Nonconformist (Protestantism)

For the 1930s French movement, see Non-conformists of the 1930s. For other uses, see Nonconformity.

Title page of a collection of Farewell Sermons preached by Nonconformist ministers ejected from their parishes in 1662.

Nonconformists were Protestant Christians who did not "conform" to the governance and usages of the established church in England, and in Wales until 1914, the Church of England.[1][2]

Use of the term Nonconformist in England and Wales was precipitated after the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660, when the Act of Uniformity 1662 renewed opposition to reforms within the established church. By the late 19th century the term specifically included other Reformed Christians (Presbyterians and Congregationalists), plus the Baptists, Brethren, Methodists, and Quakers.[3] In Ireland, the comparable term until the Church of Ireland's disestablishment in 1869 was "Dissenter" (the term earlier used in England), commonly referring to Irish Presbyterians who dissented from the approved Anglican communion.[1] English Dissenters such as the Puritans who violated the Act of Uniformity 1558 – typically by practising radical, sometimes separatist, dissent – were retrospectively labelled as Nonconformists.

By law and social custom, Nonconformists were restricted from many spheres of public life – not least, from access to public office, civil service careers, or degrees at university – and were referred to as suffering from civil disabilities. In England and Wales in the late 19th century the new terms "free church" and "Free churchman" (or "Free church person") started to replace "Nonconformist" or "Dissenter".[4]

One influential Nonconformist minister was Matthew Henry, who beginning in 1710 published his multi-volume biblical commentary that is still used and available in the 21st century. Isaac Watts is an equally recognised Nonconformist minister whose hymns are still sung by Christians worldwide.

The term is used in a broader sense to refer to Christians who are not communicants of a majority national church, such as the Lutheran Church of Sweden.[5]

  1. ^ a b Barry, J. P. (2009) [2003]. "Nonconformity, clericalism, and 'Englishness': the United Kingdom". In Clark, Christopher; Kaiser, Wolfram (eds.). Culture Wars: Secular-Catholic Conflict in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 152–180. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511496714.007. ISBN 978-0-511-05784-7.
  2. ^ Sell, Alan P. F. (2 December 2020). Nonconformist Theology in the Twentieth Century. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 446. ISBN 978-1-7252-3202-0.
  3. ^ Peberdy, Robert; Waller, Philip (2 December 2020). A Dictionary of British and Irish History. John Wiley & Sons. p. 446. ISBN 978-0-631-20154-0.
  4. ^ Owen Chadwick, The Victorian Church, Part One: 1829–1859 (1966), p 370
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference SCG1959 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).