Philip Nye (c. 1595-1672) was a leading English Independent theologian.
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He graduated with an M.A. from Magdalen Hall, Oxford in 1622. He spent the years 1633 to 1640 in exile, in Holland.[1].
He was one of the Five Dissenting Brethren in the Westminster Assembly, and a leader of the group alongside Thomas Goodwin[2]. With support from Lord Kimbolton[3] he had influential connections with the Parliamentary Army[4], and also had the living of Kimbolton, then in Huntingdonshire. He acted as an adviser to Oliver Cromwell on matters around regulation of the Church[5]. According to Ivan Roots, the eventual ecclesiastical settlement under the Protectorate followed closely proposals from 1652, outlined by Nye with John Owen and others[6].
He later had the parish of Acton. He was employed by Parliament, on a mission to the imprisoned Charles I, and as a trier of preachers. He is mentioned in Hudibras[7].
He was a co-author of the Apologeticall Narration, pleading for toleration of Calvinist congregations outside a proposed Presbyterian national church[8]. In the Whitehall Debates of 1648, however, he supported Henry Ireton’s view that toleration should be limited by the state. He was one of those agitating successfully against the Racovian Catechism[9].
He was an opponent of astrology[10].