The Low Church , an evangelical trend in Protestantism , is mainly associated with the Anglican Evangelical movement in the Anglican Church . Initially, the definition was used as derogatory, especially by the adherents of the High Church teaching that had existed since the seventeenth century, but is now perceived as an estimated neutral term. Webster's Dictionary gives the following definition of the term “Low Church”:
Low Church (1710) - striving, especially in Anglican worship, to minimize the role of the clergy, the sacraments and the ritual part of the service, and to give greater importance to evangelical principles.
Original Text (Eng.)- Low Church (1710) tending esp. worship, sacraments, and sacraments to emphasize evangelical principles.- “Low Church and High Church” by Dennis Bratcher // The Voice. Christian Resource Institute
The Encyclopaedia Britannic contains only the article Anglican Evangelical (Anglican Evangelical), to which the Low Church query is displayed and which formulates the general definition of this concept as follows:
The Anglican Evangelical is one who professes biblical creeds, personal conversion, piety, and, in general, prefers a more Protestant than the Catholic heritage of the Anglican community .
Original Text (Eng.)- Anglican Evangelical , one who emphasizes biblical faith, personal conversion, piety, and the general heritage of the Anglican Communion.
It is difficult to determine unequivocally the time of the birth of the Evangelical movement in Anglicanism, although the term “Low Church” has been used since the end of the 17th century, and the existence of the Anglican Evangelical movement can be firmly spoken of already in the 18th century. According to the historian of the church, Guy Bedwell, the evangelicals were close to Calvinism , were the ideological heirs of the Puritans , and were initially divided into episcopal and Prosviterians, the first of whom came to power as a result of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 [1] . At the beginning of the 18th century, supporters of evangelical preacher John Wesley broke with Anglicanism by establishing the Methodist Church , but many followers of evangelical views remained inside the mother church. As supporters of social support programs for those in need, as well as missionary work, the Evangelicals founded the Church Mission Society in 1799 ( en: Church Mission Society ), in 1838 - the Colonial and Continental Church Society , in the 1790s - 1830s in Great Britain The so-called “ Clapham Sect ” ( en: Clapham Sect ) is a society of influential and wealthy Evangelicals, named after the London region in which it was based, seeking the abolition of slavery and the end of the slave trade. Since the beginning of the XIX century, the adherents of the Low Church opposed the so-called Oxford movement , which seeks to bring Anglicanism closer to Catholicism .
In the twentieth century, the Anglican Evangelical movement is also associated with the Broad Church , formed by Latitudinarian clergy, known since the seventeenth century, and close to the evangelicals. The broad church, in particular, is known for its commitment to scientific ways of studying the Bible. The concepts of “liberal” and “conservative” evangelicals also appeared (the latter is defined as a supporter of the idea of a literal understanding of biblical texts).
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Notes
- ↑ Guy Bedwell "History of the Church" (translated from French). (not available link) Christian Russia Publishing House, Moscow, 1996