  low church is a term of distinction in the church of england or other anglican churches initially designed to be pejorative. during the series of doctrinal and ecclesiastic challenges to the established church in the 17th century, commentators and othersâwho favoured the theology, worship, and hierarchical structure of anglicanism (such as the episcopate) as the true form of christianityâ began referring to that outlook (and the related practices) as 'high church'. in contrast, by the early 18th century those theologians and politicians who sought more reform in the english church and a greater liberalisation of church structure were called "low church". "low church", in an anglican context, denotes the church's simplicity or protestant emphasis, and "high church" denotes an emphasis on ritual or anglo-catholicism. ==historical use== the term low church was used in the early part of the 18th century as the equivalent of the term latitudinarian in that it was used to refer to values that provided much latitude in matters of discipline and faith. the term was in contradistinction to the term high church, or high churchmen, which applied to those who valued the exclusive authority of the established church, the episcopacy and the sacramental system. low churchmen wanted to tolerate puritan opinions within the church of england, though they might not be in agreement with puritan liturgical practices. the movement to bring separatists, and in particular presbyterians, back into the church of england ended with the act of toleration 1689 for the most part. though low church continued to be used for those clergy holding a more liberal view of dissenters, the term eventually fell into disuse. both terms were revived in the 19th century when the tractarian movement brought the term "high churchman" into vogue. the terms were again used in a modified sense, now used to refer to those who exalted the idea of the church as a catholic entity as the body of christ, and the sacramental system as the divinely given means of grace. a low churchman now became the equivalent of an evangelical, the designation of the movement associated with the name of charles simeon, which held the necessity of personal conversion to be of primary importance. at the same time, latitudinarian changed to broad church, or broad churchmen, designating those who most valued the ethical teachings of the church and minimized the value of orthodoxy. the revival of pre-reformation ritual by many of the high church clergy led to the designation ritualist being applied to them in a somewhat contemptuous sense. however, the terms high churchman and ritualist have often been wrongly treated as intercha
Anglican_Churchmanship Christian_terminology Evangelical_Anglicanism Evangelicalism_in_the_Church_of_England Protestantism-related_controversies