ENGLISH THEOLOGY, 1837-1937.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 27, Issue 8, 1 August 1937, Page 8

ENGLISH THEOLOGY, 1837-1937.

(From The' Times Literary Supplement.) The history of English theology m the years 1837 to 1937 is m the main the story of five movements-^— the revival of a Catholic outlook m the Church of England; the growth of the Liberal spirit; the development of Biblical criticism; the restatement of , the Christian ethic m the light both of industrialism and of new problems of individual morality; and the recasting . of Christian philosophy to accord with modern concepts and the

new discoveries of. science. These five movements have by no means worked themselves out, and' the year 1937 is no time to write their epitaphs. But it so happens that the year 1837 is very close to the origin of the first three of these movements. The Oxford Movement was then barely four years old and dazzled the country by the learning, the eloquence and the piety of those who subscribed to its tenets. Pre-eminent among them was John Henry Newman (1801-90), who m his turbulent career had found a temporary halting- place m the conception of the Anglican Church as a via media be--tween Protestantism and Romanism. He described his faith as AngloCatholicism, the religion of Andremes, Laud, Hammond, Butler and Wilson," and m its defence published m 1837 his "Prophetical Office of the Church viewed relatively to Romanism and Popular Protestantism." Almost all that was best m the intellectual life of Oxford was caught by the movement, and not least among the adherents was William Ewart Gladstone (1809-98), then "the rising hope of those stern, unbending Tories." He published m 1838 his first work, "The State m Its Relations with the Church," which led Peel to exclaim, "That young man will ruin his fine political career if he persists m writing 'trash like this." It argued that the State has a duty to enforce religious truths, and its interest is mainly that it provoked Macaulay's famous review. Newman had barely developed his conception of the via media, so ac- | ceptable to the English genius, when he began to have doubts. He sought to maintain a precarious foothold m the Anglican Church by an addition to the Tracts for the Times. This famous series had changed its character since its inception m 1833. The first tracts were written "as a man might give notice of a fire or inundation^ to startle all who heard him." That object achieved, the later pamphlets were designed as careful .pieces of theological reasoning. Such was Newmans celebrated Tract 90, published m 1841. Its thesis was that the Articles of Reiigion do not oppose Catholic teaching, but where

they appear to do so merely reject Raman errors. Few^ pamphlets have had such momentous consequences. Newman realised that it made his position as leader of the Oxford Movement impossible, and the movement itself, which had once seemed irresistible, incurred the odium, of the University authorities; it was driven into the parishes, where the ritual aspect naturally developed at the expense of the theological. Newman recognised later that from 1841 onwards he was on ' his "death-bed as regards membership with the Anglican Church"; but he then strove to shut his eyes to his ineluctable fate. Some of his associates had clearer sight. Among them had .been Richard Hurrell Froude (1803-36), and the publication of his "Remains" (1837-9) by his friends had given the first warning of the Roman elements m the movement. A more strident Romanism came from William George Ward (1812-82), mathematical lecturer at Balliol. He claimed the right to hold m the Anglican Church "the whole cycle of Roman doctrine," and m 1844 published his "Ideal of a Christian Church," m which the ideal was indistinguishable from the existing Roman communion. The book was condemned by the University and "Ideal Ward," as he was thence to be known, degraded. He took this censure with the greatest good humour, and joined the Church of Rome m 1845. A little later Newman brought himself to a similar decision and joined "the lonely priest m his lodgings, the unlettered throng at. the altar," over whom his exotic imagination cast such a halo of romance. He had been engaged on his "Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine," whereby he had finally resolved all doubts. The essay was provoked by the contrast between the highly articulated body of Roman Catholic doctrine and the simplicity of apostolic beliefs. Newman explained this by the concept of growth or development, and his essay is significant for applying m the field of theology that principle of evolution which Darwin was later to make so familiar m the realm of biology. (To be continued.)