Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
The “National Apostasy” of John Keble
The “National Apostasy” of John Keble
Apr 4, 2025 4:16 PM

Perhaps not a name familiar to many, yet 190 years ago today John Keble lit a fire of church renewal that continues to burn, even beyond the parishes of England.

Read More…

From the 1830s onward, a movement developed in the Church of England that sought to reclaim a classic High Church tradition within Anglicanism that gave weight to the apostolic succession, sacraments, the Christian year and festivals, and liturgical order. Some, though not all, within this group sought to align the church more closely with Roman Catholic thought—theologically, spiritually, and liturgically. The origins of this movement lay in the historic city of Oxford, the location of the martyrdoms of the Protestant bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, who had been executed in 1555, and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, in 1556. The leading members were John Henry Newman, John Keble, Hurrell Froude, and, a little later, Edward Pusey. They were known as the Oxford Movement, and sometimes the Tractarians, named after their publications The Tracts for the Times, which appeared from 1833 to 1841. The group was controversial. Froude’s ascetic practices exposed by his work Remains, published in 1838 after his death at the tender age of 32 in 1836, shocked not only evangelicals but also a wider public. Nevertheless, the Oxford Movement became increasingly influential across a broad range of Anglican practice. The last of the Tracts, Tract 90, written by Newman, was an attempt to give a Catholic interpretation to the Church of England’s Thirty-Nine Articles, which was rather like trying to square a circle. Newman left for Rome in 1845; of the other originators of the movement, Froude was dead and, significantly, neither Keble nor Pusey followed Newman.

John Keble was a poet, priest, and theologian. Born in Gloucestershire in 1792, he entered Oxford in 1806 (yes, at the age of 14!), graduated with double honors in 1810, and became a fellow of Oriel College the next year. He was ordained in 1816, ing a curate to his father while remaining in Oxford until the death of his mother in 1823, when he returned home to assist in his father’s parish.

In 1827 Keble published The Christian Year. This was a poetic masterpiece with over a hundred editions and some 375,000 copies sold by 1873, when the copyright expired. The devotional aid consisted of poems for Sundays and festival days. His aim was to encourage piety within the context of the liturgical calendar. Indeed, this book of poetry may represent his greatest impact, a spiritual rather than a political legacy. However, the work also marked Keble out as a High Churchman, and the success of The Christian Year brought him back to the attention of Oxford. In 1831 he was elected professor of poetry, a post he held until 1841.

This sets the scene for his most famous sermon, “National Apostasy.”

Many towns and cities held “assizes,” courts designed to deal with the most serious criminal and important civil cases presided over by senior judges visiting from London. The opening of the assizes was a significant civic occasion and normally the occasion of a church service attended by the judges and other civic dignitaries. The selection of the preacher for the assize service in Oxford traditionally lay with the Fellows of Oriel College, and they had among their number just the person for the job. Hence in Oxford, on July 14, 1833, John Keble, priest of the Church of England, professor of poetry and Fellow of Oriel College, was invited to give the sermon, addressing the judges, the great and the good, in the university church of St Mary. The vicar of the church was John Henry Newman. Fifty years later Newman referred to this sermon, “National Apostasy,” as the beginning of the Oxford Movement.

What was this national apostasy? The moral failure of the nation? The challenges of child labor? The failure to bring the gospel to the working people? The protection of the Sabbath? On those topics, the evangelicals would have sat to attention. Keble, however, was addressing something deeper, the very nature of the church, which was, in the view of the High Church Oxford clerics, under threat.

In the background of the “National Apostasy” sermon was a bill before Parliament introduced by the Whig (liberal) government of Earl Grey. What possible relevance could the Irish Church Temporalities Bill have to a discussion on the role, purpose, and nature of the church? How could a sermon even tangentially dealing with the subject launch a spiritual movement?

