John Colet, applying the critical historical methods…
1500 CE
John Colet, applying the critical historical methods developed in Italy to discover the original intent and meaning of the New Testament, Colet introduces Neoplatonism into England around 1500.
The eldest son of Sir Henry Colet (Lord Mayor of London 1486 and 1495), was born in London in January 1467, and was educated at St Anthony's school and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where in 1490 he took his M.A..
He was already nonresident rector of Dennington, Suffolk, and vicar of St Dunstan's, Stepney, and now became rector of Thurning, Hunts.
He had gone to Paris in 1493 and then to Italy, studying canon and civil law, patristics and Greek.
During his time abroad he had become acquainted with Budaeus (Guillaume Budé) and Erasmus, and with the teaching of Savonarola.
On his return to England in 1496 he had taken orders and settled at Oxford, where he lectures on the epistles of Saint Paul, replacing the old scholastic method of interpretation with one more in harmony with the new learning.
Due to their influences, when he arrived back in England, he returned more than just a humanist; he returned a Christian reformer.
His methods do much to influence Erasmus, who visits Oxford in 1498, and who will later receive an annuity from Colet.
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