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The Bangorian Controversy was a theological argument within the Church of England in the 18th century. It was occasioned by the Bishop of Bangor, Benjamin Hoadly, who delivered a sermon on March 31, 1717 to George I of England on The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ. His text was John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world," and from that Hoadly deduced, supposedly at the request of the king himself, that there is no Biblical justification for any church government of any sort.

The sermon was immediately published and instantly drew counter-attacks. William Law (Three Letters to the Bishop of Bangor) and Thomas Sherlock, in particular, gave vigorous defenses of church polity. In May of 1717, the Convocation appointed a committee to study the sermon. When the report was ready for synodal sanction against Hoadly, the king dismissed the convocation, which did not meet again for over 130 years.

The controversy may seem esoteric to contemporary observers, but the stakes were quite high. Two competing visions of government were in play. On the one hand, there was a vision of God appointing the king and the bishops to be leaders, selecting them from all others and imbuing them with special characters, either through grace or in creation. This view held that the king, as the head of the Established Church, was not merely a secular leader of a state, but also a religious primate. Power and regulation flowed downward from God to the people. This was the aristocratic model that was favored by the Tory party and which had been abused to propose the divine right of kings. The other view was that power flowed up from the people to the leaders, that leaders were no more intrinsically better than those led, and that God gives out revelation freely. This WhigThis article is about the British Whig party. For information about the American Whig party, see United States Whig Party. For information about the Liberian Whig party, see Whig (Liberia). For a long time in British politics, the two main parties were th view was also the view of the PuritanThe Puritans were members of a group of radical Protestants which developed in England after the Reformation. Terminology The word puritan is now applied unevenly to a number of Protestant churches from the late sixteenth century to the early eighteenth cs and the "Independents" (i.e. the various BaptistThe Baptist church is a movement within the Protestant branch of Christianity that emphasizes a believer's baptism by full immersion, which is performed after a profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. A congregational governance system giv churches, Quakers, etc.).

George I favored the Whig party in ParliamentAlternative meanings: Parliamentary system, Parliament (band), Parliament (cigarette). A parliament is a legislative body, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system derived from that of the United Kingdom. and favored a latitudinarianLatitudinarian was initially a pejorative term applied to a group of 17th century British theologians who believed in conforming to official Church of England practices but who felt that matters of doctrine, liturgical practice, and ecclesiastical organiz ecclesiastical policy in general. This was probably not due to any desire to give up royal prerogative, but rather to break the power of the aristocracy and the House of LordsThis article is about the British House of Lords. See also the historical Irish House of Lords. The House of Lords is a component of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also includes the Sovereign and the British House of Commons. The House of Lor. A significant obstacle to all kings of England had been the presence of bishops in Lords. While a king could create peers, he had a much harder time of moving bishops in and out of Lords.