- Cambridge Movement
The Cambridge Movement was a conservative ideological school of thought closely related to the
Oxford Movement .History
It has been claimed the origins of the movement emanate from the teachings of the Cambridge University
professor andintellectual Desiderius Erasmus . However, the more readily understood beliefs of the movement began in 1833 with asermon made by the ReverendJohn Keble which was hostile toward a plan by the British Government to diminish the official power of theAnglican Church in the predominantlyRoman Catholic Ireland . It had been argued that it was unjust that Irish catholic taxes should not support the Anglican Church. Keble and his supporters believed thatChristianity in the form of the establishedChurch of England was above secular government.Within days of this sermon being preached a meeting was held at the home of
Hugh James Rose . It is Rose who is generally held to be the founder of the Cambridge school of theOxford movement while John Newman was the leader of the Oxford movement. At the meeting at Rose's home a resolution was passed to preserve “the apostolic succession and the integrity of the Prayer-Book.” Further beliefs of the movement were views that themedieval church fulfilled a greater need and ministry to its members than that of the 19th century church.Stance
The
Cambridge Movement was more liberal than its counterpart at Oxford, however it was concerned with the aesthetics andliturgy pertaining to the more powerful and spiritual medieval church. This resulted in a great wave ofGothic revival architecture championed by such followers of the Cambridge Movement asRichard Cromwell Carpenter andAugust Pugin .Decline
The movement began a decline after the conversion of one of its greatest advocate John Newman to Roman Catholicism in 1845. While the movement was strongly in favour of
high church ritual, conversion to Catholicism in the anti-Popish climate of the day was a step too far for the British establishment to which many of its members belonged. However, the ideological retrospective school of architecture the movement inspired lingered on for the remainder of the 19th century.External links
* [http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/erasmus.html Erasmus]
* [http://www.bartleby.com/213/0202.html Origins of the Cambridge Movement]
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