"High" and "Low" Church
"one
holy Catholic and Apostolic Church…" and protestant, too. The Episcopal
Church occupies a unique position, being both catholic and protestant, which to
many Christians might seem a contradiction in terms. But it's true. When the
Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1500s, it
denied the authority of the pope, but it did not start a new church, as most
protestant denominations did. The Magna Carta in 1215 had named the King of
England as the head of the church in England, and the break with Rome simply
confirmed this fact.
The
Anglicans borrowed a term from Aristotle to describe their position between the
extremes of Roman Catholicism and Puritanism. It is via media, which is
Latin for "the middle way." Over time, it has resulted in the
Episcopal Church being what the politicians call a "big tent." As the
church developed in America after the revolution, one threat to the newly
independent church was that it would split into two churches over two main
issues: the role of the laity in church governance, and their view of other
denominations. The New England branch of the Church, led by the Reverend John
Henry Hobart of New York, saw no role for the laity, and felt that churches
which did not maintain the Apostolic succession, the supposedly unbroken chain
of bishops all the way back to the apostles, were to be shunned. This point of
view came to be called the High Church. It was characterized by elaborate
liturgies, use of vestments and candles, and emphasized the liturgy over
preaching. The other side, led by the Reverend William Meade of Virginia,
accepted lay participation in the church hierarchy, and emphasized similarities
rather than differences with other Protestants. This Low Church felt that
worship was properly done in modest surroundings and emphasized preaching, even
omitting Eucharist in favor of Morning Prayer on many Sundays.
When
the Episcopal Church decided to establish a seminary to train clergy properly,
it was located in New York. Hobart, by then the Bishop of New York, insisted on
controlling any church school in his diocese, and his assistant was appointed as
the first professor of ecclesiastical polity (church organization), so it was
pretty clear that the General Seminary, although for the whole church, was going
to stress Hobart's high church doctrine.
Meade
and his friend, the Reverend William Wilmer, responded by starting another
seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, which would emphasize the low church, or
evangelical, doctrine of the church. Wilmer served as the first professor of the
school, which today provides the majority of our clergy in Virginia. Meade went
on to become the Bishop of Virginia.
We still refer to "high" and "low" churches today, but the differences are more in accoutrements of worship than in doctrinal rigidity. While some churches use incense and Sanctus bells and others shun the use of Eucharistic vestments, we all accept candles and vestments, and we all see both other protestants and other catholics as brothers and sisters in faith The via media has held.
For more information, contact:
Mr. Robert Thomas
