William Palmer (theologian)

Not to be confused with William Palmer (ecumenist).

The Reverend William Palmer
Born	William Patrick Palmer (1803-02-14)14 February 1803
Died	October 1885 (aged 81–82) London, England
Spouse	Sophia Bonne ​ ​ (m. 1839; died 1872)​
Ecclesiastical career
Religion	Christianity (Anglican)
Church	Church of England
Academic background
Alma mater	Trinity College, Dublin Worcester College, Oxford
Influences	Charles Lloyd
Academic work
Discipline	Theology
School or tradition	High-church Anglicanism
Institutions	Worcester College, Oxford

William Patrick Palmer (1803–1885), who called himself Sir William Palmer, 9th Baronet, from 1865 (although his claim to the title was never acknowledged), was an Anglican theologian and liturgical scholar of the 19th century.

Life

Born 14 February 1803, Palmer graduated from Worcester College, Oxford. He was an early supporter and influence in the Oxford Movement, but was superseded by John Henry Newman and Edward Pusey. Palmer initially supported the Tracts for the Times, but as opposition to the Oxford Movement grew, he withdrew his support, prompting a cooling in his friendship with Newman and a slow decline in his involvement with the movement. Palmer died in October 1885 in London.

Works

Palmer was author of the Origines Liturgicæ and Treatise on the Church of Christ (1838). The latter formulated the notion, called the "Branch Theory" that, provided that both the apostolic succession, and the Faith of the Apostles are kept intact, then there the Church exists, albeit in one of its branches. This was applied to the Anglican Church.

References

Bibliography

• Andrews, Robert M. (2015). Lay Activism and the High Church Movement of the Late Eighteenth Century: The Life and Thought of William Stevens, 1732–1807. Brill's Series in Church History. Vol. 70. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004293793. ISBN 978-90-04-29379-3. ISSN 1572-4107.
• Douglas, Brian (2012). A Companion to Anglican Eucharistic Theology. Volume 1: The Reformation to the 19th Century. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004221321. ISBN 978-90-04-21930-4.
• Lebreux, Marie-Pascale (1998). William Palmer of Magdalen College: An Ecclesiastical Don Quixote (MA thesis). Montreal: McGill University. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
• Nockles, Peter B. (2004). "Palmer, William Patrick (1803–1885)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21225.
• Rigg, James McMullen (1895). "Palmer, William (1803–1885)" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 43. New York: Macmillan and Co. pp. 168–170.