1833–1845

The Oxford Movement: tradition, apostolic succession and the development of doctrine

The Oxford Movement, which began with Keble's sermon "National Apostasy" (1833) and the Tracts for the Times, opposed liberalism and evangelicalism, which, according to González, coincided in lacking a sense of tradition and in stressing the authority of the individual over the community. The Tractarians held that the Bible without tradition places the individual interpreter above Scripture. Lane lists their positive principles: episcopal government as the God-given form, apostolic succession, the church's right to self-government without state interference, the importance of the sacraments. Newman saw Anglicanism as a middle way, but in Tract 90 (1841) he judged the Thirty-Nine Articles compatible with Trent, and in the Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845) he concluded that the development of doctrine needs an infallible arbiter – the Roman Catholic Church.