Joseph Estlin Carpenter (5 October 1844 – 2 June 1927) was an English Unitarian minister, the Principal and then President of

Manchester College, Oxford Harris Manchester College (HMC) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It was founded in Warrington in 1757 as a college for Unitarian students and moved to Oxford in 1893. It became a full college of the un ...

.Estlin Carpenter.
''The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology''. Retrieved 7 October 2015. He was an expert in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and a pioneer in the study of

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including human migration, migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study ...

Biography

Carpenter was born in

Ripley, Surrey Ripley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England. It is centred southeast of Woking, northeast of Guildford and southwest of London. Neighbouring villages Send and Send Marsh to the South-West and Ockham to the East have fewer sho ...

.Rines, George Edwin; Beach, Frederick Converse. (1905). ''Carpenter, Joseph Estlin''. In ''The Encyclopedia Americana: A Universal Reference Library''. Volume 3. Scientific American Compiling Department. He was the second son of

William Benjamin Carpenter William Benjamin Carpenter CB FRS (29 October 1813 – 19 November 1885) was an English physician, invertebrate zoologist, and physiologist. He was instrumental in the early stages of the unified University of London. Life Carpenter was bor ...

. His grandfather was Unitarian minister

Lant Carpenter Lant Carpenter (2 September 1780 – 5 or 6 April 1840) was an English educator and Unitarian minister. Early life Lant Carpenter was born in Kidderminster, the third son of George Carpenter and his wife Mary (Hooke). He was christened on 2 ...

. Carpenter was educated at

University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...

, London, and the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, where he read mental and moral philosophy. He was minister of Oakfield Road Church in Clifton (1866–1869) and

Mill Hill Chapel Mill Hill Chapel is a Unitarian church in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is a member of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the umbrella organisation for British Unitarians. The building, which stands in the cen ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

(1869–1875). He was described in the ''

Encyclopedia Americana ''Encyclopedia Americana'' is a general encyclopedia written in American English. It was the first general encyclopedia of any magnitude to be published in North America. With '' Collier's Encyclopedia'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclo ...

'' as an important "Sanskrit scholar and Biblical critic". He was Professor of ecclesiastical history at

. He wrote a biography of his aunt

Mary Carpenter Mary Carpenter (3 April 1807 – 14 June 1877) was an English educational and social reformer. The daughter of a Unitarian minister, she founded a ragged school and reformatories, bringing previously unavailable educational opportunitie ...

, the prolific social reformer and educationalist. In his book ''The Historical Jesus and the Theological Christ'' (1911) he defended the

historicity of Jesus The historicity of Jesus is the scholarly question in Biblical criticism and early Christian history of whether Jesus historically existed or was a purely mythological figure. Scholarly discussions questioning the historical existence of Jesus ...

and criticized the claims of

Christ myth theory The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the fringe view that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substance. Alternatively, in terms given by ...

proponents such as

Arthur Drews Christian Heinrich Arthur Drews (; 1 November 1865 – 15 July 1935) was a German people, German writer, historian, philosopher, and important representative of German Monism, monist thought. He was born in Uetersen, Duchy of Holstein, Holstein, ...

. Congregationalist

Reginald John Campbell Reginald John Campbell (29 August 1867 – 1 March 1956) was a British Congregationalist and Anglican divine who became a popular preacher while the minister at the City Temple and a leading exponent of 'The New Theology' movement of 1907. His l ...

wrote that the book contains a "temperate and scholarly criticism of the Christ Myth theories."Campbell, Reginald John. (1921). ''The Life of Christ''. D. Appleton & Company. p. 26 In 1878, he married Alice Mary Buckton (1854–1931); the couple had no children.

Selected publications

* ''The Life and Work of Mary Carpenter'' (London: Macmillan & Co, 1879)
''Life in Palestine When Jesus Lived: A Short Hand-Book to the Synoptical Gospels''
(London: Sunday School Association, 1884)
''Outlines of the History of Religion''
(London, 1888) ranslatorbr>''The First Three Gospels: Their Origins and Relations''
(London: Sunday School Association, 1890) *''The Bible in the Nineteenth Century'' (1903)
''James Martineau, Theologian and Teacher: A Study of His Life and Thought''
(London: Philip Green, 1905) *
Comparative Religion
', (London: Williams and Norgate.

Home University Library of Modern Knowledge The ''Home University Library of Modern Knowledge'' was a series of popular non-fiction books from the first half of the twentieth century that ran to over 200 volumes. The authors were eminent scholars in their fields and included Isaiah Berlin, ...

, 1910)
''The Historical Jesus and the Theological Christ''
(London, 1911)
''Theism in Medieval India: Lectures Delivered in Essex Hall, London October-December, 1919''
(London: Williams and Norgate, 1921)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Joseph Estlin 1844 births 1927 deaths Academics of the University of Oxford Clergy from Surrey Alumni of the University of London People educated at University College School 19th-century Unitarian clergy 20th-century Unitarian clergy Principals of Harris Manchester College, Oxford