In What Ways Did the Oxford Movement Influence Anglicanism - Article Example

In What Ways Did the Oxford Movement Influence Anglicanism? The Oxford Movement occurred in 1833-1841 at the of Oxford, when the movements leaders sought to prove that the Church of England descended from the church of the Apostles. Each of the leaders were associated with the Church of England, and formed a faction within Anglicanism (the following of the Church of England). The Oxford Movement is said to have begun with John Kebles Oxford sermon in 1833 on national apostasy (Melton xxiii), or abandonment of religious faith or principles. This event created the Oxford Movement as well as the Anglo-Catholic faction within the Church of England. This Anglo-Catholic faction is sometimes called the High Church faction, High Church meaning they favored incorporating Roman Catholic elements such as liturgy into Anglican worship. A motivating cause of the Oxford Movement was unhappiness with the secularization of the Church of England. This secularization meant converting from ecclesiastical (pertaining to the organized church), to lay use, or even drawing away from religious orientation. The Oxford Movement was also known as the Tractarian Movement, after a series of tracts the movements leaders published, or as Puseyites, after one of their leaders. The Oxford Movements tracts were called Tracts for the Times (1833-1841). The main leaders of the Oxford Movement were Richard Hurrell Fourde, John Keble, Henry Edward Manning, John Henry Newman, Edward Bouverie Pusey. Each of these leaders would have an influential role to play in the dissemination of the Oxford Movements teachings. Other leaders included Gerald Manley Hopkins, Sir William Palmer, Robert Wilberforce, and Isaac Williams. The aim of the Oxford Movement was to promote the High Church faction or Catholic aspects of Anglicism. One of its principal leaders was John Henry Newman, who is credited with writing the famous Tracts. Newman opposed the Gothic revival architecture, which he felt did not convey the importance of the sacraments. Newman was part of the Church of England at the time of the Oxford Movement, but converted to Catholicism at the end of the movement, in 1845. The Oxford Movements leaders argued that the one Catholic church had three branches (Anglicanism, Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism), which is known as Branch Theory. Their leaders attacked liberalism in theology. Newman decided that the Roman Catholic doctrines set down in the Council of Trent were equivalent to the Church of Englands Thirty-Nine Articles. This line of reasoning, Newmans own perceived inadequacy of the Branch Theory, and unhappiness with secularization, eventually led to the conversion of Newman, and later Manning, to Catholicism. These conversions had a large effect on the movement, leading to a series of other conversion. These conversions even continue today. The Oxford Movement has been criticized for being merely Romanizing, since the main tendency of the movement was towards incorporating elements of Roman Catholicism into worship. But there is no doubt that the Oxford Movement had a large influence on the theory and practice of Anglicanism, with many outcomes that may not have even been intended by the original leaders of the Oxford Movement. The most obvious effect of the Oxford Movement is probably that a large number of Catholic practices were introduced into Anglican worship. Of these Catholic practices, probably the most important emphasis was placed on the celebration of the Eucharist. Some other effects of the Oxford Movement associated with Catholic practices include the more common use of vestments, which are ritual robes worn by the clergy, especially at the celebration of the Eucharist. The Roman Catholic emphasis on liturgy and ceremony was increasingly incorporated into Anglican worship, as a result of the Oxford Movement. Liturgy is the rite of the Eucharist, or a religious ritual with a prescribed form. The Oxford Movement, especially through the publication of the Tracts, brought insights of the liturgical movement into Church of England’s worship. A later outcome of the Oxford Movement was the establishment of numerous Anglican orders for men and women. These Anglican orders were pronounced null and void by the Pope in 1896, due to the Catholic church’s objection to Anglican rites of ordination, which showed that the Anglican intention was to create a priesthood different from the Catholic church priesthood. The status of these Anglican orders is still being debated today. The Anglican acceptance and ordination of women as priests and bishops is another sticking point for the Catholic church, and the Catholic church continues to debate the authenticity and validity of the Anglican orders. According to the Catholic church, the ordination of women constitutes a breaking with apostolic succession. Current Anglican practice also involves intercommunion with churches not associated with apostolic succession, creating another divisive issue for the Catholic church. These issues can all be seen to stem from the Oxford Movement, although they were not necessarily an outcome intended by its leaders or by John Henry Newman, who were very much concerned with apostolic succession and its manifestation within the Anglican church. These effects of the Oxford Movement were met with hostility by the Church establishment, and led to controversies in court. There where situations where