A Reconsideration of Richard Bancroft's Paul's Cross Sermon of 9 February 1588/9

1969 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. D. J. Cargill Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Church History ◽  
Anglican Church ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
Novel Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Considerable Length ◽  
Anglican Theology ◽  
The Church

Richard Bancroft's Paul's Cross Sermon of 9 February 1588/9 owes its fame to the fact that it has traditionally been associated with the first appearance in Anglican theology of the jure divino theory of episcopacy. So far as I have been able to discover, this tradition appears to derive its origin from the account of the Sermon given by John Strype in the eighteenth century, although the germ of the idea is considerably older, since it can be traced back to the attacks made at the time by Bancroft's puritan opponents, most notably Sir Francis Knollys, who accused him, along with archbishop Whitgift and others, of seeking to undermine the Royal Supremacy by preaching that bishops owed their ‘superiority’ over the lower clergy to God rather than to the queen. Until the eighteenth century, however, this interpretation of Bancroft's teaching is only to be found in puritan writers. Seventeenth-century Anglican church historians in general do not appear to have attached any doctrinal significance to the Sermon. Peter Heylyn, for example, in his Aërius Redivivus (1670) refers to it as ‘a most excellent and judicious Sermon’ and proceeds to give a lengthy summary of its contents without at any point suggesting that Bancroft was putting forward a novel theory of episcopacy, while Thomas Fuller makes no reference to it at all either in his Church History of Britain (1655) or in his account of Bancroft in The Worthies of England (1662). At the beginning of the eighteenth century the Sermon enjoyed a modest vogue among the Non-Jurors, who admired it for its vigorous defence of the Church of England against the attacks of the puritans; but neither Henry Gandy, who reprinted it at the instigation of Dr. George Hickes in the first volume of the Bibliotheca Scriptorum Ecclesiae Anglicanae (1709), nor Jeremy Collier, who discussed it at considerable length in his Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain (1709-14), drew any explicit connexion between the Sermon and the emergence of the jure divino theory of episcopacy.

Theology in the Church of England

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. W. Young
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
International Reputation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Joseph Butler ◽  
Anglican Theology ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Church

The dismissive characterization of Anglican divinity between 1688 and 1800 as defensive and rationalistic, made by Mark Pattison and Leslie Stephen, has proved more enduring than most other aspects of a Victorian critique of the eighteenth-century Church of England. By directly addressing the analytical narratives offered by Pattison and Stephen, this chapter offers a comprehensive re-evaluation of this neglected period in the history of English theology. The chapter explores the many contributions to patristic study, ecclesiastical history, and doctrinal controversy made by theologians with a once deservedly international reputation: William Cave, Richard Bentley, William Law, William Warburton, Joseph Butler, George Berkeley, and William Paley were vitalizing influences on Anglican theology, all of whom were systematically depreciated by their agnostic Victorian successors. This chapter offers a revisionist account of the many achievements in eighteenth-century Anglican divinity.

The Professionalization of an Elite: The Nineteenth Century Episcopate

1991 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
William T. Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social History ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Church History ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
Popular View ◽  
History Of ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
The Church

A number of Victorian writers identified a change in the episcopate in the nineteenth century: Dean Burgon, for example, believed that a remodeled episcopacy emerged at this time. Historians have advanced the view that the changes were generated by the Whig ecclesiastical reforms of the 1830s. Indeed it is part of the schemata of ecclesiastical history that bishops in the eighteenth century were fundamentally different from those in the nineteenth century. Yet, as C. K. Francis Brown admitted, there has been no attempt to establish a pattern of this in the career and social history of the nineteenth century episcopate. This is all the more surprising since a structuralist analysis of the Caroline and Hanoverian episcopate has existed for some years. The traditional view of Church history, that the ecclesiastical reforms of the 1830s and 1840s were the principal engine of change, have tended to overlook the structural changes in bishops' career patterns and that there was a change in the concept of the episcopal function. The context of this changed concept of episcopal duty is important. Recent work on the professionalization of the clergy has focused on the immediate impact of the Reformation and the development of the Church as a profession up to the early eighteenth century. Rosemary O'Day and Geoffrey Holmes have demonstrated that between 1580 and 1730 the clerical profession became increasingly stratified. The overpopulation of the clergy in the eighteenth century accelerated this trend, establishing a Church in which there were extremes of wealth and poverty. At the same time the clergy were subject to greater lay control than any other emergent profession. This tension between professionalization and institutions of the state has been examined in other occupations, but throughout the nineteenth century it grew stronger in the Church. From patronage of a living to nomination to a see, laity dominated the Church. In spite of Whig reforms of the 1830s and 1840s lay control established strict parameters within which the professionalization of the episcopate occurred. The effect of control from outside the Church was that the paths to the bench of bishops remained more numerous and varied than the limited paths to the elite of other professions like the judiciary. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries also saw functional trends that brought about the professionalization of the clergy. These changes have been thoroughly analyzed by Anthony Russell. The self-conscious spirituality of the Tractarian movement also effected changes in the popular view of the clerical function, and the episcopate was not immune to these changes. By the closing decades of the nineteenth-century bishops were appointed whose careers had been touched by these trends. Equally important were developments within the episcopate that altered the bishops' roles.

