Broad church

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Broad church

Broad Church is a term referring to Latitudinarian

Latitudinarian

Latitudinarian was initially a pejorative term applied to a group of 17th-century English theologians who believed in conforming to official Church of England practices but who felt that matters of doctrine, liturgical practice, and ecclesiastical organization were of relatively little importance....
churchmanship

Churchmanship

Within Anglicanism the term churchmanship is sometimes used to refer to distinct understandings of church doctrine and liturgical practice by members of the Church of England and other churches of the Anglican Communion....
in the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
, in particular, and Anglicanism

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition of Christianity faith. Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs, worship and church structures....
, in general. From this, the term is often used to refer to secular political organisations, meaning that they encompass a broad range of opinion.

r the terms High Church
High church

"High Church" relates to ecclesiology and liturgy in Anglican theology and practice. Although used by several Protestant Christian denominations, the term has traditionally been associated with the Anglican tradition in particular....
and Low Church
Low church

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 16th and 17th centuries, commentators and others began to refer to those groups favouring the theology, worship and authoritar...
came to distinguish the tendency toward Ritualism and Anglo-Catholicism
Anglo-Catholicism

The terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism describe people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm the Catholic, rather than Protestantism, heritage and identity of the Anglican churches....
on the one hand and Puritanism on the other, those Anglicans tolerant of multiple forms of conformity to ecclesiastical authority came to be referred to as "Broad." As the name implies, parishes associated with this variety of churchmanship will mix High and Low forms, reflective of the often eclectic liturgical and doctrinal preferences of clergy and laity.

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Encyclopedia

Broad Church is a term referring to Latitudinarian
Latitudinarian

Latitudinarian was initially a pejorative term applied to a group of 17th-century English theologians who believed in conforming to official Church of England practices but who felt that matters of doctrine, liturgical practice, and ecclesiastical organization were of relatively little importance....
churchmanship
Churchmanship

Within Anglicanism the term churchmanship is sometimes used to refer to distinct understandings of church doctrine and liturgical practice by members of the Church of England and other churches of the Anglican Communion....
in the Church of England
Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
, in particular, and Anglicanism
Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition of Christianity faith. Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs, worship and church structures....
, in general. From this, the term is often used to refer to secular political organisations, meaning that they encompass a broad range of opinion.

Usage
After the terms High Church
High church

"High Church" relates to ecclesiology and liturgy in Anglican theology and practice. Although used by several Protestant Christian denominations, the term has traditionally been associated with the Anglican tradition in particular....
and Low Church
Low church

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 16th and 17th centuries, commentators and others began to refer to those groups favouring the theology, worship and authoritar...
came to distinguish the tendency toward Ritualism and Anglo-Catholicism
Anglo-Catholicism

The terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism describe people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm the Catholic, rather than Protestantism, heritage and identity of the Anglican churches....
on the one hand and Puritanism on the other, those Anglicans tolerant of multiple forms of conformity to ecclesiastical authority came to be referred to as "Broad." As the name implies, parishes associated with this variety of churchmanship will mix High and Low forms, reflective of the often eclectic liturgical and doctrinal preferences of clergy and laity. The emphasis is on allowing individual parishioners choice.

Broad church as an expression is now increasingly replaced by references in the Church of England
Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
to liberalism. For example, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the Episcopal see that churches must be in communion with in order to be a part of the Anglican Communion....
, in his "text of reflection" The Challenge and Hope of Being an Anglican Today, released in 2006, described the three "components in our heritage" as "strict evangelical Protestantism", "Roman Catholicism" and "religious liberalism
Liberal Christianity

Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically informed religious movements and ideas within late 18th, 19th and 20th century Christianity....
", accepting that "each of these has a place in the church’s life". These would broadly correspond to the Low Church, High Church and Broad Church parties in the Church of England.

As said above the term can describe the membership of other organisations. When James Callaghan
James Callaghan

Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, Order of the Garter, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council , was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980....
, the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the Left-wing politics in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently organised again....
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the head of government Her Majesty's Government....
said of his party that "ours is a broad church", he meant that it embraced different strands of labour and socialist tradition.

See also

High church
High church

"High Church" relates to ecclesiology and liturgy in Anglican theology and practice. Although used by several Protestant Christian denominations, the term has traditionally been associated with the Anglican tradition in particular....
Low church
Low church

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 16th and 17th centuries, commentators and others began to refer to those groups favouring the theology, worship and authoritar...
Churchmanship
Churchmanship

Within Anglicanism the term churchmanship is sometimes used to refer to distinct understandings of church doctrine and liturgical practice by members of the Church of England and other churches of the Anglican Communion....