bishops refused to pay Tractarian priests, causing these followers of the Oxford Movement’s teachings to end up preaching in slums. This led to critiques of social policy and the formation of the Christian Social Union, which debated social issues and even had some bishops of the Anglican church as members. A smaller, more radical Catholic Crusade was another result of these situations. The continuing effect on the Anglican church of today is called Anglo-Catholicism, and incorporates the resulting organizations of the Oxford Movement, the ideas of the movement, and the styles of worship it led to. According to Wilfrid Ward, the significance of the Oxford Movement is not only the "renewed influence of Catholic doctrine and ceremonial in the Church of England" (Ward Part 2) but also, by providing a philosophy aligning the Church of England with the Catholic Church, the Oxford Movement was also an attempt to keep the Christian faith alive in secularistic times. Ward also states that Newman defended the Oxford or Tractarian Movement against Evangelical criticism by arguing that the Catholic Church’s dogmatic system and organization sheltered individuals from rationalism and agnosticism. Newman was against Liberalism, which was private judgment of religious matters, and favored dogma of the Catholic church because it provided corporate belief, which rested on tradition and accumulated wisdom. Presumably, this dogma would shelter the faith of individuals in times to come, which Newman saw as becoming increasingly times of doubt. C.C.J. Webb states that the Oxford Movement’s central religious philosophy was moralism: that religious experience is rooted in moral values and religious experience involves aspiring for what is morally perfect (Webb Section VI.5). According to Webb, this main idea of the Oxford Movement led to changes that the leaders would not have approved of. These included free critical study of the Bible and the dying out of the doctrine of eternal punishment. The part of the Oxford Movement that led to these changes is attributed by Webb to the failure of the Oxford Movement’s leaders to isolate the authority of the Bible or the doctrine of Atonement. People were also inclined to make these changes because they were following the main Tractarian idea that religion rested on the moral, and religious doctrine should not get in the way of the moral conscience. The Oxford Movement was a theological and spiritual movement that developed into a ritualistic movement. The Anglican communion became revised with liturgical rites, and in this way the Oxford Movement was a theological success. The Oxford Movement also put an emphasis on the connection between holiness and ritual. The current spirituality trends can be seen as a manifestation of this emphasis on holiness within the Oxford Movement. The main years of the Oxford Movement, 1833 to 1845, were not without controversies. After Hurrell Fourde published The Remains, there was a loss of tolerance among some churchmen for the Oxford Movement (Hill). Presumably, this loss of tolerance was for attempts to reestablish the theological tradition of the Caroline divines. There were several effects of the Oxford Movement. These included the strengthening of High Church factions within the Church of England. Since the times of the Oxford Movement, leaders of Anglo-Catholicism have repeatedly made attempts to join the Church of England with Roman Catholicism. These attempts at reconciliation continue today, and even resulted in a meeting between the bishop of Canterbury and the Pope (Melton 411). These effects are in addition to the changes made in the Anglican Communion. The Oxford Movement has also had an influence outside of the Anglican church. For instance, ecumenical Protestantism has recently seen renewed interest in formal liturgy, an interest which can be traced back to the Oxford Movements effects. In addition, some would attribute the increased openness of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope towards the Anglican church as another result of the Oxford Movement. Within the United States, the Oxford Movement has created controversy between supporters and opponents of the Oxford teachings. A pair of bishop brothers named Onderdonk were removed from office in the 1800s for supporting the Oxford Movements teachings (Melton 412). The Oxford Movement also has had influence on religious denominations that oppose its teachings. For instance, much of Baptist religious thought during the Victorian era was a reaction against the High Church Anglicanism of the Oxford Movement (McGrath 29). The Oxford Movement has been credited with the rise of Anglicanism from an official state religious ideology to a religious and theological force. Anglo-Catholicism was “the leading intellectual and religious force within Anglicanism until the eve of the First World War” (McGrath 3), after which Anglicanism became more influenced by modernism. The writings of the Oxford Movement put an emphasis on patristic studies, or the relating to the fathers of the early Christian church. This later became a reference point for how Anglicans defined themselves (McGrath 3). Newman’s writings emphasized tradition, the church’s historical connection to the early Christian church, and apostolic Christianity. Although the leaders of the Oxford Movement initially sought to restore the church ideals of the seventeenth century, the emphasis on historical connections of the church eventually brought ceremonial