Bishop Joseph Butler was a man who influenced his country, its thinkers, and the practitioners of his Christian faith a great deal during both his own life and the following decades and even over the next century. He believed in divine revelation and combated the rationalists in his own time, while doing this crossed paths with some great thinkers. Yet, his life seemed to be one of a simple yet genius man, who tried to live honestly as befits a man of the cloth.
Joseph Butler was born in 1692 in the town of Wantage Berkshire. His father was a retired linen draper. From a young age his keenness for intellectual pursuits and propensity towards academia was seen by his father. Butler would begin his schooling at a local grammar school but was soon transferred to Presbyterian academies, where he would become the pupil of Mr. Jones, a man whom a small community of young theological scholars surrounded.(Angus)
A testament to his intellectual bearings is demonstrated by his correspondence with Samuel Clarke. At the age of 21 he began a series of letters with Dr. Clarke, raising a number of objections to Clarke’s recent work, A Demonstration of the being and Attributes of God. Samuel Clarke would eventually have these letters published in 1716 though in them Butler would be anonymous.(Angus)
Eventually, Butler decided on leaving his father’s Presbyterian Church and joined the Church of England. He was educated at Oxford and there made friends and connections which would advocate for his advancement within the Church later on.(Angus)
He began preaching at Rolls Chapel in 1718 after he became a Anglican priest. It was during this time he would write of his famous 15 sermons and also proceed with working on what would become his greatest work, The Analogy. He then left this post in 1726 and published those 15 sermons that same year.(Angus)
There seems to have been a gap in his career progression over the next few years, but in 1733 a friend, Thomas Secker, would advocate for him and in 1736 he would become the prebendary of Rochester England.(Angus)
Also in 1736, Joseph Butler became a cleric in the court of Queen Caroline. He would work there until her death a year later.(Garrett).
Most significantly, he would publish The Analogy that same year. Though we do know that he had been developing and working on the ideas portrayed in The Analogy for a long time, even stretching back into his 20s. This book would also have different editions come out, one of which notability added two dissertations at the end of the book.(Angus)
He later became the Bishop of Bristol on the recommendation of the deceased Queen and was actually offered the primacy as the Bishop of Canterbury at another point. Interestingly, Bishop Butler would turn this last offer down. Despite his ardent defense of Christianity, he had a not so positive view of the Anglican Church’s state. He believed he was not the man for the job; that is to say, he didn’t believe he was the man to fix the many problems facing the Church at the time. A very interesting demonstration of his character.
He would then eventually become the Bishop of Durham, where his published 6 Sermons were originally preached. He would remain here until his death in 1752 at the age of 60. (Angus)
Bishop Joseph Butler lived and died a poor man. He donated most of his wealth and wages to charity, churches and those in need. He died possessing not even half of his yearly wages.(Angus)