This innovative book challenges many of the widely held assumptions about the impact of ritualism on the Victorian church. Through a detailed analysis of the geographical spread of ritualist churches in the British Isles, Yates shows that the impact of ritualism was as strong, if not stronger, in middle-class and rural parishes as in working-class and urban areas. He gives a detailed reassessment of the debates and controversies surrounding the attitudes of the Anglican bishops towards ritualism, the impact of public opinion on discussions in parliament, and the implementation of the Public Worship Regulation Act of 1874. The book examines the wider historical implications by not simply focusing on ritualism during the Victorian period but extrapolating this to show the impact that ritualism has had on the longer-term development of Anglicanism in the twentieth century.

From its inception what came to be known as the Oxford Movement was always intended to be more than just an abstruse dialogue about the theoretical nature of Anglicanism. Instead, it was meant to spread its ideas not only through college common rooms, but also bishop's palaces, and above all the parsonages of the Church of England. The Oxford Movement in Practice presents an analysis of Tractarianism in the generation after Newman's conversion to Roman Catholicism. While much scholarly work has been done on the Oxford Movement between 1833 and 1845, and on a number of specific individuals or aspects of the Movement after this period, this work adopts a different approach. It examines Tractarianism in the parochial setting, and charts the development of the Movement through its influence on the parishes of the Church of England. George Herring offers detailed explanation of the development of ritualism in the 1860's, and shows how the Ritualists diverted the course the Movement had been taking from 1845.