and liturgical elements of medieval times into Anglican worship. The Oxford Movement renewed interest in Eucharist theology. After the Oxford Movement, the Eucharist became more central to worship. The Eucharist is a form of communion. The Oxford Movement eventually led to “a commitment to the improvement of the social order especially in the large cities of the European industrial revolution” (McGrath 584). The Oxford Movement initially spurred a liturgical movement. Much later, in the nineteenth century, this liturgical movement created advances in the theology and celebration of the sacraments, which are the formal Christian rites considered to be instituted by Jesus as a means of grace; these rites include the Eucharist. Before the Oxford Movement, the consensus was that the Church of England was a Protestant church. The Oxford Movement, with its emphasis on the roots of the church going back to the Apostles, and its purported connection to the Roman Catholic church, met with hostility from the church establishment of the Church of England. This hostility lasted until Newman and his followers converted to Catholicism and moved to Rome. In addition to becoming at odds with the church establishment in England, the Oxford Movement came to oppose the Evangelical church, and its teachings of justification by faith. In contrast to this, William Palmer’s ecclesiastical publication in 1838, “A Treatise on the Church of Christ,” is an example of the Oxford Movement’s assertion of apostolic succession (McGrath 132). The Oxford Movement itself had been influenced by the Methodist movement, which created a movement of emotional religiosity, characterized by spiritual fervor and religious seriousness. This emotional religiosity was to become a factor in the Oxford Movement, although the Oxford Movement leaders also combined this religiosity with romanticism. This emotional religiosity and spirituality is a trend which continues within churches today. The Oxford Movement can be viewed as the root of Anglo-Catholic socialism that is active today. The liturgy within Anglo-Catholic socialism includes Eucharist and prayers for peace and justice; litany for nonviolent resistance; and urban rogation procession. Much of the influence of the Oxford Movement on Anglicanism lies in the spiritual thought expounded in the ninety Tracts written by John Henry Newman (Newman Tracts 1-90). The aim of the Tracts were to revive the doctrines. The subjects included within the Tracts include ministerial commission; the Catholic Church; alterations to the liturgy; and importance of adhering to the apostolic succession. Newman used the Tracts to put forth his theory that the Church of England is one branch of the Church of Christ. He writes about the obligation of the church for primitive practice; and on such church matters as the length of the church service, Sunday lessons, and the practice of fasting. Newman argues for the frequent use of communion, and gives the scriptural view of apostolical commission. The Tracts also provide the doctrine surrounding the Eucharist; the standing ordinances of religion; and the rites and customs of the church. Newman also deals in the Tracts with the introduction of rationalistic principles into religion; on Romanism and purgatory; and on mysticism of the Fathers of the Church. Newman also comments within the Tracts on the Thirty-Nine Articles used by the Church of England. These writings of the ninety Tracts and the issues they deal with are probably the most influential in establishing the teachings of the Oxford Movement, teachings that would later be incorporated to a large extent within Anglicanism. In addition to the ninety Tracts written by Newman, there is an additional Tract ninety-one written by William Reed Huntington in 1907, called “The Articles of Religion from an American Point of View.” This tract is connected to the other tracts by the topics it covers, such as a criticism of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. So one of the influences of the Oxford Movement can be seen as an openness to criticize and reject these Thirty-Nine Articles. In conclusion, the Oxford Movement was instrumental in numerous changes within the Anglican church. The effects of the Oxford Movement, both within worship and religious thought, can still be seen today in the contemporary Anglican church and its orders. In addition, the Oxford Movement had a direct effect on the religious thought of other denominations who either supported or opposed its teachings and outcomes. Works Cited Chandler, Michael. An Introduction to the Oxford Movement. New York: Church Publishing, 2003. Church, R.W. The Oxford Movement Twelve Years 1833-1845. London: Macmillan & Co., 1894. Hill, Mary Eleanor. An Introduction to the Oxford Movement. Anglican Theological Review. Spring 2004. McGrath, Alister E. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Christian Thought. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 1999. Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedia of Protestantism. New York: Facts on File, Inc, 2005. Newman, John Henry. Tracts for the Times. New York: Charles Henry, Publishers, 1839. Schaff, Philip. Tractarianism. In New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Vol XI, p.479. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1953. Ward, Wilfrid. The Oxford Movement. London: Jack, 1912. Webb, Clement Charles Julian. Religious Thought in the Oxford Movement. New York: Macmillan, 1928. Read More