Anglicanism

This chapter analyses the ways nineteenth-century Anglicanism has been studied by scholars. Three different traditions of historiography are identified and explored. The first approach is interested in internal ecclesiastical debates, in relations between Church and state, and in wider social change. A brief discussion of the historiography of the Oxford Movement illustrates how academic approaches to this topic have developed since the 1840s. The second approach is scholarly immersion in nineteenth-century Anglican theology, which remained influential for most of the twentieth century. However, it fell out of favour from the 1980s, as new styles of theology became more fashionable. The third approach is the study of Anglicanism outside the British Isles. This developed from a focus on mission history and the development of the Anglican Communion, to more recent appreciation of global Anglicanism, seeking to do justice to the experience of Anglicans, wherever they live in the world.