Eminent Victorians · Chapter
II explained
This chapter describes the origins and early development of the Oxford Movement, focusing on the religious and intellectual climate of early 19th-century England.
What happens
This chapter describes the origins and early development of the Oxford Movement, focusing on the religious and intellectual climate of early 19th-century England. It introduces key figures such as John Keble, John Henry Newman, Hurrell Froude, and Dr. Pusey, and explains how the Tracts for the Times sought to revive high-church doctrines, challenge Protestant and secular influences, and restore a sense of the supernatural and apostolic authority to the Church of England.
Themes in this chapter
Religion and Authority
The chapter explores the tension between the established Church's authority and the revivalist claims of the Oxford Movement, which sought to restore apostolic succession and supernatural faith.
Education and Moral Reform
The Tracts and the Movement aimed to educate clergy and laity about true doctrine and moral duty, including fasting and liturgical practice.
Critique of Victorian Hypocrisy
The chapter criticizes the comfortable, worldly clergy of the established Church, contrasting them with the earnestness of the Tractarians.
Characters to notice
- Cardinal Manning
The chapter sets the stage for Manning's later involvement by describing the Oxford Movement that began during his early curacy.
- John Henry Newman
Newman is a central figure in the Oxford Movement, preaching and editing the Tracts for the Times.
- Keble
Keble is introduced as a young clergyman whose piety and zeal led him to oppose the liberal and secular trends of the time, and who contributed to the Tracts.
- Hurrell Froude
Froude is quoted expressing extreme views against the Reformers, reflecting the radical tone of the Movement.
- Dr. Pusey
Pusey, a wealthy professor and canon, becomes an early convert to the Movement and writes tracts on Baptismal Regeneration and Fasting.
- Dr. Arnold
Arnold is mentioned as a Churchman who proposed allowing Dissenters into the Church, representing the liberal views the Movement opposed.
Key passages
“Portly divines subscribed with a sigh or a smile to the Thirty-nine Articles, sank quietly into easy living, rode gaily to hounds of a morning as gentlemen should, and, as gentlemen should, carried their two bottles of an evening.”
Wealthy clergymen accepted the Church's doctrines without deep conviction, enjoyed comfortable lives, and engaged in gentlemanly pastimes like hunting and drinking.
This illustrates the complacent state of the Church before the Oxford Movement.
“It would be a gain to this country, were it vastly more superstitious, more bigoted, more gloomy, more fierce in its religion, than at present it shows itself to be.”
Keble believed that a more intense and severe form of religion would be beneficial for England.
Reflects the Tractarian desire to reintroduce a sense of the supernatural and strict devotion.
“The only good I know of Cranmer, was that he burned well.”
Hurrell Froude expressed extreme disdain for the Reformation figure Thomas Cranmer, praising only his martyrdom by fire.
Shows the radical anti-Reformation sentiment among some Oxford Movement leaders.