Editing Oxford Movement (section)

==History==
{{History of the Church of England}}
In the early nineteenth century, many of the [[clergymen]] of the [[Church of England]], particularly those in high office, saw themselves as [[latitudinarian]] (liberal). Conversely, many clergy in the parishes were [[Evangelicals]], as a result of the revival led by [[John Wesley]]. Alongside this, the universities became the breeding ground for a movement to restore liturgical and devotional customs which [[syncretism|borrowed deeply]] from traditions before the [[English Reformation]], as well as from contemporary Roman Catholic traditions.<ref>{{Cite web|title = The Church of England (the Anglican Church)|url = http://victorianweb.org/religion/denom1.html|website = victorianweb.org|access-date = 2015-12-07}}</ref>

The immediate impetus for the Tractarian movement was a perceived attack by the [[Reform Act 1832|reforming]] [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]] administration on the structure and revenues of the [[Church of Ireland]] (the [[established church]] in Ireland), with the [[Church Temporalities (Ireland) Act 1833|Irish Church Temporalities Bill]] (1833). The Act provided for the merging of dioceses and provinces of the [[Church of Ireland]], and the elimination of [[Vestry]] Assessment ([[church rate]]s or "parish cess"), a cause of [[grievance]] in the [[Tithe War]]. The bill also made changes to the leasing of church lands. Some politicians and clergy (including a number of [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]]) feared that the Church of England might be disestablished and lose its endowments.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/event/Oxford-movement Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Oxford movement". ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', 20 Aug. 2020]</ref> [[John Keble]] criticised these proposals as "[[National Apostasy]]" in his [[Assizes|Assize]] Sermon in Oxford in 1833, in which he denied the authority of the [[British Parliament]] to abolish several [[Diocese|dioceses]] in Ireland.<ref name=episcopal>[https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/oxford-movement-the/ "Oxford Movement, The", The Episcopal Church]</ref> 

The [[Gorham Case]], in which [[Secularity|secular]] courts overruled an ecclesiastical court on the matter of a priest with somewhat unorthodox views on the efficacy of [[infant baptism]], was also deeply unsettling. Keble, [[Edward Bouverie Pusey]], Newman, and others began to publish a series known as ''[[Tracts for the Times]]'', which called the Church of England to return to the ways of the ancient and undivided church in matters of doctrine, liturgy and devotion.<ref name=episcopal/> They believed that the Church of England needed to affirm that its authority did not come from the authority of the state, but from God. 

Even if the Anglican Church were completely separated from the state, it could still claim the loyalty of Englishmen because it rested on divine authority and the principle of apostolic succession.<ref>{{ cite book |last1=Shelley |first1=Bruce L. |title=Church History in Plain Language|pages= 387 |year=2013}}</ref> With a wide distribution and a price in pennies, the Tracts succeeded in drawing attention to the views of the Oxford Movement on points of doctrine, but also to its overall approach, to the extent that Tractarian became a synonym for supporter of the movement. 
 
The Tractarians postulated the [[Branch Theory]], which states that Anglicanism, along with [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]] and Roman Catholicism, form three "branches" of the historic pre-[[Schism in Christianity|schism]] Catholic Church. Tractarians argued for the inclusion of traditional aspects of liturgy from medieval religious practice, as they believed the church had become too "plain". In the final tract, "[[Tract 90]]", Newman argued that the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, as defined by the [[Council of Trent]], were compatible with the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]] of the 16th-century Church of England. Newman's eventual reception into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845, followed by [[Henry Edward Manning]] in 1851, had a profound effect on the movement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mocavo.com/A-Short-History-of-the-Oxford-Movement-2/104802/164|title=A Short History of the Oxford Movement|work=Mocavo|access-date=4 March 2014|archive-date=26 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226070256/http://www.mocavo.com/A-Short-History-of-the-Oxford-Movement-2/104802/164|url-status=dead}}</ref>