John Lightfoot (1602–1675), the Westminster Assembly, and the Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae

Abstract

The English Hebraist John Lightfoot has a Janus-faced legacy. On the one hand, he is known among historians of the British Reformation for his participation in the Westminster Assembly (1643 – 52), for which his journal remains a crucial source of evidence. On the other hand, among historians of scholarship, he is famous primarily for his Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae (1658 – 78), an unprecedentedly thorough application of Hebrew scholarship to New Testament exegesis, now recognized as a milestone of biblical criticism. This article brings these facets of Lightfoot's legacy together by arguing that there are extensive connections between Lightfoot's contributions in the Westminster Assembly and his conclusions in the Horae. In doing so, it argues not only for the vitality and centrality of Jewish texts and learning to the history of the long Reformation, but also for the importance of theology and controversy to the history of scholarship.