Come to be known as the “Oxford Movement,” due to its beginnings at Oxford University, theologians such as John Keble (1792–1866), John Henry Newman (1801–1890), John Mason Neale (1818–1866), and Frederich Faber (1814–1863) sought to forge a middle way between Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism.

Over the past month I have been exploring the various historical roots that created what we might call “evangelical worship” today, including German Pietism, American Revival, the Wesleys, American Democracy and Camp Meetings, and Charles Finney. Today, I’d like to look at one reaction to some of these developments, that I would suggest also had somewhat of an impact on how evangelical worship developed.

In England, as evangelical revivalism similar to that of America spread, a strong Anglo-Catholic contingent within the Anglican Church opposed what they considered to be the extreme emotionalism of the evangelical revivals but also sought to correct what they considered stagnation in the Church of England.

Read More