ABSTRACT
There were two great parties in the Victorian Church of England, and there was one common orthodoxy. The two parties are known for convenience as Low Church and High Church. The controversies between Low and High Church, which seemed to occupy most of church history from the 1830s to the 1850s, have obscured the fact that there was a real doctrinal consensus or common orthodoxy among them. A theology resting upon an external written revelation faced challenges, beginning with the eighteenth-century deists, to the credibility, authenticity and accuracy of its Scriptures. The Broad Churchmen had in common a rejection of a theology of passive acceptance of doctrines derived from a Bible validated by external evidences. More important than Christian doctrine was the Christian life, for morality was better suited than miracles to validate Christianity in modern times.
