Matthew Poole (1624–79), author of the famous Synopsis Criticorum Biblicum, was a seventeenth century ecclesiastical leader, nonconformist, apologist, and minister in England. Poole is best remembered for his Synopsis in the scholarly Latin tongue, and the English language Annotations upon the Holy Bible (the modern day A Commentary on the Holy Bible) written for the layperson. These works were highly valued by such divines as Charles Spurgeon and Jonathan Edwards.

Poole began his literary life by submitting to publication a significant treatise against John Biddle’s writings on the Holy Spirit. He also gave his name to the endorsement of two published tracts: one against the Quakers and the other an evangelistic appeal upon the occasion of a notorious murderer in London.

Learn more about Poole’s fascinating life and the numerous controversies in which he was engaged. The controversy that consumed most of his energy and time was his argument against the infallibility of the Roman Catholic Church, saying that Catholics have no grounding for their faith and that Protestants have a very firm grounding for faith in the Scriptures.