Lancelot Andrewes

Lancelot Andrewes , 1555-1626, Anglican divine, bishop of Chichester (1605), Ely (1609), and Winchester (1619). One of the most learned men of his time (his knowledge encompassed 16 centuries of Christian culture and he knew 15 modern and six ancient languages), he was among the first to be selected to create what became the Church of England's Authorized Version of the Bible (the King James Version). He was royal chaplain to Elizabeth I, James I, and Charles I. His preaching gained him great favor with King James. The great theologian of the High Church party of the 17th cent., Andrewes was opposed to Puritanism, his position being somewhat similar to that of Laud . His XCVI Sermons were edited (1629) by bishops Laud and Buckeridge; his Private Devotions, translated (1647) from his prayers in Greek and Latin, passed through a number of editions. Richard Crashaw, the poet, paid him a beautiful tribute in "Upon Bishop Andrewes' Picture before His Sermons," and Milton, a Puritan, wrote a Latin elegy on his death.

For Lancelot Andrewes, critical essays by T.S. Eliot, published in 1928. The title essay is an examination of the style and thought of the 17th‐century Anglican bishop, whom Eliot finds to be not only important in the history of the church, but also distinguished for his prose and his vital thought. Other subjects include Bramhall, Machiavelli, Bradley, Baudelaire, Middleton, and Crashaw. In The Humanism of Irving Babbitt, Eliot questions the possibility of a long life or significance for the New Humanism, since it is presented as an alternative to religion. He demonstrates that Babbitt's faith in civilization must have as discipline a center of dogmatic moral reference, derived from religious authority.

Andrewes, Lancelot (1555–1626), was bishop successively of Chichester, Ely, and Winchester. He was renowned for his patristic learning and was one of the divines appointed to translate the Authorized Version of the Bible. He was a highly popular preacher, and as a writer is remembered for his sermons which are in the metaphysical style that preceded the plainer preaching of the Puritans and Tillotson. In T. S. Eliot's view ‘they rank with the finest English prose of their time’ (For Lancelot Andrewes, 1928).