Write
a short note on the Oxford movement.
Or
Write
an essay on Tractarian movement what were the changes it brought in English Society.
Answer:-
The oxford movement, which is
also known as ‘The Tractarian Movement,
was fundamentally religious in nature
and had nothing to do with Tory-politics. It was not a political movement but
as it opposed liberalism in all its aspects, the Oxford leaders derived much
from the philosophy of conservatism. Among the various aims of the Oxford
movement was to rehabilitate the dignity of the Church, to defend the Church against
the interference of the State, to fight against liberalism, to resort reverence
for the sacraments, rituals and dogmas of the Roman Catholic faith.
In this word of Professor Gates, “The
Oxford Movement was in its essence an attempt to reconstruct the English church
in harmony with romantic (medieval) ideal.” Moody and Lovett also remark, “The
Oxford Movement stood for the restoration of the poetry, the mystic symbolism,
the spiritual power and beauty of architecture, ritual and service which had characterized
the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages.” The Oxford movement was opposed to
rationalism in matters concerned with the Church. It is hard to agree with G.K
Chesterton when he writes in his book ‘The Victorian Age in Literature’ that,
“The Oxford Movement was, out of very roots of its being, a rational movements;
almost a rationalist movement.”
Thomas Arnold who fastened
on the ethical significance of Christianity and minimized the importance of
ritual of ‘theological Articles of opinion’. The idea of the Visible Church, a
Divine Society instituted by Christ, with its sacraments, its rites, its
priesthood and its hierarchical appointments was repugnant to Dr. Arnold and
one of the aims of the Oxford leaders was to oppose liberalism of Dr. Arnold
tooth and nail.
With the
unprecedented growth of science in the 19th century there was a
growing demand that religion should be put to the test of rationalist
scientific examination. T.H. Huxley and many others turned agnostics when they
failed to test religious faith on the touchstone of science. The Oxford movement
stood against too much insistence on reason and proof in religious matters, and
sought to revive the faith, rituals and dogmas of Roman Catholic religion. To
quote Hugh Walker, “The mainspring of the Oxford Movement was the dread of
rationalism as he saw it in England.” The aggressive anti-rationalism
manifested itself in the Oxford men’s affirmation of miracles associated with
the history of ancient church and the numerous saints.
The Oxford movement
stood against the secular authority interfering in the affairs of the Church.
The Church was subjected to secular authority. The grave inconvenience that
arose from her connexion with the State had been demonstrated by Lord Melbourne
to the post of Religious Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford. His
idea of dogma as being a pure matter of opinion gave great offence not only to the
orthodox High Churchmen but to the Evangelicals as well. This incident created
much dissatisfaction and the Oxford Men advanced the view that the State should
make the church free because it was more than a merely human institution. Moody
and Lovett rightly remark in this connexion, “Newman and his friend wished also
to defend the Church, in view was disposed to reform it along with Parliament
and other institution, curtailing its
power and revenues.
The history of the
Oxford movement:
Oxford m,ovement members
1. John Keble:- John Henry Newman was the summary and expression of the New Catholic Movement, but the
originator of the Oxford movement was John Keble, who was the professor of
poetry at oxford. He was the disciple of Wordsworth. In July 1833 Keble
preached a sermon of the ‘National Apostasy’ and this sermon formally
inaugurated the Oxford movement. Even Newman accepted Keble as its ‘true and
primary author’. But the fact remains that fuel had been gathering for years,
and Keble chanced to light it. Keble was saintly, simple, quiet, modest and
sweet natured-soul without having literary pretensions. A life of meekness,
simplicity, and sanctity had its charm, but the times required a man of unique
caliber and he who answered to that description was not the meek, saint-like
Keble but a genius named John Henry Newman.
