THOMAS BRIGHTMAN
The advocacy of the Jewish Return to the Holy Land was not first suggested or stated by European Jewish Zionists. Brightman was not only the first Christian to urge the return of the Jews, but the secon person of any faith to suggest it. He was only preceded by a Jewish refugee from the Spanish Inquisition--Joseph Nasi in 1561.
Thomas Brightman (1562–1607) was an English clergyman and biblical commentator. His exegesis of the Book of Revelation, published posthumously, proved influential. According to William M. Lamont, Brightman and Joseph Mede were the two most important revisionists of the interpretation and eschatology set down by John Foxe; among Brightman's contributions was to weaken the imperial associations tied to the Emperor Constantine I. The detailed reading, in favour of the Genevan and Scottish churches, and condemning the 'Laodicean' (lukewarm) Church of England, helped to move on the Puritan conceptions of church reform and its urgency.
