Joseph Mede

1586-1638. English biblical scholar. Born in Essex, he graduated from Cambridge, where he subsequently became professor of Greek and taught several Cambridge Platonists, including B. Whichcote,* Henry More,* and R. Cudworth.* In addition to being one of the greatest biblical scholars the English Church has ever produced, Mede demonstrated his universal interests by being a philosopher, botanist, astronomer, and a pioneer Orientalist. He twice refused the provostship of Trinity College, Dublin, preferring to teach. His expository fame rests upon the Apocalyptica (Key of the Revelation, 1627, 1643). He attempted to construct an outline of the Apocalypse based solely upon internal considerations. In this interpretation he advocated premillennialism in such a scholarly way that this work continued to influence eschatological interpretation for centuries.