2. John Henry Newman. :
John Henry Newman was the
soul and spirit behind the Oxford movement. He was a genius of broad sweep, and
wider range. “He had climbed the spiritual peak and glimpsed the illimitable
sea, the sea that like a glittering girdle encompasses the world. He had seen
the melting horizons, on his ear had fallen the Eternal voice, the diapason of
the many-sounding deep.” He began as a Protestant and ended as a Roman Catholic.
He took this decisive step by his dislike of liberalism and his indignation against
the interference of the State in the church affairs. After his return from the
continent in 1832, he joined the Oxford movement and soon became its chief
pilot. He wrote many of the tracts and his one famous tract ‘Tract XC’,
provided violence criticism against him so much so that he took refuge at
Littlemore. In 1845, he was converted to the Roman Catholic faith and was made
the cardinal in 1879.
Newman’s conversation to Roman Catholic was assailed by Charles
Kingsley who charged Newman of insincerity and a cleverly devised plot to win a
large number of his followers to the Newman came out with his magnum opus ‘Apologia Pro Vita Sua’
which is a kind of spiritual autobiography. In this work Newman traced his
religious history, showing “that his conversation was only the final step in a
course he had been following since boyhood.” Praising ‘Apologia Pro Vita
Sua’ W.J. Long says, “As a
revelation of soul’s history and as a model of pure, simple, unaffected
English, this book, entirely apart from its doctrinal teaching, deserves high place in our prose, literature.”
Newman’s other works worth mention are ‘Essay of the Development of Christian
Doctrine’, ‘The Idea of a University Defined’ and his two novels ‘Loss and
‘Gain’ and ‘Calista’. He is also remembered by his famous poem ‘Lead, Kindly
Light’.
3. Richard Hurrel-
Richard
Hurrel Forude, who is chiefly known for his ‘Remains’ and ‘two of the
Tract s for the Time’ and few poems, was a brilliant man. He was a link between
Keble and Newman.
4. Froude
It was Froude who, by his ardent desire
to bring back the church of England to the Catholic traditions it had so long forsaken,
first set Newman one the path that was to lead him at last to Rome. In words of
J.L. May, “Froude’s part in the Movement was brief, but it was all important.
He was the match that fired the train. He brought Keble and Newman to
understand each other, and that was an achievement pregnant with consequences.”
5. Edward Pusey-
Edward Pusey, who originated Puseyism,
the form of Anglicanism which came nearest to Rome without being merged into
Romanism, was a man of wide learning. He was one of the protagonists of the
Oxford movement but, he was no match to Newman. In the words of
Compton-Rickett, “He is far less attractive as a personality, more questionable
in his methods and immeasurably inferior as a literary craftsman.”
6. Christina Rossetti
Christina Rossetti who is
described as “Probably the greatest of English women poets” and “the finest of English
poetesses” accepted Catholic theology of the English Church. She is well known
for ‘Goblin Market’ and other poems like ‘The Prince’s Progress’, Sing-Song’ ‘A Pageant and other Poems’, and ‘New Poems.’
7. Gerard Manly Hopkins
Gerard Manly Hopkins followed Newman for the Anglican to the
Roman Church in 1866.
8. Coventry
Patmore, a
Catholic poet, wrote ‘The Angel in the House’, ‘the unknown Eros’ and other
poems. Praising his poems Hopkins wrote, “Your poems are a good deed done for
the Catholic Church, for England, for the British Empire.”
9. Richard Watson Dixon wrote some religious verses partly in
the manner of Blake, partly in that of the Pre-Raphaelites.
The few more names
connected with the Oxford movement are those of W.G Ward, the writer of ‘Idea of a Christian
Church’. R.W. Church, the man who wrote ‘the objective
history of the Oxford Movement’ which was published in 1891. Cardinal Wiseman, author of the ‘Fabiola’ and ‘Cardinal
Manning’.
One may go on
recounting the names but if one understand Newman and his relation with the
Oxford movement; one may grasp the spirit of the Movement. To understand Newman
is to understand the Oxford movement.