A Study On The Oxford Movement

The New University Movement in the 19th century in Great Britain stimulated the establishment of a group of new universities, with aims to train practical business talents, which changed the functions of Higher Education and triggered a spectacular University Modernization Movement in the world. However, the Oxford Movement led by the Tractarians almost at the same time had been neglected. Even the Oxford University has been making efforts to separate University's reputation from the Movement leaders. So what's going on in the end?The Oxford Movement which has been lasting 12 years reflected the concerns of many British people in the 18th and 19th century. As the main leader of the Oxford Movement, John Henry Newman, pointing out in Apologia pro Vita Sua : "The Oxford Movement can be regarded as the reaction of Boring meanwhile superficial religious education and literature for nearly a Century, All the people with enthusiasm and ideas want a more profound philosophy. Oxford campaigns can partly meet this need ".The Tractarians in understanding "The Idea of The University" have their own interpretation. They would not oppose the reform of universities, and the definition of education is entirely different from of those secular liberalism. What they are really worried about is that the University would degenerate into a purely educational factory. And what the Tractarians were trying to do was to rebuild the moral and spiritual dimensions of the Oxford University, and to restore the University in the name of religion. Therefore, to some extent, it is thought as "the crusaders campaign" of the field of education.This dissertation is divided into four parts.The first part discusses the historical background of the Oxford Movement, mainly with the British social circumstances and the Churches of England in the 19th century and Oxford University in the 18th and 19th century. In introducing Oxford University, factors which could trigger the Oxford Movement internally are analyzed from such aspects as the inherent conservative trend, the institute of unique structure, and the emergence of a rational atmosphere of freedom. In addition, it specifies the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and the New University Movement are also major factors to the promotion of the Oxford Movement.The second part introduces the history of the Oxford Movement and the thrust of the Movement. In the final analysis, the Movement's rise and fall is a kind of history of thoughts, which is budding, growing and blooming with the developing new thoughts of Newman and other leaders in the era of dramatic time and education changes. With Newman and other leaders' leaving, it then gradually withered. After all, the Oxford Movement began with the conflict between church and state, so when explaining the keynote of the Oxford Movement, the writer describes the view of the University and the Religion, with emphasis on the latter.The third part exposes the impact and significance of the Oxford Movement. The Movement vigorously lasted for 12 years, its impact lies not only in the field of religion but also it triggered a debate within the field of education. It inevitably affected Oxford University of in the 19th and 20th century, affected some European countries, as well as America, it also spread to China The writer believes the reason of its broad and far-reaching impact is that the Movement reflected the common problems of higher education in the 19th century, which turned up nearly a century later.The fourth part is to make a summary on the Oxford Movement, to clarify a few misunderstandings on the Oxford Movement and the Tractarians, and to explain the relationship among the University of Oxford, the Oxford Movement and Newman.