Moral philosopher and theologian, born in Wantage, Berkshire, Southern England, UK. He studied at Oxford, took orders, and was appointed preacher at the Rolls Chapel, London (1718). While holding various church appointments, he wrote his major work, The Analogy of Religion (1736), in which he argued that objections against revealed religion may also be levelled against the whole constitution of nature. He was made Bishop of Bristol (1738), Dean of St Paul's (1740), and Bishop of Durham (1750).