Editing Wycliffe Hall, Oxford (section)

=== Origins ===
For many centuries membership of the [[University of Oxford]] required subscription to the [[39 Articles]] (part of the [[English Reformation]] heritage of the Church of England). The university was officially secularised by the [[Oxford University Act 1854]] and the [[Universities Tests Act 1871]], when it was opened respectively to students and lecturers of all religious creeds or none. Evangelical public meetings were held in 1876, partly in response to this development, where concerns were raised about how "the majority of clergy are professionally ignorant".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Theological Colleges: their hoods and histories|author=Nicholas Groves|year=2004|publisher=The Burgon Society|page=35|isbn=0954411013}}</ref> A committee, including [[Charles Perry (bishop)|Charles Perry]] and [[Sydney Gedge]] MP, was formed to raise funds for two new theological colleges, one at Cambridge and one at Oxford, which would provide supplementary training preparatory to ordination and do so "upon a sound Evangelical and Protestant basis".<ref>{{Cite news|title=The Guardian, 27 June 1877|page=894}}</ref>

[[File:John_Wycliffe_portrait.jpg|thumb|left|[[John Wycliffe]], Master of Balliol College, Oxford, 1360–66]] Funds were gathered rapidly and a founding council was formed for the Oxford college, including [[J. C. Ryle]], [[Robert Payne Smith]], [[Edward Garbett]], and [[Edmund Knox (bishop of Manchester)|Edmund Knox]]. The vision was to maintain the teaching of biblical and evangelical theology at Oxford and to promote "doctrinal truth and vital godliness", training ordinands to be "mighty in scripture...prepared to maintain the pure doctrines of the Reformed Church of England in all their simplicity and fullness".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Theological Halls at Oxford and Cambridge|publisher=Bodleian Library|page=536}}</ref> The new hall was dedicated to [[John Wycliffe]], who was master of [[Balliol College, Oxford]] in the 1360s, and is remembered as the 'morning star' of the Reformation.

Wycliffe is one of more than 20 Anglican theological colleges established in England during the late 19th century – including its "sister college" is [[Ridley Hall, Cambridge]], which opened in 1881. Two evangelical organisations working among Oxford students were founded in the late nineteenth century; the [[Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union]] in 1879 and the [[Oxford Pastorate]] in 1893. Wycliffe had close links with both from their inception. Indeed, of Wycliffe's first 100 students, 83 were Oxford graduates; a link that was bolstered by the second [[Principal (academia)|principal]], Chavasse, who was incumbent of [[Church of St Peter-le-Bailey|St Peter-le-Bailey]], Oxford prior to leading the hall. The hall opened to non-graduates in 1890.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}