The bill sought to reform and reorganise the Irish church. The population of Ireland was largely Roman Catholic (over 80%). Nevertheless, as a legacy of the attempt over many decades, if not centuries, to impose Protestantism upon an unwilling populace, there remained numerous endowed bishoprics of the Church of England serving a small Protestant population supported by tithes and taxes—levied on the entire population irrespective of religious tradition. There were 22 such bishoprics, and the Whig government proposed to suppress 10 and remove clergy who had no parishioners. e would be redistributed to church buildings and poorer clergy, and the tithe on tenants was abolished (and moved to landlords). Some revenues released from the reforms were reserved to the state.

The objections to the bill focussed on two aspects. First, the diversion of church revenue to secular matters under the control of the state. Second, the potential reduction of Protestant influence in Ireland through the diminution of the number of bishoprics. If 10 bishoprics were suppressed, why not 12, or 20? The number of bishops required, or otherwise, by the church is not a matter for the state. This actually had the effect of rallying Protestant evangelicals to the cause: Sir Robert Inglis, the MP for the University of Oxford, and Lord Ashley, later the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, both voted against the bill. For Keble and the High Churchmen, however, it was the principle of state interference in the life of the church and the threat to nature of the church as a spiritual society with spiritual responsibilities that raised their hackles. What right did the House of Commons have to interfere?

This was the apostasy that plained about.

He took as his text for the sermon 1 Samuel 12:23: “As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way.” He discussed the demand of the people of Israel for a king and exposed the heart of the question by noting that this was “a perpetual warning to all nations, as well as to all individual Christians, who, having accepted God for their King, allow themselves to be weary of subjection to Him, and think they should be happier if they were freer, and more like the rest of the world.”

The nearest Keble came to ment on the bill itself is when he noted that “disrespect to the Successors of the Apostles, as such, is an unquestionable symptom of enmity to Him,” and that such disrespect, general and national, might be driven not by faith but by “human reasons of popularity and expediency.” Such a nation “stands convicted in His sight of a direct disavowal of His Sovereignty.” This constitutes the national apostasy of which Keble talks. The point was not lost on his audience, representatives of an erring government.

In the face of this Erastian encroachment (Erastianism being the principle of the supremacy of the state in the affairs of the church), the only viable response was to serve a remonstrance to the nation and intercessory prayer to God on behalf of that nation. The church was under threat and must respond.

What were the consequences of the sermon both for the Oxford Movement and for Keble himself? In the immediate aftermath, Newman sought to rally support to the cause. In that same year, the Tracts for the menced publication. Keble himself wrote several of the Tracts, including, nos. 4 (“Apostolic Succession”), 13 (“Selecting Sunday Lessons”), 40 (“Baptism”), 52, 54, 57, 60 (“Sermons for Saints’ Days”), and 89 (“Mysticism in the Fathers”). You can see from these interests the High Church priest and theologian.

Indeed, Keble, shy and reserved yet strong-minded and passionate, was at heart a priest who saw the Oxford Movement as an opportunity to bring renewal to parish life, to recover the classic High Church emphases, to write, and to pastor a parish. This is almost certainly why he left Oxford in 1836, one year after marriage, to settle as the vicar of Hursley, near Winchester in Hampshire, where he remained until his death in 1866. His poetry has found its way into hymns, and in addition to the Tracts and other works, he edited a Library of the Fathers. He took a different direction from Newman, and he certainly regretted Newman’s departure for Rome. Perhaps his passions and interests in parish renewal kept him in the Church of England.

