The Parker Society was a
text publication society
A text publication society is a learned society which publishes (either as its sole function, or as a principal function) scholarly editions of old works of historical or literary interest, or archival documents. In addition to full texts, a text p ...
set up in 1841 to produce editions of the works of the early Protestant writers of the
English Reformation
The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...
. It was supported by both the
High Church
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
and
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
wings of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, and was established in reaction against the
Tractarian
The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
movement of the
1830s. Its Council was dominated by
evangelicals
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
, but not to the exclusion of other views.
In response, a group of Tractarians founded the
Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology
The Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology (published by John Henry Parker) was a series of 19th-century editions of theological works by writers in the Church of England, devoted as the title suggests to significant Anglo-Catholic figures. It brought ...
.
The Society took its name from
Matthew Parker
Matthew Parker (6 August 1504 – 17 May 1575) was an English bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder (with a p ...
(1504–1575),
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
from 1559 to 1575, and a prominent collector of manuscripts. It published four or five volumes a year, to 1853.
Publications
A ''General Index to the Publications of the Parker Society'' was published in 1855 by Henry Gough; the publications are listed on pp. vii–viii.
Single authors
Collections
See also
*
Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology
The Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology (published by John Henry Parker) was a series of 19th-century editions of theological works by writers in the Church of England, devoted as the title suggests to significant Anglo-Catholic figures. It brought ...
*
Library of the Fathers
The ''Library of the Fathers'', more properly ''A library of fathers of the holy Catholic church: anterior to the division of the East and West'', was a series of around 50 volumes of the Church Fathers, annotated in English translation, publishe ...
Notes
{{Authority control
1841 establishments in the United Kingdom
Text publication societies
Defunct learned societies of the United Kingdom