Editing Joseph Priestley (section)

==Early life and education (1733–1755)==
[[File:Coat of Arms of Joseph Priestley.svg|175px|thumb|left|Coat of Arms of Joseph Priestley]]
[[File:PriestleyBirthplace.jpg|thumb|Priestley's birthplace (since demolished) in Fieldhead, [[Birstall, West Yorkshire]] – about six miles (10 km) southwest of [[Leeds]]<ref>Schofield (1997), 2.</ref>|alt=Black-and-white drawing of a two-story brick house along a road.]]

Priestley was born in [[Birstall, West Yorkshire|Birstall]] (near [[Batley]]) in the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], to an established [[English Dissenters|English Dissenting]] family who did not conform to the [[Church of England]]. He was the oldest of six children born to Mary Swift and Jonas Priestley, a [[finishing (textiles)|finisher]] of cloth. Priestley was sent to live with his grandfather around the age of one. He returned home five years later, after his mother died. When his father remarried in 1741, Priestley went to live with his aunt and uncle, the wealthy and childless Sarah (d. 1764) and John Keighley, {{convert|3|mi|km}} from Fieldhead.<ref name=oxford2004>[[#oxford2004|Gray & Harrison: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]], pp. 351–352</ref>

Priestley was a precocious child—at the age of four, he could flawlessly recite all 107 questions and answers of the [[Westminster Shorter Catechism]]—and his aunt sought the best education for him, intending him to enter ministry. During his youth, Priestley attended local schools, where he learned Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.<ref>Schofield (1997), 2–12; Uglow, 72; Jackson, 19–25; Gibbs, 1–4; Thorpe, 1–11; Holt, 1–6.</ref>

Around 1749, Priestley became seriously ill and believed he was dying. Raised as a devout [[Calvinist]], he believed a [[Conversion to Christianity|conversion experience]] was necessary for salvation, but doubted he had had one. This emotional distress eventually led him to question his theological upbringing, causing him to reject [[Unconditional election|election]] and to accept [[Christian universalism|universal salvation]]. As a result, the elders of his home church, the [[Independent (religion)|Independent]] Upper Chapel of [[Heckmondwike]], near Leeds, refused him admission as a full member.<ref name=oxford2004/><ref>Schofield (1997), 1, 7–8; Jackson, 25–30; Gibbs, 4; Priestley, ''Autobiography'', 71–73, 123.</ref>

Priestley's illness left him with a permanent [[Stuttering|stutter]] and he gave up any thoughts of entering the ministry at that time. In preparation for joining a relative in trade in [[Lisbon]], he studied French, Italian, and German in addition to [[Aramaic]], and Arabic. He was tutored by the Reverend George Haggerstone, who first introduced him to higher mathematics, [[natural philosophy]], logic, and [[metaphysics]] through the works of [[Isaac Watts]], [[Willem 's Gravesande]], and [[John Locke]].<ref>Schofield (1997), 14, 28–29; Uglow, 72; Gibbs, 5; Thorpe, 11–12; Holt, 7–9.</ref>

===Daventry Academy===
Priestley eventually decided to return to his theological studies and, in 1752, matriculated at [[Daventry Academy|Daventry]], a Dissenting academy.<ref>Schofield (1997), 28–29; Jackson, 30; Gibbs, 5.</ref> Because he was already widely read, Priestley was allowed to omit the first two years of coursework. He continued his intense study; this, together with the liberal atmosphere of the school, shifted his theology further leftward and he became a [[English Dissenters#Rational Dissenters|Rational Dissenter]]. Abhorring dogma and religious mysticism, Rational Dissenters emphasised rational analysis of the natural world and the Bible.<ref>McEvoy (1983), 48–49.</ref>

Priestley later wrote that the book that influenced him the most, save the Bible, was [[David Hartley (philosopher)|David Hartley]]'s ''[[Observations on Man]]'' (1749). Hartley's psychological, philosophical, and theological treatise postulated a material [[Philosophy of mind|theory of mind]].<!-- "philosophy of mind" link is better than "theory of mind" --> Hartley aimed to construct a Christian philosophy in which both religious and moral "facts" could be scientifically proven, a goal that would occupy Priestley for his entire life. In his third year at Daventry, Priestley committed himself to the ministry, which he described as "the noblest of all professions".<ref>Qtd. in Jackson, 33. See Schofield (1997), 40–57; Uglow, 73–74; Jackson, 30–34; Gibbs, 5–10; Thorpe, 17–22; Tapper, 314; Holt, 11–14; Garrett, 54.</ref>