The Oxford Movement and the People of God

Abstract This book is about the role that ‘Tractarian’ theologians considered the lay people should have in the Church, which is to say it is a book about theology. But it is also about the role certain lay people did play in the Church of England, at home and overseas during the nineteenth century, and is therefore a history book, too. ‘Tractarians’ is a label which includes not only the writers of the Tracts for the Times—the leaders of what became known as the Oxford Movement—but also their readers and followers. The first chapter introduces these lesser-known laymen and laywomen, while estimating overall numbers of lay Tractarians. The next five chapters explore theological topics that determine the laity’s normative role (Providence, ecclesiology, consensus fidelium, episcopacy, and spirituality) in the view of Keble, Newman, Pusey, and other theologians. New here is the way each topic is paired with a historical theme (colonial slavery, Church Establishment, synods, the British Empire, and the American Civil War) to show the theological motivations for what the lay Tractarians were doing.