Archives and Special Collections: Subject guides - Religious Archives

O'Brien, James Thomas

James Thomas O'Brien (1792-1874) was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and graduated BA in 1813. He held a fellowship and was created Doctor of Divinity in 1830. He was Dublin University Preacher from 1828 to 1842 and his post-Lutheran sermons on justification by faith alone became a standard text. In 1842 he became Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin at which time his scholarship turned to ecclesiastical history and politics. He was an advocate of synodical church government. He was a critic of the Oxford Movement and in the 1860s defended the Irish Church against disestablishment. His papers are embedded amongst those of the Lloyd-Greame family and comprise twelve boxes of manuscript sermons, miscellaneous lectures and photographs [DDLG/53].