Anglo-Catholicism
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage, especially pre-Reformation roots, of the Church of England and other churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Catholicism claims to restore liturgical and devotional expressions of church life that reflect the ancient practices of the early and medieval church.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic heritage of Anglicanism already existed. Particularly influential in the history of Anglo-Catholicism were the Caroline Divines of the 17th century, the Jacobite Nonjuring schism of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the Oxford Movement, which began at the University of Oxford in 1833 and ushered in a period of Anglican history known as the "Catholic Revival".
History
The historic Anglican formularies, developed under the influence of Thomas Cranmer, include the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and The Books of Homilies, both of which reflect the Reformed theology of the Protestant Reformation in England. The Book of Common Prayer was shaped by Cranmer as well and this became the standard liturgical text of Anglicanism for the coming centuries.Following the passing of the Act of Supremacy and Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England continued to adhere to most traditional Catholic teachings and did not initially make any other major alterations to doctrine. In 1536, the Ten Articles were published and constitute the first official Anglican articles of faith. The articles for the most part concurred with the teachings of the church in England as they had been prior to the English Reformation and defended, among other things, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacrament of Confession, the honouring and invocation of Christian saints, and prayer for the dead. Belief in purgatory was made non-essential.
In 1537, this was followed by the Institution of the Christian Man, also called The Bishops' Book, a combined effort by numerous Anglican clergy and theologians which—though not strongly Protestant in its inclinations—showed a slight move towards Reformed positions. The Bishops' Book was unpopular with conservative sections of the church and quickly grew to be disliked by Henry VIII as well.
In 1539, the Six Articles moved away from all Reformed ideas and strongly affirmed Catholic positions regarding matters such as transubstantiation and Mass for the dead. The King's Book, the official article of religion written by Henry in 1543, likewise expressed Catholic sacramental theology and encouraged prayer for the dead.
A major shift in the development of Anglican doctrine came in the reign of Henry's son, Edward VI, who repealed the Six Articles and under whose rule the Church of England became more identifiably Protestant. Though the church's practices and approach to the sacraments became strongly influenced by those of continental reformers, it nevertheless retained episcopal church structure. The Church of England was then briefly reunited with the Roman Catholic Church under Mary I, before separating again under Elizabeth I. The Elizabethan Religious Settlement was an attempt to end the religious divisions among Christians in England, and is often seen as an important event in Anglican history, ultimately laying the foundations for the concept of "via media" in Anglicanism.
The nature of early Anglicanism was to be of great importance to the Anglo-Catholics of the 19th century, who would argue that their beliefs and practices were common during this period and were inoffensive to the earliest members of the Church of England.
Conformist views
In the early history of Anglicanism, various clerics documented the elaborate liturgy celebrated in the Lutheran Churches to advance the same in the Church of England. In Two dialogues, or conferences Concerning kneeling in the very act of receiving the sacramental bread and wine, in the Supper of the Lord, Anglican cleric Thomas Rogers referenced the Mass of the Lutheran Churches to defend the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer, assembled by the reformer Thomas Cranmer: "For all the Churches in Basel, Saxony, Denmark, and many in Germany, by the orders of their several Churches at the Communion, as well as we in England, do kneel."During the Stuart Restoration, Anglican cleric John Durel appealed to the Lutheran liturgy for the presence of ceremony in the Church of England:
In 1715, Sir William Dawes, 3rd Baronet noted that the "Lutheran religion... much farther; and are not only more abundant in their Ceremonies, but in the Pomp and Splendor of their Churches where Images and Pictures of Saints and Holy Men are expos'd to publick View on purpose to excite the frequenters of those Sacred Places to the Imitation of their Examples."
