Jacob Bauthumley or Bottomley (1613–1692) was an English radical religious writer, usually identified as a central figure among the

Ranters The Ranters were one of a number of English Dissenters, dissenting groups that emerged about the time of the Commonwealth of England (1649–1660). They were largely common people, and the movement was widespread throughout England, though they w ...

. He served as part of the

New Model Army The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 t ...

, leaving in March 1650. After the Restoration of 1660, he took up a job as a librarian in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, where he produced a book of extracts from

John Foxe John Foxe (1516/1517 – 18 April 1587) was an English clergyman, theologian, and historian, notable for his martyrology '' Foxe's Book of Martyrs'', telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the sufferings of En ...

, published in 1676.

Biography

Bauthumley is known principally for ''The Light and Dark Sides of God'' (1650). This work was regarded as

blasphemous Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...

for its

pantheistic Pantheism can refer to a number of Philosophy, philosophical and Religion, religious beliefs, such as the belief that the universe is God, or panentheism, the belief in a non-corporeal divine intelligence or God out of which the universe arise ...

tendencies, including the following: After the Blasphemy Act of August 1650, he was arrested, convicted, and burned through the tongue. Bauthumley had served in the Parliamentarian Army;Radical Uses of History in the Restoration
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Norman Cohn Norman Rufus Colin Cohn FBA (12 January 1915 – 31 July 2007) was a British academic, historian and writer who spent 14 years as a professorial fellow and as Astor-Wolfson Professor at the University of Sussex. Life Cohn was born in London, ...

states that he was in the Army while writing the pamphlet, and took part in Ranter and

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

meetings in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

in the mid-1650s. Christopher Hill says that he left the Army in March 1650. His family had earlier suffered ostracism, for permitting sermons by Jeremiah Burroughes to be said in their house; he was a shoemaker. After the Restoration of 1660 he was a librarian in

. He produced a book of extracts from

, published in 1676.

Views

Bauthumley denied that the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

was the Word of God, and that

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

was more divine than other men. He considered that the real Devil lay in human nature, while God dwells in the flesh of man. Historian E. P. Thompson calls his views 'quasi-pantheistic' in their re-definition of God and Christ, and quotes A. L. Morton to the effect that this is the central Ranter doctrine.'' Witness Against the Beast: William Blake and the Moral Law'' (1993), p. 26.

Selected publications

''The Light and Dark Sides of God, Or, A Plain and Brief Discourse of the Light Side''
(1650)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bauthumley, Jacob 1613 births 1692 deaths 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers English criminals English male writers Pantheists People convicted of blasphemy Ranters New Model Army personnel