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From Diversity to Sectarianism: the Definition of Anglican Identity in Nineteenth-Century England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Frances Knight
Frances Knight*
Affiliation:
University of Wales, Lampeter
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Extract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the subject of Anglican identity in the period from about 1800 to about 1870. This is a complex topic, and it will be possible here only to highlight a few themes. It will be suggested that the understanding of who was and who was not a ‘real’ Anglican underwent several important shifts during the period, until by the 1870s the definition had become increasingly narrow and exclusive. The result was not unity, but an atmosphere of increasingly narrow sectarianism, which had the effect of repelling those who were on the fringes of Anglican allegiance, and thus narrowing the base of lay support for the Church of England in the country at large.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 32: Unity and Diversity in the Church , 1996 , pp. 377 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1996

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