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A high church is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, and sacraments," and a standard liturgy.The New Oxford Dictionary of English 1998 OUP Although used in connection with various Christian traditions such as high church Lutheranism, the English term high church originated in the Anglican tradition, where it described a churchmanship in which a number of Ritualism associated in the popular mind with Roman Catholicism were used, or as a description of such practices in the Catholic Church and elsewhere. The opposite tradition is low church. Contemporary media discussing Anglican churches often prefer the terms evangelical to low church and Anglo-Catholic to high church, even though their meanings do not exactly correspond. Other Christian denominations that contain high church wings include some Presbyterian and Methodist churches. These High-Church Protestants tend to adopt more liturgical and ritually extravagant forms of worship common in Lutheranism and Anglicanism, such as grandiose processions, elaborate music, and historic prayers. Compelling Truth website, What are 'High Church' and 'Low Church'?
There remain parishes that are high church and yet adhere closely to the quintessentially Anglican usages and liturgical practices of the Book of Common Prayer. These are now referred to as Centre Church.
High church Anglicanism tends to be closer than low church to Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox teachings and spirituality; its hallmarks are relatively elaborate music, , and clergy and an emphasis on . (2016). 9781351921169, Routledge. ISBN 9781351921169 It is intrinsically . Though Lutheranism in general emphasizes liturgy and views its faith and practice as "deeply and fundamentally catholic", within Lutheranism there is a historic high church and low church distinction comparable with Anglicanism (see Evangelical Catholicism, Neo-Lutheranism and Pietism).
High church nonetheless includes many bishops, other clergy and adherents sympathetic to mainstream modern consensus across reformed Christianity that, according to official Roman Catholic, Confessional Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox Christian teachings, are anathema (see the ordination of women).
The term high church has also been applied to elements of other Protestant churches within which individual congregations or ministers display a division in their liturgical practices, for example, high church Presbyterianism and high church Methodism. High church Presbyterians and High church Methodists prefer more liturgical and architectural grandiosity, with emphasis on historic traditions and rituals.
Though many remained Anglican, over time certain 'leading lights' of the Oxford Movement became Roman Catholics, following the path of John Henry Newman, one of the fathers of the Oxford Movement and, for a time, a high churchman himself. A lifelong High Churchman, the Reverend Edward Bouverie Pusey remained the spiritual father of the Oxford Movement who remained a priest in the Church of England. To a lesser extent, looking back from the 19th century, the term high church also came to be associated with the beliefs of the Caroline divines and with the pietistic emphases of the period, practised by the Little Gidding community, such as fasting and lengthy preparations before receiving the Eucharist.
During the reign of King Charles I, however, as divisions between Puritan and Anglican elements within the Church of England became more bitter, and Protestant Nonconformity outside the Church grew stronger in numbers and more vociferous, the High Church position became associated with the leadership of the High Church Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, (see Laudianism), and government policy to curtail the growth of Protestant Dissent in England and the other possessions of the Crown. See, for example, the attempt to reimpose episcopacy on the Church of Scotland, a policy that was 'successful' until the reign of William and Mary, when the office of bishop was discontinued except among the small minority of Scots who belonged to the Scottish Episcopal Church.
In the wake of the disestablishment of Anglicanism and the persecution of Anglican beliefs and practices under the Commonwealth, the return of the Anglican party to power in the Cavalier Parliament saw a strong revival of the High Church position in the English body politic. Victorious after a generation of struggle, the Anglican gentry felt the need to re-entrench the re-Anglicanised Church of England as one of the most important elements of the Restoration Settlement through a renewed and strengthened alliance between Throne and Altar, or Church and State. Reverence for martyrdom of the Stuart king Charles I as an upholder of his Coronation Oath to protect the Church of England became a hallmark of High Church orthodoxy.
At the same time, the Stuart dynasty was expected to maintain its adherence to Anglicanism. This became an important issue for the High Church party and it was to disturb the Restoration Settlement under Charles II's brother, James II of England, a convert to Roman Catholicism, and lead to setbacks for the High Church party. These events culminated in the Glorious Revolution and the exclusion of the Catholic Stuarts from the British throne. The subsequent split over office-holders' oaths of allegiance to the Crown and the Royal Succession, which led to the exclusion of the Nonjuring schism bishops who refused to recognise the 1688 de facto abdication of the King, and the accession of King William III and Queen Mary II, and did much to damage the unity of High Church party.
Later events surrounding the attempts of the Jacobitism, the adherents of the excluded dynasts, to regain the English and Scottish thrones, led to a sharpening of anti-Catholic rhetoric in Britain and a distancing of the High Church party from the more ritualistic aspects of Caroline High churchmanship, which were often associated with the schismatic Nonjuring schism. Thomas Hancorne, a Welsh clergyman prominent in jacobite circles, gave the Swansea's assize sermon on 18 April 1710 ( The right way to honour and happiness), during which he complained of the "rapid growth of deist, freethinking and anti-trinitarian views." The targets of Hancorne's wrath were "irreligion, profaneness and immorality", as well as the "curious, inquisitive sceptics" and the "sin-sick tottering nation". Later, he engaged in a campaign to reassert tithe rights. Eventually, under Queen Anne, the High Church party saw its fortunes revive with those of the Tory party, with which it was then strongly associated.
However, under the early Hanoverians, both the High Church and Tory parties were once again out of favour. This led to an increasing marginalisation of High Church and Tory viewpoints, as much of the 18th century was given over to the rule of the Whig party and the aristocratic families who were in large measure pragmatic latitudinarians in churchmanship. This was also the Age of Reason, which marked a period of great spiritual somnolence and stultification in the Church of England.
Thus, by the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, those liturgical practices prevalent even in High Church circles were not of the same tenor as those later found under the Catholic revival of the 19th century. High Church clergy and laity were often termed Laudianism, in reference to their traditional high attitude with regard to political position of the Church in England, and dry faith, which was accompanied by an austere but decorous mode of worship, as reflective of their idea of an orderly and dignified churchmanship against the rantings of the low churchmen that their Cavalier ancestors had defeated. Over time, their High Church position had become ossified among a remnant of bookish churchmen and country squires. An example of an early 19th-century churchman of this tradition is Sir Robert Inglis MP.
In contrast to the Old High Church's alliance with the Tories, Anglo-Catholicism became increasingly associated with socialism, the Labour Party and greater decision-making liberty for the church's convocations.From the mid-19th century onward, the term High Church generally became associated with a more Anglo-Catholic, while the were referred to as being Broad church and the re-emergent evangelical party was dubbed Low Church. However, high church can still refer to Anglicans of the pre-Oxford movement High Church, who hold a high view of the sacraments, church tradition and the threefold ministry but do not consider themselves Anglo-Catholics. This party is now called Centre Church, or the Laudianism to differenciate it from the even higher Anglo-Catholic position.
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