The Origins of the Fuging Tune

1981 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Temperley
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
English Music ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Church

The fuging psalm or hymn tune is a form whose existence one would hardly suspect from any history of English music. Yet is was a product of the Church of England, and there are more than six hundred and fifty specimens in English eighteenth-century printed sources alone. Its neglect is readily explained by the fact that it lies on the borderline of art music: the musicians who developed it were obscure country singers without professional training; but at the same time it does not fall within the definition of ‘folk music’ that we have inherited from the Cecil Sharp era, for it is written music designed for rehearsed performance. We may or may not wish to hear or sing these tunes today. But our understanding of eighteenth-century English musical life must be incomplete if it does not take into account a form that was so distinctive and so widely appreciated at the time.

John Henry Newman’s Selected Themes from the Theology of the Church

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-76
Author(s):  
Paweł Beyga
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Personal History ◽  
John Henry Newman ◽  
Anglican Church ◽  
Famous Person ◽  
Anglican Theology ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

John Henry Newman is one of the most famous person on the Catholic and Anglican Church. In his works he was writing on the both theological position. In the article author showed selected aspects of John Henry Newman’s theology of the Church, so-calledecclesiology. For understanding Newman’s theological position very important are his personal history in the Church of England, situation in the Catholic Church and two dogmas proclaimed during the life of this new Catholic saint. In the last part of the article theecclesiology of John Henry Newman is rereading in the light of modern problems in the Catholic and Anglican theology.

The Ecclesiastical Condition of New York at the Opening of the Eighteenth Century

1912 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 79-115
Author(s):  
Edward Tanjore Corwin
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Previous History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
Antecedent Conditions ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

The decades clustering about the year 1700 were unusually important in reference to the subsequent ecclesiastical history of New York. The previous history of the Church in that province, except during the political episode of the Leisler troubles, had been comparatively tranquil; but in the decades alluded to, new elements were introduced and complications ensued, which modified all former conditions, and caused not a little friction in ecclesiastical affairs down to the Revolution. Nevertheless, new phases of Christian activity were also thereby developed, which became very influential; and the discussions which ensued clarified the atmosphere in reference to the proper relations of Church and State and prepared the way for their separation. In order to get a proper background for the consideration of the period alluded to, permit a brief reference to some antecedent conditions.

The Oxford History of Anglicanism, Volume II

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
International Study ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Anglican Church ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

The Oxford History of Anglicanism is a major new and unprecedented international study of the identity and historical influence of one of the world’s largest versions of Christianity. This global study of Anglicanism from the sixteenth century looks at how Anglican identity was constructed and contested at various periods since the sixteenth century; and its historical influence during the past six centuries. It explores not just the ecclesiastical and theological aspects of global Anglicanism, but also the political, social, economic, and cultural influences of this form of Christianity that has been historically significant in Western culture, and a burgeoning force in non-Western societies today. The chapters are written by international experts in their various historical fields which includes the most recent research in their areas, as well as original research. The series forms an invaluable reference for both scholars and interested non-specialists. Volume II of The Oxford History of Anglicanism explores the period between 1662 and 1829 when its defining feature was arguably its establishment status, which gave the Church of England a political and social position greater than before or since. The contributors explore the consequences for the Anglican Church of its establishment position and the effects of being the established Church of an emerging global power. The volume examines the ways in which the Anglican Church engaged with Evangelicalism and the Enlightenment; outlines the constitutional situation and main challenges and opportunities facing the Church; considers the Anglican Church in the regions and parts of the growing British Empire; and includes a number of thematic chapters assessing continuity and change.

