High Church - Evolution of The Term

Evolution of The Term

In the 17th century, the term "High Church" was used to describe those divines and laity who placed a "high" emphasis on complete adherence to the Established Church position, including some emphasis on ritual or liturgical practices inherited from the Early Church or the Undivided Church. Anglicanism had only recently split from the See of Rome, and this split (orchestrated by King Henry VIII) was more administrative than liturgical, so it was natural that the Anglican service should mirror the Roman Catholic. However, as the Puritans began demanding that the English Church abandon its traditional liturgical emphases, episcopal structures, parish ornaments and the like, the "High Church" position came to be distinguished increasingly from that of the Latitudinarians, who sought to minimise the differences between Anglicanism and Reformed Christianity, and to make the church as inclusive as possible by opening its doors as widely as possible to admit other Christian viewpoints.

Until the early 19th century High Churchmen were those wishing to maintain the link between church and state and the liturgy of the 1662 Prayer Book. The 19th century Oxford Movement within the Church of England began as a High Church movement, following a call to action to save the Church of England, whose position, with emancipation of Roman Catholics and other changes in the English body politic, was perceived as being in danger. High Churchmen strove against the erosion of the Church of England's traditionally privileged and legally entrenched role in English society. Over time a significant number of the leading lights of the Oxford Movement became Roman Catholics, following the path of John Henry Newman, one of the fathers of the Oxford Movement and, for a time, a High Churchman himself. A life-long High Churchman, the Reverend Edward Bouverie Pusey remained the spiritual father of the Oxford Movement and in holy orders of the Church of England.