BROAD-CHURCH PARTY. A name loosely applied, from about the year 1850 onward, to a group of liberal leaders in the Church of England, of whom Thomas Arnold, Frederick Denison Maurice, Charles Kingsley, Frederick William Robertson, and Arthur Penrhyn Stanley were the most important. In their breadth of view they resemble the Latitudinarians of the l'entury—endworth, Whieheote, and More. The designation 'Broad' churchmen is not wholly sat isfactory, and was disavowed by the leaders of the movement themselves. Its historic justitio tion, however, lies in the fact that it describes the tendency toward doctrinal comprehensiveness, long prevalent in the Established Church. which is properly ealkd 'broad,' in distinction from 'high' and 'low' churehmanship. But it should always be borne in mind that the difference be tween the Broad-Church Party and the other two is less with reference to the doctrine of the Church as an institution than with reference to theology proper. It is in the field of doc trinal belief that breadth is most apparent. The membe-s of this school were strongly influ enced by the writings of Coleridge and by mod ern German theology. They were acquainted
with the advancing scientific investigation of their tittle, a.nd aimed to counteract its ma terialistic tendencies. Alaurice is perhaps best known as the theologian. Kingsley is the prac tical worker and writer, and Robertson as the preacher of the group. In religious aim and method they are akin to certain other liberal leaders of the English Church in the Nineteenth Century, such as Archbishop \Vhately and the writers of "Essays and Reviews" (q.v.). As champions of an earnest spiritual faith. Chris tian yet free, the Broad Churchmen have exer cised an influence far beyond the limits of their own communion, and their writings have been read not only in Great Britain and America, but also upon the Continent of Europe.
Consult: John Tulloch, Movements of Reli gious Thought in Britain During the Nineteenth Century (London, 1885) ; John Hunt, Religious Thought in England in the Nineteenth Century (London, 1896).