Background
John was born in London, United Kingdom in 1446. The father of John Colet was Sir Henry Colet, twice mayor of London. He was a wealthy man and the father of 22 children, none of whom survived to maturity except John.
(Excerpt from An Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the R...)
Excerpt from An Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans: Delivered as Lectures in the University of Oxford About the Year 1497 In preparing the Latin for publication, I have had a somewhat difficult course to steer. Golet's style was long ago remarked upon by Erasmus, as not altogether faultless; and in this instance there is the additional disadvantage, that the present text appears to have been only partially corrected by the author. Indeed, the brevity of treatment in the earlier chap ters, as compared with the later ones, almost leads to the conclusion, that we have in the former an abstract only of what Colet really delivered.
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John was born in London, United Kingdom in 1446. The father of John Colet was Sir Henry Colet, twice mayor of London. He was a wealthy man and the father of 22 children, none of whom survived to maturity except John.
He was educated at St Anthony's school and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took his M. A. in 1490.
After early schooling in London, John went to Oxford, where he spent some 20 years as a scholar and lecturer. After earning a master of arts degree, in 1493 Colet went to Italy and France for 3 years, visiting both Rome and Paris.
Colet received priestly orders in 1498 and left Oxford 6 years later to become dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The essential moral earnestness that suffused all of Colet's teaching and writing was plainly evident in the great trouble he took over the founding of this establishment, which is still one of the great schools of England.
At his death Colet left one published work, his convocation sermon of 1512. A fierce attack on the lives of the clergy, this sermon declared that there is no need that new laws and constitutions be made, but that those that are made already be kept.
He founded St. Paul's School for boys and influenced the humanist Erasmus. He replaced the old scholastic method of interpretation with one more in harmony with the new learning. Colet used his preaching, administration, scriptural exegesis and education towards Church reform. In addition to his sermons Colet's works include some scriptural commentary and works entitled Daily Devotions and Monition to a Godly Life.
The John Colet School in Wendover, Buckinghamshire is named after him, as well as Colet Gardens, a road in the London suburb of Hammersmith, W6, and John Colet School in Sydney, Australia.
(Excerpt from An Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the R...)
He was a true Christian.
In contrast to the elaborate scriptural exegesis then prevalent, Colet preferred to pay careful attention to the context of St. Paul's letters. Although Colet stressed the importance of the literal meaning of the books of the Bible, he was not a fundamentalist.
Quotations:
"My intent is by this school specially to increase knowledge and worshiping of God and our Lord Jesus Christ and good Christian life and manners in the children. "
Colet urged people to “return to the God of love and peace; return to Christ, in whom is the true peace of the Spirit which passeth all understanding; return to the true priestly life”. “Be ye reformed in the newness of your minds, that ye may know those things which are of God; and the peace of God shall be with you”.
Quotes from others about the person
On Colet's return to Oxford, Erasmus reports: "He publicly and gratuitously expounded all St. Paul's epistles. It was at Oxford that my acquaintance with him began. " Moreover, wrote Erasmus, Colet's "opinions differed widely from those commonly received. When I was once praising Aquinas to him as a writer not to be despised among the moderns, since he appeared to me to have studied both the Scriptures and the early Fathers, and had also a certain unction in his writings, he checked himself more than once from replying and did not betray his dislike. "
Erasmus said of Colet, “When I listen to Colet it seems to me that I am listening to Plato himself. ”
