Francis Foster Barham
| Francis Foster Barham | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1808 Penzance |
| Died | 1871 Bath |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Known for | Alism |
Francis Foster Barham (born 1808; died 1871) was an English religious writer, known as the 'Alist'.
The fifth son of Thomas Foster Barham (1766–1844), by his wife Mary Anne, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Morton, he was born 31 May 1808 at Leskinnick, Penzance, Cornwall, where his parents dwelt in independence and retirement. After a preliminary training in the grammar school of Penzance, he studied under one of his brothers near Epping Forest, and was then articled for five years (1826–31) to a solicitor at Devonport.
In his twenty-third year he was enrolled as an attorney, and settled in London, but ill-health prevented him from pursuing the practice of the law, and he took to writing for literary periodicals. Together with John Abraham Heraud he was joint editor and proprietor of the New Monthly Magazine from 1 July 1839 to 26 May 1840, when he retired from the editorship, with permission 'to contribute two sheets of matter to each number of the magazine, retaining exclusive property in his own articles'. During the fourteen years of his home in London, Barham's most extensive literary undertaking was the preparation of a new edition of Jeremy Collier's Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain. The study of oriental languages kindled in him a great love for philology, and his intense spiritual aspirations led him to attempt to found a new form of religion, which he called "Alism". He describes it as
the supreme central doctrine which combines and harmonizes all partial sections of truth in one divine universal system. After very prolonged and arduous researches at last discovered this supreme central doctrine, and gave it the name of Alism, a name derived from A, Al, or Alah, the most ancient and universal title of Deity in the Hebrew scripture. By Alism I therefore mean that eternal divinity, pure and universal, which includes and reconciles all divine truths whatsoever to be found in scripture or nature, in theology, theosophy, philosophy, science, or art.
Barham founded a society of Alists and also a Syncretic Society. He likewise attached himself to an æsthetic society which met at the house of James Pierrepont Greaves.
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