The Ecclesiology of Edmund Burke: A Study in the Meaning of Latitude

Edmund Burke’s theological opinions have provoked considerable comment, in his own time and since. Although a range of interpretations have been offered, the current consensus amongst serious scholars is that Burke’s religious views could best be described as ‘latitudinarian.’ This article argues that the term ‘latitudinarian’ is too broad to adequately convey an accurate insight into Burke’s religious and ecclesiological doctrines. I seek to articulate what was so idiosyncratic about Burke’s ecclesiological views, and why this provoked comment and criticism then and since. I first analyse the background of the latitude movement, examining the premises behind its arguments in the seventeenth century. I then explain how this became embedded within the eighteenth century Hanoverian State-Church, and how this association modified the latitudinarian legacy. The bulk of the article then analyses Burke’s differing accounts and defences of this inheritance, providing the first coherent account of Burke’s ecclesiology. It argues that Burke was a unique defender of that settlement, and that the premises he applied when defending it were contrary to those of the latitude tradition and led him to endorse different prescriptions for its preservation and improvement. This will consequently reveal the poverty of the term ‘latitude’ when applied to Burke.