Pusey, Edward Bouverie

Pusey, Edward Bouverie (1800–82), Tractarian leader. From 1828 he was Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford and canon of Christ Church. At the end of 1833 he became formally attached to the Oxford Movement by contributing one of the Tracts for the Times; his prestige and erudition greatly benefited the cause. The death of his wife in 1839 left an indelible mark on his life; from that time he practised many austerities. When J. H. Newman withdrew in 1841, the leadership of the Oxford Movement devolved largely on Pusey. His sermon on The Holy Eucharist, preached before the university in 1843, was condemned by the vice-chancellor and six doctors of divinity; the condemnation secured for it wide publicity and drew attention to the doctrine of the Real Presence. In 1845 he assisted in the foundation of the first Anglican sisterhood (see RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN ANGLICANISM). In 1846 he preached another university sermon on The Entire Absolution of the Penitent, in which he claimed for the C of E the power of the keys and the reality of priestly absolution; this sermon was important in encouraging the revival of the practice of private confession in modern Anglicanism. As the main champion of the High Church movement, Pusey frequently had to defend its doctrines, e.g. in the Gorham Case, and from 1867 he took an active part in the Ritualist controversy. He wrote various works designed to promote union with the RC Church, but his hopes were disappointed when the First Vatican Council defined Papal infallibility in 1870. Pusey House, Oxford, was set up in his memory. Feast day in the American BCP (1979), 18 Sept.; in CW, 16 Sept.