John Lightfoot

1602-1675. English biblical scholar. Born at Stoke-on-Trent, he graduated from Cambridge, spent two years teaching at Repton, and after ordination was engaged in pastoral work in Shropshire and Staffordshire (1630-42). He supported Parliament in the Civil War. In 1643 he became rector of St. Bartholomew's, London, and was a member of the [[Westminster Assembly]]* in which he was on the Erastian side against the extreme Presbyterians. He was later rector of Great Munden and master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge (1650), and was vice- chancellor of Cambridge University (1654). He took part in the [[Savoy Conference]]* (1661), this time supporting the Presbyterians. His works include Erubhin; or Miscellanies, Christian and Judaical (1629), a book on Genesis (1642), and Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae (6 vols., 1658- 78), showing the bearing of Jewish studies on NT interpretation. He also assisted [[Brian Walton]] with the Polyglot Bible (1657).