Priest, poet, theologian, pastor—a High mitted to the liturgical year, the order of worship, the apostolic succession, and the sacraments: Keble was influential beyond any expectation, right up to today’s Anglo-Catholic revival in the United States, but truly at home in the parish.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
The Root of All Freedoms: Kuyper on Freedom of Conscience
The Obama administration’s HHS mandate has led to significant backlash among religious groups, each claiming that certain provisions violate their religious beliefs and freedom of conscience. Yesterday’s Supreme Court rulingwas a victory for such groups, but other disputes are well underway, with many more e. Even among many of our fellow Christians, we see a concerted effort to chase religious belief out of the public square, confining such matters to Sunday mornings, where they can be kept behind closed doors....
American Freedom: Is It Overrated?
We Americans will celebrate 238 years of freedom this Friday. In 1776, the 13 colonies unanimously declared: When in the Course of human events, it es necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare...
China’s One-Child Policy Creates Human Trafficking Plights
China’s one-child policy and a cultural preference for boys means that the world’s most populous country has a severe shortage of women. That means a severe shortage of brides. And that means a human trafficking crisis. Kiab, a Vietnamese girl who had just turned 16, was told by her brother that he was taking her to a party. Instead, he sold her as a bride to a Chinese man. The ethnic Hmong teenager spent nearly a month in China until...
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
In the latest video blog fromFor the Life of the World, Evan Koons reads abeautiful poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins over some striking visual imagery. Watch it below: Hopkins begins by highlighting the wondrous and mysterious pulse of nature, moving eventually to the acts of we “mortal things,” prone to appease the self, and bent on crying, “Whát I dó is me: for that I came.” But he doesn’t stop here, for surely man was neither created nor destined to...
Hobby Lobby Reaction Speaks to Future of Religious Liberty
Regarding the Hobby Lobby decision and the Supreme Court, I believe the National Review editors summed it up best: “That this increase in freedom makes some people so very upset tells us more about them than about the Court’s ruling.” I address this rapid politicization and misunderstanding of religious liberty and natural rights in today’s mentary. The vitriolic reaction to the ruling is obviously not a good sign for religious liberty and we’re almost certainly going to continue down the...
What You Need To Know About ISIL In Iraq
has an excellent piece on Iraq’s ISIL and the political crisis there. Here are some of the most salient points. ISIL is Al Qaeda’s arm in Syria and Iraq.ISIL began as ISI or “Islamic State in Iraq” and was seeking to regain power for Sunni Muslims. “…“…after U.S. forces left in 2011 the Iraqi government failed to follow U.S. advice to take good care of the Sunni tribes, if only to keep the tribes from again supporting the Islamic terrorist...
Political Contributions To The Real War On Women
Gender disparity in pay has been discussed ad nauseum, especially given that the facts are that women really don’t get paid less than men, taking into account real life circumstances. But are there factors that hold women back? Women still tend to choose lower-paying jobs, and are more likely to leave the job market than men. Less than 5 percent of our nation’s leading CEOs and corporate leaders are female. What’s behind this? Abby M. McCloskey, program director of economic...
Net Neutrality and Religious Advocacy
Yesterday, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) held a Senate hearing on his proposed bill, the Online Competition and Consumer Choice Act of 2014. The bill, reading at just four pages, serves as a tool bat “paid prioritization” in the network traffic business in an effort to maintain petition in that market. This idea, known as net neutrality, as explained by Joe Carter, assumes “that a public information network should aspire to treat all content, sites, and platforms equally” as well as...
Helping The Poor With, Of All Things, Cash
Christopher Blattman, an associate professor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, thinks giving cash to the poor is a good idea. Not free meals, not tickets to redeem for food, but cash. And it just might work. Blattman writes in The New York Times of the experience of giving cash to the poor. The knee-jerk reaction to this idea is, “Well, they’re just gonna waste it.” But Blattman finds evidence to the contrary. Globally, cash is a major...
Audio & Video: Sirico on the Hobby Lobby Decision
Acton Institute President and Co-Founder Rev. Robert A. Sirico had a busy media day yesterday in the wake of the release of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Hobby Lobby vs. Sebelius case. using the audio player below, you can listen to an interview with Rev. Sirico on The Michael Berry Show on Houston’s 740 AM KTRH radio where the impact of the decision is examined. Additionally, beyond the jump I’ve embedded Rev. Sirico’s appearance on Bloomberg TV’sStreet Smart with...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved