Authority, Dogma, and History

Book excerpt: As the force that gave birth to Anglo-Catholicism, the Oxford Movement is generally treated as an Anglican phenomenon. Yet the influence of members who converted to Roman Catholicism proved decisive for the years leading up to the First Vatican Council and the definition of papal infallibility in Pastor Aeternus (1870). This collection of original essays edited by Parker and Pahls, explores how various Oxford Movement converts to Roman Catholicism contributed to debates surrounding papal infallibility in the 1850s, 1860s and beyond. From Henry Cardinal Manning and Msgr. George Talbot (a chamberlain to Pius 1X) to John Henry Cardinal Newman and Richard Simpson (a liberal Catholic journalist), the diverse voices of these converts marshaled arguments on both sides of the debate and played substantial roles in framing the outcome. The full story of Pastor Aeternus and its subsequent reception cannot be told without exploring the contribution of the combatants, dissidents, and collaborators who left the Church of England.