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Anglican doctrine
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Anglican doctrine (also called Episcopal doctrine in some countries) is the body of Christian teachings used to guide the religious and moral practices of Anglicanism.[1]
Thomas Cranmer, the guiding Reformer that led to the development of Anglicanism as a distinct tradition under the English Reformation, compiled the original Book of Common Prayer, which forms the basis of Anglican worship and practice.[2][1] By 1571 it included the Thirty-nine Articles, the historic doctrinal statement of the Church of England.[1] The Books of Homilies explicates the foundational teachings of Anglican Christianity, also compiled under the auspices of Archbishop Cranmer.[1] Richard Hooker and the Caroline divines later developed Anglican doctrine of religious authority as being derived from scripture, tradition, and "redeemed" reason; Anglicans affirmed the primacy of scriptural revelation (prima scriptura), informed by the Church fathers, the historic Nicene, Apostles and Athanasian creeds, and a latitudinarian interpretation of scholasticism. Charles Simeon espoused and popularised evangelical Reformed positions in the 18th and 19th centuries, while the Oxford Movement re-introduced monasticism, religious orders and various other pre-Reformation practices and beliefs in the 19th century.
Anglicanism historically developed as via media between two branches of Protestantism—Lutheranism and Calvinism—though closer to the latter than the former.[3][4] Its identity has affirmed to be Reformed and Catholic.[3]
Over time, the tension between catholicity and Puritanism resulted in a latitudinarian or "broad church" mainstream, within a low church to high church spectrum of sanctioned approaches to ritual and tolerance of the associated beliefs. Evangelicals (low church) and Anglo Catholics (high church) represent the far ends of this spectrum, with most Anglicans falling somewhere in between. Theologically, the Anglican Communion includes Reformed Anglicanism, with a smaller number of Arminian Anglicans.[5]
- ^ a b c d Samuel, Chimela Meehoma (28 April 2020). Treasures of the Anglican Witness: A Collection of Essays. Partridge Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5437-5784-2.
In addition to his emphasis on Bible reading and the introduction to the Book of Common Prayer, other media through which Cranmer sought to catechize the English people were the introduction of the First Book of Homilies and the 39 Articles of Religion. Together with the Book of Common Prayer and the Forty-Two Articles (which were later reduced to thirty-nine), the Book of Homilies stands as one of the essential texts of the Edwardian Reformation, and they all helped to define the shape of Anglicanism then, and in the subsequent centuries. More so, the Articles of Religion, whose primary shape and content were given by Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Ridley in 1553 (and whose final official form was ratified by Convocation, the Queen, and Parliament in 1571), provided a more precise interpretation of Christian doctrine to the English people. According to John H. Rodgers, they "constitute the formal statements of the accepted, common teaching put forth by the Church of England as a result of the Reformation."
- ^ Goggin, Jamin; Strobel, Kyle (5 June 2013). Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics: A Guide for Evangelicals. InterVarsity Press. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-8308-3997-1.
Thomas Cranmer shaped the piety and theology of the reformed Church of England through his Book of Common Prayer.
- ^ a b Anglican and Episcopal History. Historical Society of the Episcopal Church. 2003. p. 15.
Others had made similar observations, Patrick McGrath commenting that the Church of England was not a middle way between Roman Catholic and Protestant, but "between different forms of Protestantism", and William Monter describing the Church of England as "a unique style of Protestantism, a via media between the Reformed and Lutheran traditions". MacCulloch has described Cranmer as seeking a middle way between Zurich and Wittenberg but elsewhere remarks that the Church of England was "nearer Zurich and Geneva than Wittenberg.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Jensen2015was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Hampton, Stephen. "Anti-Arminians: The Anglican Reformed Tradition from Charles II to George I". The Gospel Coalition. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
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