Stephen Charnock

Stephen Charnock (1628–27 July 1680), Puritan divine, was an English Puritan Presbyterian clergyman born at the St Katherine Cree parish of London.

Title page of Charnock's magnum opus
Stephen Charnock.

Life

Charnock studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge,[1] during which he was converted to the Christian faith, beginning his spiritual journey as a Puritan divine. After leaving the college, he possibly held a position as either a private teacher or tutor, then moving on to become a minister of the faith in Southwark for a short time, converting individuals to Christianity. He continued on to New College, Oxford, where he earned a fellowship and gained a position as senior proctor

He moved to Ireland in 1656 where he became a chaplain to Henry Cromwell, governor of Ireland. In Dublin, he began a regular ministry of preaching to other believers. Those who came to hear him were from different classes of society and differing denominations, and he became widely known for the skill by which he discharged his duties.

In 1660, the monarchy of England was restored after its brief time as the Commonwealth of England, and Charles II ascended the throne of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Due to new restrictions, Charnock was now legally prevented from practicing public ministry in Ireland, and in England where he returned. Nevertheless, he continued to study and to minister in non-public ways.

Charnock began a co-pastorship at Crosby Hall in London in 1675; this was his last official place of ministry before his death in 1680.

Works

Nearly all of the numerous writings attributed to him were transcribed after his death. Charnock's theological fame rests chiefly in his Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God, a series of lectures delivered to the members of his congregation at Crosby Hall; unfortunately, however, the Discourses were cut short by Charnock's death in 1680. The treatise is preserved today as The Existence and Attributes of God, first published posthumously in 1682.

References
  1. "Charnock, Stephen (CHNK642S)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

Further reading
  • Beeke, Joel R., and Randall J. Pederson. "Stephen Charnock (1628-1680)." In Meet the Puritans: With a Guide to Modern Reprints. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2006.
  • _____ and Mark Jones. "Stephen Charnock on the Attributes of God." In A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012.
  • Deusterman, Ken. "Stephen Charnock's Doctrine of God: An Anthology of the Existence and Attributes of God." American Theological Inquiry 3, no. 1 (January 2010): 127–149.
  • Drayson, F. K. "Divine Sovereignty in the Thought of Stephen Charnock." In Puritan Papers, vol. 1. Edited by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Foreword by W. Robert Godfrey. Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing Company, 2000.
  • Gatis, George Joseph. "Stephen Charnock's View of Substantive Biblical Law." Contra Mundum, no.13 (Fall 1994): 1–14.
  • Park, Jae-Eun. "Stephen Charnock’s Christological Knowledge of God in A Discourse of the Knowledge of God in Christ." The Confessional Presbyterian, 10 (2014): 73-81.
  • Trueman, R. Carl. "Reason and Rhetoric: Stephen Charnock on the Existence of God." In Reason, Faith and History Philosophical Essays for Paul Helm. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, 2008.
  • Yuille, J. Stephen. "How Pastoral Is Open Theism?: A Critique from the Writings of George Swinnock and Stephen Charnock." Themelios 32, no. 2 (January 2007): 46–61.
  1. A history of Presbyterianism in Dublin and the south and west of Ireland, P313
  2. Richard L. Greaves, ‘Charnock, Stephen (1628–1680)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 4 Dec 2016
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