Samuel Clark. Source: Wikipedia Commons

Samuel Clarke, born 11 October 1675 at Norwich, England, died 17 May 1729, studied first mathematics and philosophy, then the New Testament, became chaplain-in-ordinary to Queen Anne of England. He is the author of many treatises on theological subjects, including a book on the Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity (1712). Clarke can be said to be the founder of rationalistic supranaturalism. Against deism and pantheism, which were much accepted and widely spread in his time, Clarke defends the contents of the Biblical revelation, which, however, he tries to explain with reason. Two of his books, A Discourse concerning the Being and Attributes of God (1705) and A Discourse concerning the unchangeable Obligations of Natural Religion and the Truth and Certainty of the Christian Revelation (1705), were translated into Dutch by the Mennonite minister Jan Boelaart in 1753 and 1769. J. Stinstra, a Mennonite minister, also translated the sermons of Clarke into Dutch (9 vols. 1739-1749). By these translations Clarke had some influence on the Mennonites in the Netherlands, and made the rationalism of the Dutch Mennonites in the 18th century more Scriptural than it was elsewhere.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 619. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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