Blunt, John Henry

BLUNT, JOHN HENRY: Church of England scholar; b. in Chelsea, London, Aug. 25, 1823; d. in London Apr. 11, 1884. He gave up a business career for the ministry, studied at University College, Durham (M.A., 1855), and was ordained priest in 1855; after filling a number of curacies, he became in 1868 vicar of Kensington, near Oxford, and in 1873 rector of Beverston, Gloucestershire. He was a pronounced High-churchman, and an indefatigable writer both of articles for the periodicals and of books; among his works are a number of useful theological and Biblical compends, such as The Annotated Book of Common Prayer (2 vols., London, 1866; new ed., 1895); Dictionary of Doctrinal and Historical Theology (1870); The Book of Church Law (1872; 9th ed., revised by W. G. F. Phillimore and G. E. Jones, 1901); Dictionary of Sects, Heresies, Ecclesiastical Parties, and Schools of Religious Thought (1874); The Annotated Bible: being a household commentary upon the Holy Scriptures, comprehending the results of modern discovery and criticism (3 vols., 1879–82); A Companion to the New Testament (1881); A Companion to the Old Testament (1883); also an important history of The Reformation of the Church of England (2 vols., 1869–82). At the time of his death he was working upon a Cyclopædia of Religion (1884).