Bangorian Controversy

Bangorian Controversy , religious dispute in the Church of England during the early part of the reign of George I. Benjamin Hoadly , bishop of Bangor, Wales, delivered a sermon (1717) before the king in which he denied that the church had any doctrinal or disciplinary authority. Advocates of ecclesiastical authority (among them William Law ) attacked Hoadly's position, and a sharp controversy ensued, in which some 50 writers participated and about 200 pamphlets were issued. Attacks on Hoadly in convocation, the church assembly, led the king to suspend that body in 1717; it was not allowed to meet again until 1852.

Bangorian Controversy. The dispute which followed a sermon preached by B. Hoadly, Bp. of Bangor, before George I in 1717. The sermon sought to show that the Gospels afford no warrant for any visible Church authority. To save Hoadly from synodical condemnation, the King prorogued Convocation, which did not meet again, except formally, until 1852.

Bangorian controversy Loosed by Benjamin Hoadly, appointed to the bishopric of Bangor in 1715. The following year he launched an attack on the non‐jurors. In 1717 he preached a sermon, in which he adopted an extreme position—that Christ had not vested authority in any secular persons, that private judgement was sacrosanct, and that sincerity of belief was the ultimate test. Hoadly appeared to his opponents to open the floodgates to religious anarchy. The revival of religious controversy was extremely unwelcome to Whig ministers and when the matter was raised in the lower house of convocation, that body was hastily prorogued, not to meet again until 1852.