Background
Webster was born c. 1580
at Thornton in Craven in Yorkshire.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
book
The Duchess of Malfi and Other Plays: The White Devil; The Duchess of Malfi; The Devil's Law-Case; A Cure for a Cuckold (Oxford World's Classics)
(John Webster was a radically and creatively experimental ...)
John Webster was a radically and creatively experimental dramatist. This volume offers his two great Jacobean tragedies, The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, together with his brilliant tragicomedy, The Devil's Law-Case, and the comedy written with William Rowley, A Cure for a Cuckold. The texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199539286/?tag=2022091-20
The Domain of the Word: Scripture and Theological Reason
( The book brings together a set of related studies on th...)
The book brings together a set of related studies on the nature of Scripture and of Christian theology by one of the most prominent representatives of Protestant theology of our time. After a brief introduction on the setting of the book and its major themes, the first part of the volume examines topics on the nature and interpretation of Scripture. A comprehensive proposal about Scripture and its interpretation is followed by a study of Scripture as the embassy of the risen Christ, and by three related chapters analyzing the ways in which widely different major modern theologians (Barth, T.F. Torrance and Rowan Williams) have understood the nature and interpretation of the Bible. The second part of the volume makes a cumulative proposal about the nature and tasks of Christian theology, examining the fundamental principles of systematic theology, the distinctive role and scope of reason in Christian theology, the relation of theology to the humanities, and the vocation of theology to promote the peace of the church.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0567014258/?tag=2022091-20
The Duchess of Malfi, The White Devil, The Broken Heart and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (Penguin Classics)
(A new volume of the greatest revenge tragedies of the sev...)
A new volume of the greatest revenge tragedies of the seventeenth-century stage These four plays, written during the reigns of James I and Charles I, took revenge tragedy in dark and ambiguous new directions. In The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil, John Webster explores power, sex, and corruption in the Italian court, creating two unforgettable anti-heroines. In The Broken Heart, John Ford questions the value of emotional repression as his characters attempt to subdue their desires and hatreds in ancient Greece. Finally, Ford's masterpiece 'Tis Pity She's a Whore explores the taboo themes of incest and forbidden love in a daring reworking of Romeo and Juliet. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0141392231/?tag=2022091-20
Confessing God: Essays in Christian Dogmatics II (T&T Clark Cornerstones)
( Put together as a companion volume to his earlier volum...)
Put together as a companion volume to his earlier volume, Word and Church, in this book John Webster begins to give voice to a reordered conception of the substance of Christian teaching, at the heart of which lies a discovery of the content and consequences of Christian teaching about God's perfection. Webster gives the readers a worked example of 'theological theology', that is, Christian theology which takes its rise in the Christian confession of the gospel which seeks to hear, celebrate and commend. This classic volume from one of the leading theologians in the world remains an important contribution to the field of systematic theology. For this Cornerstones edition Webster has written a new preface in which he sets the work against the current debate and his own current theology.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0567658872/?tag=2022091-20
Confronted by Grace: Meditations of a Theologian
("I found myself joining in his joyful 'Amen!' to all of t...)
"I found myself joining in his joyful 'Amen!' to all of the promises that we have in Jesus Christ." --Michael Horton In this rich collection of sermons, John Webster considers the power of the gospel and the truth of God's grace. Born from years of theological and biblical study, these reflections serve to challenge, stimulate, and inspire, demonstrating the grace of God at work in the complexities of life. By pointing us toward Christ, Confronted by Grace helps us grow in our understanding of the truth of the gospel.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1577996275/?tag=2022091-20
Holiness
(A world-renowned theologian here offers a succinct accoun...)
A world-renowned theologian here offers a succinct account of a central yet neglected theme in Christian teaching the holiness of God. Integrating biblical studies, theology, and practical application, John Webster provides a thoroughgoing trinitarian understanding of Gods holiness with highly relevant results. According to Webster, Gods holiness is known not in his simple transcendence but in his gracious and free relationship to his people. Such holiness finds an echo in the holiness of the Christian community, especially in worship and witness, and in the life of the individual disciple. Profound yet readily accessible to a wide range of readers, Websters Holiness offers an ideal entry into reflection on the Christian God.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802822150/?tag=2022091-20
Word and Church: Essays in Christian Dogmatics (T&T Clark Cornerstones)
( In Word and Church readers are treated to chapters that...)
