Liberal Catholicism in the Church of England

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the genesis of liberal Catholicism in England from 1822 to roughly 1848, with particular reference to Cardinal Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864). Newman’s reflections reveal a side of liberalism hitherto given little consideration. As a Catholic priest, he endured, albeit disapprovingly, a sort of theological liberalism which sought to reform the Church of England. The discussion of his recollections unravels the ethical and political disposition of early liberals, which in some respects resembles later iterations of liberalism in politics. As a movement, liberal Catholicism did not retain authoritative primacy for very long in England or in any other of the European nations, though the effect of disorientation that it had on the Christian Church was considerable. A careful analysis of this brief chapter of liberalism is perhaps relevant to the study of its political orientation as a whole.