Caroline Divines
The Caroline Divines were a group of influential Anglican theologians active in the 17th century who opposed Calvinism, Lutheranism, and Puritanism and stressed the importance of apostolic succession, episcopal polity, and the sacraments. The Caroline Divines also favoured elaborate liturgy and aesthetics. Their influence saw a revival in the use of images and statues in churches. The leaders of the Anglo-Catholic revival in the 19th century would draw heavily from the works of the Caroline Divines.Oxford Movement
The modern Anglo-Catholic movement began with the Oxford Movement in the Victorian era, sometimes termed "Tractarianism". In the early 19th century, various factors caused misgivings among English church people, including the decline of church life and the spread of unconventional practices in the Church of England. The British government's action in 1833 of beginning a reduction in the number of Church of Ireland bishoprics and archbishoprics inspired a sermon from John Keble in the University Church in Oxford on the subject of "National Apostasy". This sermon marked the inception of what became known as the Oxford Movement.The principal objective of the Oxford Movement was the defence of the Church of England as a divinely founded institution, of the doctrine of apostolic succession, and of the Book of Common Prayer as a "rule of faith". The key idea was that Anglicanism was not a Protestant denomination but a branch of the historical Christian Church, along with the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. It was argued that Anglicanism had preserved the historical apostolic succession of priests and bishops, and thus the Catholic sacraments. These ideas were promoted in a series of ninety "Tracts for the Times", but were rejected both by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
The principal leaders of the Oxford Movement were John Keble, John Henry Newman, and Edward Bouverie Pusey. The movement gained influential support, but it was also attacked by some bishops of the church and by the latitudinarians within the University of Oxford, who believed in conforming to official Church of England practices but who felt that matters of doctrine, liturgical practice, and ecclesiastical organisation were of relatively little importance. Within the Oxford Movement, there gradually arose a much smaller group which tended towards submission to the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1845, the university censured a tract entitled Ideal of a Christian Church and its author, the pro-Roman Catholic theologian W. G. Ward, on which basis was imputed the moniker "Ideal Ward". In 1850, evangelical cleric George Cornelius Gorham had victory in a celebrated legal action against church authorities. Consequently, some Anglicans of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship were received into the Roman Catholic Church, while others, such as Mark Pattison, embraced Latitudinarian Anglicanism, and yet others, such as James Anthony Froude, became skeptics.
The majority of adherents of the movement remained in the Church of England and, despite hostility in the press and in government, the movement spread. Its liturgical practices were influential, as were its social achievements and its revival of male and female monasticism within Anglicanism.
Recent developments
Since at least the 1970s, Anglo-Catholicism has been dividing into two distinct camps, along a fault line which can perhaps be traced back to Bishop Charles Gore's work in the 19th century.The Oxford Movement had been inspired in the first place by a rejection of liberalism and latitudinarianism in favour of the traditional faith of the "Church Catholic", defined by the teachings of the Church Fathers and the common doctrines of the historical Eastern and Western Christian traditions.
Because of the emphasis on upholding traditions, until the 1970s most Anglo-Catholics rejected liberalising development such as the conferral of holy orders on women. Present-day "traditionalist" Anglo-Catholics seek to maintain tradition and to keep Anglican doctrine in line with that of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. They often ally themselves with conservative evangelical Anglicans to defend traditional teachings on sexual morality and women's roles in the Church. The main organisation in the Church of England that opposes the ordination of women, Forward in Faith, is largely composed of Anglo-Catholics.
Gore's work, however, bearing the mark of liberal Protestant higher criticism, paved the way for an alternative form of Anglo-Catholicism influenced by liberal theology. Thus in recent years, many Anglo-Catholics have accepted the ordination of women, the use of inclusive language in Bible translations and the liturgy, and progressive attitudes towards homosexuality and the blessing of same sex unions. Such Anglicans often refer to themselves as "Liberal Catholics". This more "progressive" style of Anglo-Catholicism is represented by Affirming Catholicism and the Society of Catholic Priests, although, unlike Forward in Faith, this organisation is not as visible with the laity.
A third strand of Anglican Catholicism criticises elements of both liberalism and conservatism, drawing instead on the 20th-century Catholic Nouvelle Théologie, especially Henri de Lubac. This movement rejected the dominance of Thomism and Neo-Scholasticism in Catholic theology and advocated instead for a "return to the sources" of the Christian faith – scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers –, while remaining open to dialogue with the contemporary world on issues of theology. John Milbank and others within this strand have been instrumental in the creation of the ecumenical movement known as radical orthodoxy.
Since the 1970s, some traditionalist Anglo-Catholics have left official Anglicanism to form "continuing Anglican churches" whereas others have left Anglicanism altogether for the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches, in the belief that liberal doctrinal changes in the Anglican churches have gone too far.