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Churchmanship (or tradition, in most official contexts) is a way of talking about and labelling different tendencies, parties, or schools of thought within the Church of England and the sister churches of the Anglican Communion. The term has at times been used in Lutheranism in a somewhat similar fashion.
The term is derived from the older noun churchman, which originally meant an ecclesiastic or clergyman but, some while before 1677, it was extended to people who were strong supporters of the Church of England and, by the nineteenth century, was used to distinguish between Anglicans and Dissenters. The word "churchmanship" itself was first used in 1680 to refer to the attitude of these supporters but later acquired its modern meaning. While many Anglicans are content to label their own churchmanship, not all Anglicans would feel happy to be described as anything but "Anglican". Today, in official contexts, the term "tradition" is sometimes preferred.
"High church" and "Low church", the oldest labels, date from the late seventeenth century and originally described opposing political attitudes to the relation between the Church of England and the civil power. Their meaning shifted as historical settings changed and, towards the end of the nineteenth century, came to be used to describe different views on the liturgical practices and ceremonial to be used in worship. Shortly after the introduction of this "High/Low" distinction, a segment of the "Low" church was nicknamed Latitudinarian because of its relative indifference to doctrinal definition and significance. In the nineteenth century, this 'group' gave birth to the Broad church, which, in turn, produced the "Modernist" movement of the first half of the twentieth century. Today, the "parties" are usually thought of as , evangelical Anglicans, and Liberals and, with the exception of "High church", the remaining terms are mainly used to refer to past history. The precise shades of meaning of any term vary from user to user and mixed descriptors such as liberal Catholic are found. Today "Broad church" has come to refer to Anglicans who are neither high nor low/evangelical.
It is an Anglican commonplace to say that authority in the Church has three sources: Scripture, Reason, and Tradition. In general, the Evangelical Low churchman tends to put more emphasis upon Scripture, the Broad churchman and the Liberal upon reason, and the High churchman and the Anglo-Catholic upon tradition. The emphasis on "parties" and differences is necessary but in itself gives an incomplete picture. Cyril Garbett (later Archbishop of York) wrote of his coming to the Diocese of Southwark:
and William Gibson commented that
A traditional poem to describe churchmanship is "Low and Lazy, Broad and Hazy, and High and Crazy." Lazy refers to simpler worship, hazy to unclear tradition or beliefs, and crazy to excessive ceremonialism; but the author of the poem may have been a humorist.
In the United States, a "churchman" is typically understood to mean a member (irrespective of gender) of The Episcopal Church (TEC). Usage of the term began in the nineteenth century and has been modified in the twentieth century. The Churchman's Human Quest (1995–1996). & – is one of the titles of a periodical which has changed many times.
There may be overlap between these categories; for example, the Lutheran Church–International (LC–I) is a confessional Lutheran denomination of Evangelical Catholic churchmanship.
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