John of Reading

John of Reading (Johannes de Reading, Johannes Radingia) (died 1346) was an English Franciscan theologian and scholastic philosopher. He was an early opponent of William of Ockham, and a follower of Duns Scotus. He wrote a commentary on the Sentences around 1320, at the University of Oxford. He argued for the unity of science. John of Reading also is credited with the "Prose for Christmas Day", the source for the Christmas Hymn: O come, all ye faithful (Adeste Fideles).

In 1322 he moved to a teaching position at Avignon, which in modern times is a commune in the Vaucluse department in southeastern France. Reading is buried at Avignon.

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    My first reading of Tolstoy affected me as a revelation from heaven, as the trumpet of the judgment. What he made me feel was not the desire to imitate, but the conviction that imitation was futile.
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