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Why were supporters of the Tracts for the Times called Tractarians?
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St. John Henry Newman
English prelate, theologian, and poet John Henry Newman converted to Roman Catholicism in 1845. He was made a cardinal in 1879.
Supporters of the Oxford movement were called Tractarians because they advocated for the ideas published in a series of 90 pamphlets titled Tracts for the Times, which were issued between 1833 and 1841.1
Led by figures such as John Henry Newman, who edited the series and authored 24 of the tracts, these supporters used the publications to assert that the Church of England possessed absolute doctrinal authority rooted in the teachings of the early, undivided church and apostolic succession.1