Peter Gunning (1614 – 6 July 1684) was an English

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

church leader,

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex. The Episcopal see, see is based in t ...

and

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with ...

Life

He was born at

Hoo St Werburgh Hoo St Werburgh, commonly known as Hoo, is a large village and civil parish in the Medway, Medway district of Kent, England. It is one of several villages on the Hoo Peninsula to bear the name ''Hoo'', a Saxon word believed to mean "spur of l ...

, in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, and educated at

The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...

and

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

, where he became a fellow in 1633. Having taken orders, he advocated the Royalist cause eloquently from the pulpit. In 1644, during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, he retired to

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, and held a chaplaincy at New College until the city surrendered to the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

ary forces in 1646. Subsequently he was chaplain, first to the royalist Sir Robert Shirley of Eatington (1629–1656), and then at the Exeter House chapel. After the Restoration in 1660 he was installed as a canon of

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christianity, Ch ...

. In the same year he returned to Cambridge as Master of Corpus Christi, and was appointed

Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity The Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity is the oldest professorship at the University of Cambridge. It was founded initially as a readership in divinity by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, in 1502. Since its re-endowment ...

. He also received the livings of

Cottesmore, Rutland Cottesmore (often pronounced Cotts'more) is a village and civil parish in the north of the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. In terms of population it is the largest village in Rutland, and the third-largest settlement after O ...

, and

Stoke Bruerne Stoke Bruerne is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about north of Milton Keynes and south of Northampton. The civil parish population at the 2011 Census was 373. History Stoke Bruerne ...

, Northamptonshire. In 1661 he became head of

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, and was elected

Regius Professor of Divinity The Regius Professorships of Divinity are amongst the oldest professorships at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. A third chair existed for a period at Trinity College Dublin. The Oxford and Cambridge chairs were founded by ...

. While he served as Regius Professor of Divinity he established an

Arminian Arminianism is a movement of Protestantism initiated in the early 17th century, based on the Christian theology, theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed Church, Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remo ...

soteriological tradition at Cambridge that was furthered by his successor Joseph Beaumont. He was consecrated bishop of Chichester in 1669, and was translated to the see of Ely in 1674–1675. Holding moderate religious views, he disliked equally

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

ism and

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Works

His works are chiefly reports of his disputations, such as that which appears in the ''Scisme Unmask't'' (Paris, 1658), in which the definition of a

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

is discussed with two Roman Catholic opponents

John Spenser John Spenser (1559–1614) was an English academic, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Life He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, and Temple Beth-El. After graduating he became Greek reader in Corpus Christi College, ...

and John Lenthall.

Family

A relative of his, Sir Robert Gunning, became a famous diplomat.

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunning, Peter 1614 births 1684 deaths 17th-century Church of England bishops Regius Professors of Divinity (University of Cambridge) Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Arminian ministers Arminian theologians Bishops of Chichester Bishops of Ely English male non-fiction writers English theologians Lady Margaret's Professors of Divinity Masters of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Masters of St John's College, Cambridge Participants in the Savoy Conference People educated at The King's School, Canterbury People from Hoo St Werburgh 17th-century Anglican theologians