William Chillingworth

William Chillingworth (12 October 1602 – 30 January 1644) was a controversial English churchman. Born in Oxford, he was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, where he became a fellow. He was influenced by Pyrrhonism and his theology was a kind of probabilism. In 1630, he converted to Catholicism and went to Douai, but returned to England in 1631. His major work, "The Religion of Protestants a Safe Way to Salvation" (1637), argued for the sole authority of the Bible and the right of individual conscience. He was appointed Chancellor of Salisbury in 1638. During the First English Civil War, he fought for the Royalist cause and was captured by Parliamentarian forces, dying in Chichester. He was known for his rational approach to religion and his opposition to the charge of Socinianism.