The terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism are broad descriptions of people, groups, ideas, and practices that emphasize those dogmatic and sacramental aspects of the Church of England that promote continuity with Catholic tradition. Anglo-Catholicism formally began in 1833 with the Oxford Movement reaction to extreme liberal and conservative innovations of the Church of England, as argued most prominently in Tracts for the Times, eighty-eight pamphlets issued in five bound volumes (1834–1840), written by John Henry Newman, Edward B. Pusey, John Keble, and several others. Following is a brief discussion of several selected forerunners and heirs of Anglo-Catholicism, all who were and are important critics and interpreters of the culture of science in their time.

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) was one of the keenest satirists and greatest masters of prose style that English literature has produced. His most famous work, Gulliver's Travels (1726), was a bitter satire of the politics and...