James Ussher’s Influence On The Synod Of Dordt

Abstract

Archbishop James Ussher is today perhaps most well known for his 1654 groundbreaking work in biblical chronology, entitled The Annals of the World . Usshers towering theological influence on the seventeenth-century church flowed out from his formidable scholarly attainments, and has been widely recognised by both his contemporaries and modern scholars alike. This chapter argues that while Ussher's influence on the Irish Articles was doubtless significant, his influence on the Canons of Dordt has been too long overlooked. It discusses Ussher's influence on the Synod of Dordt. It does seem that by the time the Synod of Dordt was underway, Ussher was more in touch with Samuel Ward than Davenant amongst the English hypothetical universalists at Dordt. In the aftermath of the Synod, Usshers covert promotion of hypothetical universalism continued. He was considered to be the cause of Davenants Dissertatione de Morte Christi finally being published in 1650. Keywords: IrishArticles of 1615; James Ussher; John Davenant; Samuel Ward; synod of Dordt