BANGOR, CONTROVERSY OF. - After the English Revolution of 1688, which drove out the Stuarts, and after the schism of the so-called Non-Jurors, who, having refused to swear an oath of loyalty to the new dynasty, were deprived of their dignity, the Church of England was troubled by various internal difficulties. One of these arose from the ecclesiastical policy of the government, which elected bishops from among the Whigs, its supporters, while the lower clergy was in great majority of the opposing party, called Tory. From this there arose unpleasant disputes in the "convocations," that is, in the ecclesiastical assemblies of the Upper House (bishops) and the Lower House (clergy). Dr. Hickes, a Non-Juror, in 1715 published a book in which he said that obedience was owed to the deposed Non-Juror bishops, and accused the Church of England of being schismatic. The bishop of B., Benjamin Hoadly (1676-1761), replied that no such schism existed, because it was not essential for a Christian to be united to a visible Church. In 1717, this same bishop delivered a sermon on the text: "My kingdom is not of this world," in which he said that the best way to refute Catholics was to demonstrate that Jesus Christ had not delegated his power to any ecclesiastical authority. The dispute flared up violently, with ardent partisans on one side and the other. When the "convocation" of 1717 assembled, the bishop of B. was accused by the Lower House of denying all authority to the Church, and of wishing, under the pretext of exalting the kingdom of Christ, to strip it of any authority to judge, censure or punish transgressors in matters of conscience. The controversy became dangerous, and the government, to avoid further inconveniences, postponed the "convocation" and did not convene it again until more than a century later, that is, in 1852. The struggle nevertheless dragged on for many years more, but, since the "convocations" no longer assembled, it was reduced to a heated polemic, without practical result. Anglicans are grateful for this controversy, since if Hoadly's doctrine had prevailed, the entire structure of the Church of England would have been undermined.

For the abbey of B.: v. COMPALL, saint.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: W. Benham, s. v. in The Dictionary of Religion, London 1887, p. 96; Schaff-Herzog, s. v. in Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge, New York 1891, p. 998; S. L. Ollard and G. Crosse, s. v. in Dictionary of English Church History, London 1912, p. 278; Aldred W. Rowden, The Primates of the Four Georges, London 1916, p. 129 ff.

Camillo Crivelli

@incollection{ec2_bangor_controversia_di, author = {Crivelli, Camillo}, title = {Bangor, controversia di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {787}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/bangor-controversia-di} }

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Bangor, Controversy of

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