The previous essay discussed the Evangelical Revival in the Church of England, associated on the one hand with the movement of John and Charles Wesley that led to the eventual formation of Methodism as a church body separate from the Church of England, and on the other with those like John Newton, William Wilberforce, and Charles Simeon associated with the Clapham Sect, who, while staying within the Church of England, shared with Methodism the characteristic of being a kind of ecclesiola in ecclesia, a reforming movement within the Church of England.

The Oxford Movement of the following generation lasted through the short period of 1833 to 1845. Despite existing for only a decade, the movement created the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England, and, in its own way, had as much influence on later Anglicanism as did the Evangelical Revival. Similarly to the earlier movement, it became a movement within the larger church (an ecclesiola in ecclesia), and, like the Evangelical Revival, was not only a movement of reform, but a criticism of perceived failings within the larger church.

The historical setting of this intended corrective included what could be designated the “worldly church.” At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was a great deal of wealth inequality in the hierarchy of the Church of England, particularly between wealthy bishops and local clergy, who were often poor. Receiving the office of episcopacy was often a case of having the right social connections and being born into the right family. A bishop could have a very comfortable lifestyle if he happened to be the right bishop in the right location at the right time. On the other hand, a parish priest in an ordinary small country parish might be quite poor.

Connected with this disparity was the problem of absenteeism. If a priest was wealthy enough, he could receive the income from a particular parish and use it to pay someone else to do the actual pastoral work without ever being personally present. The novels of Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope provide examples of clerical politics and the concern of some clergy to become wealthy by having the right patron. Mr. Collins in Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice is one of the more comical examples in English literature of such a priest.

Also important as cultural background was the Romantic Movement, largely a reaction against the Enlightenment of the previous century. Romanticism had its effect in the music of Beethoven, the literature of Goethe, and the poetry of Keats and Shelley. The Romantic Movement was also associated with an idealization of the Middle Ages, for example, in such novels as Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.

In architecture, Romanticism was associated with the Gothic Revival. Beginning in the nineteenth century, architects began once again to build churches that looked like the churches of the Middle Ages. Modern people often think of these Gothic revival churches when they imagine what an Anglican church looks like. Even in small town USA, one can find Presbyterian, Methodist, and even Baptist churches in the Gothic style.

Politically, the Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1803 to 1815, and came to an end when Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. In England, Parliament passed several laws that resulted in the protests that marked the first stages of the Oxford Movement. The Sacramental Test Act of 1828 repealed the requirement that members of Parliament had to take communion in the Church of England. In 1829, the Roman Catholic Relief Act for the first time allowed Roman Catholics to become members of Parliament. In 1832, the Reform Act was an alliance of Whigs and Dissenters, which strengthened the House of Commons, thus reducing the power of the House of Lords, which included bishops of the Church of England who served in the House of Lords.

These three laws had the following effects. First, they gave more power to the middle class in England, many of whom were Dissenters and Roman Catholics.

Second, non-Anglicans were now members of Parliament. Since the Church of England was a state church, this meant that non-Anglicans could make decisions that affected the established church. In 1832, Parliament passed the Irish Church Measure, the practical purpose of which was to reduce the number of bishops in the Church of Ireland, which was a branch of the Church of England, but was also a minority church, since the Roman Catholic church was the church of most of the Irish people. Parliament’s goal was to save money by reducing the number of bishops from twenty-two to twelve.

The Tractarians

The Oxford Movement began when John Keble preached his famous Assize Sermon on National Apostasy on July 14, 1833. Keble believed that Parliament had overstepped its bounds. A secular Parliament including Roman Catholics and Dissenters who were not members of the Church of England had no business telling the Church of England, or the Church of Ireland in this case, how many bishops it could have.

After the sermon, Keble and some of his friends began publishing a series of essays titled Tracts for the Times.¹ Because of these Tracts, members of the Oxford Movement were referred to at the time as “Tractarians.” In 1836, the group began publishing a series of translations of patristic texts titled the Library of the Fathers. Some of these translations are still the only available English translations of some of these texts. The Tractarian Movement came to an end in 1841 with the publication of Tract 90 by John Henry Newman. (more…)