy betwixt D. Gager and D. Rainoldes wherein all the reasons that can be made for them are notably refuted; th’objections aunswered, and the case so cleared and resolved, as that the iudgement of any man, that is not forward and perverse, may easelie be satisfied. Wherein is manifestly proved, that it is not onely unlawfull to bee an actor, but a beholder of those vanities. Whereunto are added also and annexed in th’end certeine latine letters betwixt the sayed Maister Rainoldes, and D. Gentiles, reader of the civil law in Oxford, concerning the same matter. Middelburg: Printed by Richard Schilders.
Rainolds, John. 1940. Oratio in laudem artis poetica [c. 1572], ed. W. Ringler. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Rainolds, John. 1986. John Rainold’s Oxford Lectures on Aristotle’s Rhetoric, ed. Lawrence D. Green. Newark: University of Delaware Press.
Rainolds, John, and Alberico Gentili. 1977. Latin correspondence by Alberico Gentili and John Rainolds on Academic drama, ed. Leon Markowicz. Salzburg: Institut for English Sprache und Literature.
Secondary Literature
Binns, James W. 1972. Alberico Gentili in defense of poetry and acting. Studies in the Renaissance XIX: 224–272.
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Colavecchia, S. (2017). Rainolds, John. In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_1169-1
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