In Word and Church readers are treated to chapters that examine the field of Christian Dogmatics, presenting a clear trajectory in the work of John Webster, that moves from interpretation of 20th-century Protestant theology to doctrinal construction. Webster addresses the modern traditions of Christian divinity, and the topics which come to the fore in making sense of these traditions: the nature of the Bible and its interpretation; the place of Jesus Christ in modern theological culture; and the basis and shape of human agency. As a whole the book boldly indicates how dilemmas or inadequacies in modern treatments of these topics might be clarified by more direct employment of language about God and the gospel. The classic chapters present the work of one of the world's leading contemporary theologians at his creative best. For this Cornerstones edition the author has provided a new preface in which he contextualizes the work within his current theology.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0567658902/?tag=2022091-20
John Webster
also known as
Johannes Hyphastes
John Webster, also known as Johannes Hyphastes, was an English cleric, physician and chemist with occult interests, a proponent of astrology and a sceptic about witchcraft. He is known for controversial works.
Education
Although Webster implied that he studied at Cambridge, there is no record that he was ever a regular student.
Webster studied under the Hungarian alchemist Johannes Huniades (János Bánfi-Hunyadi), who is known to have lectured at Gresham College.
Career
It was his concern for house who were preparing for the ministry that led Webster to write the Academiarum examen, in which he attacked the English universities.
The traditional emphasis on books and disputations, as well as on the “healthen” authors Aristotle and Galen, seemed to him improper for Christians, who should study the glories of the universe (and thus, the Creator) through observation and personal experience.
Webster argued against the use of mathematical abstraction in the study of nature, because for him this seemed to emphasize deductive logic.
In contrast, the laboratory observations of the chemists offered the proper inductive approach exemplified in the writings of Helmont and Francis Bacon.
He was accused of not having properly understood Bacon and Descartes and also was criticized for his reliance on the chemists.
His espousal of Fludd’s texts was especially condemned.
Here again he indicated his debt to Paracelsus, who made chemistry available to all, and to Helmont, whose work seemed to excel that of all his predecessors.
The Metallographia was reviewed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, and Daniel George Morhof later praised it as one of the major published works on minerals.
Webster was no less laudatory to the Royal Society in The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, completed in 1673 but not published until 1677, in which he attacked the views of Meric Casaubon and Joseph Glanvill.
His conflict with Ward and Wilkins underscored the dispute between the chemical philosophers and the mechanists, his treatise on witchcraft did much to shed light on the meaning of magic and the supernatural in this period, and his work on metals and minerals clearly was considered important by his contemporaries on the Continent as well as in England.
He edited William Erbery's works and wrote his biography in 1658, as The Testimony of William Erbery.
Achievements
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Metallographia (1671) was a chemical work. It attributed to minerals the property of growth. He had a corpuscle theory of matter, described as intermediate between those of Kenelm Digby and Herman Boerhaave.
His The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft (1677) was a critical and sceptical review of evidence for witchcraft.
According to Hugh Trevor-Roper, this is not an innovative work, but at the level of that of Johann Weyer.
Works
book
-
Confessing God: Essays in Christian Dogmatics II (T&T Clark Cornerstones)
( Put together as a companion volume to his earlier volum...)
-
Word and Church: Essays in Christian Dogmatics (T&T Clark Cornerstones)
( In Word and Church readers are treated to chapters that...)
-
The Duchess of Malfi, The White Devil, The Broken Heart and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (Penguin Classics)
(A new volume of the greatest revenge tragedies of the sev...)
-
The Domain of the Word: Scripture and Theological Reason
( The book brings together a set of related studies on th...)
-
Holiness
(A world-renowned theologian here offers a succinct accoun...)
-
Confronted by Grace: Meditations of a Theologian
("I found myself joining in his joyful 'Amen!' to all of t...)
-
The Duchess of Malfi and Other Plays: The White Devil; The Duchess of Malfi; The Devil's Law-Case; A Cure for a Cuckold (Oxford World's Classics)
(John Webster was a radically and creatively experimental ...)
-
Confessing God: Essays in Christian Dogmatics II (T&T Clark Cornerstones)
Views
He opposed Henry More and Joseph Glanvill, who were arguing for the reality of witches.
Webster went as far as suggesting that the Bible had been mistranslated to support that belief.
It was translated into German, being published in 1719 at Halle where Christian Thomasius had made his scepticism an academic point of view.
In the same year he defended the reputation of John Dee against Meric Casaubon. He had recommended Dee in the Examen, and was a proponent of natural magic.
More edited Glanvill's earlier works on witchcraft, attacked by Webster, together with material of his own, as a reply, which appeared under Glanvill's name but after his death as the influential Saducismus Triumphatus.
Membership
He was a member of the Royal Society.
Interests
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Philosophers & Thinkers
It also drew on the work of Robert Boyle; but the strong influence was that of Jan Baptist van Helmon.
Connections
- Father:
- John Webster
- Mother:
- Elizabeth Coates
- colleague:
- William Erbery
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Born
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Died
February 3, 1610 (aged 30) -
Nationality
British -
Ethnicity
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Religion
Rosicrucian