Latitudinarian was initially a pejorative term applied to a group of 17th-century English theologiansTheology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. The origin of the word theology comes from late middle English (originally applying only to Christianity) from French théologie, from Latin theologia, from Greek: θεολογία, theologia, from θεός, theos or God + λόγος ...theologians who believed in conforming to official Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, and acts as the "mother" and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. The Church of England considers itself to stand both in a reformed tradition and in a catholic one (as in, meaning "pertaining to the whole"): *Reformed insofar as many of the principles of the early Protestants as well as the subsequent ...Church of England practices but who felt that matters of doctrineDoctrine (Latin: doctrina) is a code of beliefs, or "a body of teachings" or "instructions", taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system. The Greek analogy is the etymology of catechism. Often doctrine specifically connotes a corpus of religious dogma as it is promulgated by a church, but not necessarily: doctrine is also used to refer to a principle of law, in the common law ...doctrine, liturgicalA liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. In religion, it may refer to, or include, an elaborate formal ritual such as the Catholic Mass, or a daily activity such as the Muslim Salats (see Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, p.582-3). Not infrequently ...liturgical practice, and ecclesiasticalIn Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of doctrine pertaining to the Church itself as a community or organic entity, and with the understanding of what the "church" is — ie., its role in salvation, its origin, its relationship to the historical Christ, ...ecclesiastical organization were of relatively little importance. In this, they built on Richard HookerRichard Hooker (March 1554 – November 3, 1600) was an Anglican priest and an influential theologian.The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition p.789 (March 13, 1997) He is arguably the co-founder (with Thomas Cranmer and Matthew Parker) of Anglican ...Richard Hooker's position, in Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical PolityOf the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity is a defence of the practices and beliefs of the Anglican Church against the Puritans, written by Richard Hooker in 1593. It is written in Elizabethan prose.Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, that God cares about the moral state of the individual soulThe soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the self-aware essence unique to a particular living being. In these traditions the soul is thought to incorporate the inner essence of each living being, and to be the true basis for sapience. It is believed in many cultures and religions that the soul is the unification of one's sense of identity. Souls are usually (but not always as explained below) ...soul and that such things as church leadership are "things indifferent". However, they took the position far beyond Hooker's own and extended it to doctrinal matters. As a positive position, their stance was that human reason is a sufficient guide when combined with the Holy SpiritIn mainstream Christianity, the Holy Spirit is one of the three divine persons of the Holy Trinity which make up the single substance of God; that is, the Spirit is considered to act in concert with and share an essential nature with God the Father and God the Son (Jesus). The Christian theology of the Holy Spirit, or pneumatology, was the last piece of Trinitarian theology to be fully explored and developed. For this reason, there is greater ...Holy Spirit for the determination of truth in doctrinal contests, and therefore that legal and doctrinal rulings that constrain reason and the freedom of the believer were neither necessary nor salutary. At the time, their position was referred to as low churchLow church is a term of distinction in the Church of England or other Anglican churches initially designed to be pejorative. During the series of doctrinal and ecclesiastic challenges to the established church in the 16th and 17th centuries, commentators and others began to refer to those groups favouring the theology, worship and structure of Anglicanism (such as the episcopate) as the truest form of Christianity as 'high church'. In contrast, in the early 18th century ...low church (in contrast to the High church"High Church" relates to ecclesiology and liturgy in Christian theology and practice. Although now used with regard to many Christian denominations, it has traditionally been associated with the Anglican tradition in particular. It is often employed in describing those Anglican parishes or congregations that employ many ritual practices associated ...High church position). Later, the latitudinarian position was called Broad churchBroad Church is a term referring to Latitudinarian churchmanship in the Church of England, in particular, and Anglicanism, in general. From this, the term is often used to refer to secular political organisations, meaning that they encompass a broad range of opinion. After the terms High Church and Low Church came to distinguish the tendency toward Ritualism and Anglo-Catholicism on the one hand and Puritanism on the other, those ...Broad church.

The best example of the latitudinarian philosophy is the Cambridge PlatonistsThe Cambridge Platonists were a group of philosophers at Cambridge University in the middle of the 17th century (between 1633 and 1688).Cambridge Platonists.

While always officially opposed, the latitudinarian philosophy was, nevertheless, dominant in the 18th century in England. Because of the HanoverianThe House of Hanover (the Hanoverians) is a German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, the Kingdom of Hanover and the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It succeeded the House of Stuart as monarchs of Great Britain in 1714. They are sometimes referred to as the House of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Hanover line. The House of Hanover is a younger branch of the House of Welf, which in turn is a branch of the House of Este.Hanoverian reluctance to act in church affairs (see, for example, George II'sGeorge II (George Augustus; 10 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death. He was the last British monarch to have been born outside of Great Britain, and was famous for his numerous conflicts with his father and, subsequently, with his son. As king, he exercised little control over policy in his early reign, the government instead ...George II's actions in the Bangorian ControversyThe Bangorian Controversy was a theological argument within the Church of England in the 18th century. The origins of the controversy lay in the 1716 posthumous publication of George Hickes's Constitution of the Catholic Church, and the Nature and Consequences of Schism. In it, Hickes, Bishop of Thetford, excommunicated all but the non-juror churchmen. Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, wrote a reply entitled, Preservative against the Principles and Practices ...Bangorian Controversy) and all sides of the religious debates being balanced against one another, the dioceses became tolerant of variation in local practice. Furthermore, after George II dismissed the ConvocationA Convocation (Latin 'calling together', translating the Greek ecclesia) is a group of people formally assembled for a special purpose. In particular, it is also used to refer to:Convocation, there was very little internal Church power to sanction or approve. Thus, with no Archbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader and senior clergyman of the Church of England, recognized by convention as the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The incumbent is Dr. Rowan Williams. Williams is the 104th in the list of Archbishops of Canterbury, a line stretching back more than 1400 ...Archbishop of Canterbury officially announcing it, nor LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". The Sovereign, the House of Commons (which is the lower house of Parliament and referred to as "the Commons"), and the Lords together ...Lords adopting it, latitudinarianism was the operative philosophy of the English church in the 18th century. For the 18th-century English church in the United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states, one federal district, and fourteen territories. The country is situated almost entirely in the western hemisphere: its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie in central North America between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico ...United States (which would become the Episcopal ChurchThe Episcopal Church in the United States of America is the Province of the Anglican Communion in the United States and several other nations, including dioceses in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe. Organized as a church shortly after the American Revolution, it was the first autonomous Anglican province ...Episcopal Church after the American Revolution's Declaration of Independence, showing the five-man committee in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia]] The American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies that became the United States of America gained independence from the British Empire. In this period, the ...American Revolution), latitudinarianism was the only practical course since it was a nation with official pluralism and diversity of opinion and diffusion of clerical power.

Today, latitudinarianism must not be confused with ecumenicalEcumenism (also oecumenism, œcumenism) refers to initiatives aimed at greater religious unity or cooperation. Most commonly, ecumenism is used in its narrow meaning, referring to greater co-operation among different Christian groups or denominations. For some however, ...ecumenical movements, which seek to draw all Christian churches together, rather than to de-emphasize practical doctrine. The term has taken on a more general meaning, indicating a personal philosophy which includes being widely tolerant of other views, particularly (but not necessarily) on religious matters.