Bull, George

BULL, GEORGE: Bishop of St. David's; b. at Wells, Somersetshire, Mar. 25, 1634; d. at Brecon, Wales, Feb. 17, 1710. He studied at Oxford but did not take a degree; became minister of St. George's, near Bristol, 1655; rector of Suddington St. Mary's, near Cirencester, 1658, to which was joined the vicarage of the adjoining parish of St. Peter's 1662; rector of Avening, Gloucester, 1685. From 1678 to 1686 he was a prebendary of Gloucester; from 1686 to 1705 archdeacon of Llandaff. He became bishop of St. David's, Wales, in 1705. His fame rests upon his Defensio fidei Nicænæ, published originally in Latin in 1685 and received with marked approval by Protestant and Roman Catholic (e.g., Bossuet and Jurieu) scholars everywhere; it is still a classic. In English translation, it appears in the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology, together with his Harmonia Apostolica (4 vols., Oxford, 1851–53).

Bibliography: His complete works appeared in 7 vols., 1827, with the life by Robert Nelson (originally 1713, separately 1840). The DNB, vii, 236–238, gives a very satisfactory account of his life.