Oxford Movement

This is the name given to a movement within the Church of England which endeavoured to resist government interference in the church affairs and reaffirm the authority of the church as a holy and divinely authenticated institution. Its origins were political as well as religious (Nockles, 1994). The early adherents of the movement were concerned at the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832; at the appointment of bishops and Regius Professors of Theology by the government; at what they saw as a careless liberalism in matters of belief; and at the disrespect shown for the church in general (shown, among other things, by the government’s decision to reduce the number of Irish bishops). In...