Learning Against Religion, Learning as Religion: Mark Pattison and the ‘Victorian Crisis of Faith’

1981 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 311-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Nimmo
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Church History ◽  
Crisis Of Faith ◽  
Reason And Faith ◽  
Anglican Theology ◽  
A Minor ◽  
The Church ◽  
Lincoln College

In the drama of English church history in the nineteenth century, the reverend Mark Pattison, Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, from 1861 to 1884, has hitherto been accorded a minor and somewhat transient role. He has appeared in two guises: first, as an Oxford Tractarian who, compelled by Newman’s secession in 1845 to choose between the Church of England and of Rome, opted for the former, but found his faith so unsettled by the process that he eventually lost it altogether; and secondly, as one of the contributors to that landmark—and landmine—of Anglican theology, Essays and Reviews. The argument of this paper is that his role was in fact both more constant and more considerable: an exploration of conflict between learning and religion, reason and faith; a conflict which in one way or another spanned his life, and in which reason did not merely criticise and challenge religion, but also aspired to replace it. In these two forms the conflict of learning and belief was, it need hardly be said, a key element in the so-called ‘Victorian crisis of faith’; insofar as Pattison’s career embodied it, he becomes a representative figure of the experience of his time, and so takes his stand, if not at the centre, then certainly in the foreground of the ecclesiastical stage.

An Eighth-century Poem on St. Ninian

Antiquity ◽  
1940 ◽  
Vol 14 (55) ◽  
pp. 280-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilhelm Levison
Keyword(s):  
Church History ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Northern Province ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
Spiritual Instruction ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

Whithorn in Galloway and Kirkmadrine nearby are famous to the archaeologist and historian as the homes of the oldest Christian monuments in Scotland, namely the memorial stones still to be found there. They were erected in a district where the church history of Scotland originated through the efforts of St. Ninian. A few lines in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, III, 4, contain the earliest traditions about him which have come down to us. According to this late record, ‘Nynia’ was a British bishop who brought the Christian faith to the southern Picts (australes Picti). He had got his spiritual instruction in Rome, and had his episcopal see and his last resting-place amidst other saints-at Whithorn, Ad Candidam Casam, so called after the church dedicated to St. Martin which he built of stone, a fashion unusual to the Britons. As to his age, Bede merely says that he was at work a long time before St. Columba came to the northern Picts in 565. The intercourse with Rome can hardly have been later than the fifth century; a dedication to St. Martin who probably died in 397, cannot have been made before the same century. When Bede finished his History in 731, Whithorn was under Northumbrian rule, belonging to the northern ‘province’ of Bernicia. An English episcopal seat had been erected there shortly before, having Pecthelm as first bishop (Hist. eccl v, 23); he had been a long time deacon and monk in Wessex with Aldhelm, the abbot of Malmesbury and bishop of Sherborne, famous for his writings, who died in 709. Pecthelm was one of Bede’s authorities (ib., v. 13, 18); so it has been suggested that the latter was indebted to Pecthelm for his knowledge of Ninian. Pecthelm was one of the correspondents of St. Boniface who also came from Wessex, and who wrote him a letter on a question of canonical law shortly before he (Pecthelm) died in 735. It must also be noted that Bede distinguishes clearly between Whithorn, situated amongst the British, and the Pictish country, the scene of Ninian’s missionary efforts.

Anglican-Danish Relations from the American to the Icelandic Consecration Proposals (1784–1866)

1970 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-355
Author(s):  
J. E. Pinnington
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Anglican Church ◽  
Grand Tour ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church ◽  
External Characteristics

Between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries the Church of England and the Nordic Churches had by no means uncommon contacts, which extended, on at least one occasion, in the correspondence between the Reverend Edward Lye and Carl Jasper Benzelius, to matters specifically ecumenical. From the Restoration period there was a Scandinavian presence in London, which was graced with a remarkable degree of religious freedom virtually amounting to ‘most favoured nation’ treatment, and the contemporaneous English commercial colonies at Elsinor and Gothenburg enabled some members, at least, of the Anglican Church to observe their Scandinavian counterparts in their native habitat. Yet, notwithstanding these apparent advantages, Anglicans, on the whole, remained more ignorant of the Episcopal Churches of Northern Europe than of the Dutch, French and Swiss Reformed Churches, and the one cross-influence which there was in this period, through bishop Jacob Serenius of Strängäs, was apparently so superficial that nothing of significance could be built upon it. Part of the reason was, no doubt, that Scandinavia and Iceland were outside the normal itinerary of the Grand Tour and also outside the main channels of eighteenth-century British diplomacy. This being so, the peculiar external characteristics of Lutheranism, particularly its northerly variety, were likely to baffle and deter those rare Englishmen who came face to face with it.

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