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Anglicanism - Protestant - Anglican Religion

FarSeer wrote (in response to my introduction):

I reply:

Anglicanism refers to the world wide communion of churches established by the Church of England, united in fellowship with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Celtic Christianity has been been in the British Isles since at least the fifth century, but legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea came with Jesus to the Isles. (There is a song sung by Anglicans called Jerusalem, which is about this legend.) The Celtic church was primarily watched over by monastery abbots, bishops being few in number. Its theology was strict, and primarily Eastern Orthodox in feel, (appeals from the Celtic Church related to ecclesial matters were sent to Jerusalem, and Antioch, and later Constantinople, but not to Old Rome until the sixth century). In the sixth century, with the calendar change, Pope Gregory (if I remember right) sent Augustine to Canterbury to establish an episcopal See. The Celtic church fully accepted the new Gregorian calendar in the early seventh, late sixth century, and (after much debate) at that time gave allegiance to the Roman Patriarchate.

In the 16th century, after the death of Henry VIII, the reformation movement began to push their agenda on King Edward VI, who assigned Archbishop Cranmer, and three others, to author a prayerbook in English. This revolutionary step was after the vision of Henry VIII, who wished the Church of England to proceed as an Orthodox church, preferably in communion with Constantinople. Contrary to popular history, Henry fought with the Pope over monetary distributions, not just his annulment with Catherine. The Pope did excommunicate Henry, but not for his affair with Anne Boleyn, but because he went through the Universities to show that the Pope was wrong in his judgement regarding the annulment, which in acctuality Henry VIII was right (and was clearly working to his own purpose), and because of his cutting off all funds from going to Pope. It was not Henry's intention to form a Reformation, or Protestant, Church, but to protect the wealth of England that was disappearing to the Pope, and thwarting his war with France.

Queen Mary, after the death of Edward, suppressed the Book of Common Prayer. Queen Elizabeth, following the vision of her father, reestablished the Book of Common Prayer after she was made Queen, but ran into difficulties with the rising power of the reformation movement within her country. Her solution was to lock up the bishops (a majority) still loyal to the Pope, so that she could push through Parliament her act of uniformity, the purpose of which was to appease both Catholic and Protestant parties. Elizabeth was excommunicated by the Pope. In some ways, neither the Catholics nor Reformers were satisfied, and at Elizabeth's death, a century of civil war wracked England, ending with an Orthodox oriented King and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, (which oddly, was still to some degree, mildly Lutheran and Calvinistic). This tension between a Western style Orthodox Catholicism, and Calvinistic and Lutheran influences, has played out ever since.

In the late 19th century, an almost successful attempt at reunion with the Pope was sabotaged by Cardinals who saw the flirtations of the Church of England with the Reformation as sufficient to negate Anglican Orders (the rite of ordaining a bishop), and convinced--somewhat dishonestly--the Pope of this. The Eastern Orthodox in the early twentieth century all (the various jurisdictions and Patriarchates) signed letters attesting to the validity of Anglican Orders, but cautiously waited to see if time would show the Anglicans to be truly Orthodox in theology and practice. Patriarch Tikhon, the last Russian Orthodox Patriarch, authorized a slightly modified version of the Book of Common Prayer for the Russian Orthodox Church in America, originally printed by the Episcopal Church in the United States (ECUSA, a member of the Anglican Communion). The ECUSA was invited to assist in ordaining a Russian Orthodox bishop in the early part of the last century.

Since the uneasy consent to (but not authorization of) women's ordination by the Church of England, and other Anglican provinces, the Orthodox have become uneasy regarding Anglicans ordaining women as priests and bishops, though the Orthodox have not officially settled this issue. The ordination of Gene Robinson, a gay man living in a relationship, by the diocese of New Hampshire of the Episcopal Church has caused a rift between the Orthodox, and unsettled the Roman Catholics. The recent Lambeth Bishop's Conference, and Anglican Consultative Committee, have issued statements of anathema regarding this, and the authorization by the Anglican Church of Canada of same-sex blessings, which the current pope said showed the Anglicans were back on track for ecumenical talks. The upcoming conferences of the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Episcopal Church in the USA, will determine these churches responses, from which the Lambeth Conference in 2008 will make a final decision regarding this doctrinal issue.

Religion Anglican Protestant Anglicanism

Thank you for the information and history on Angelicanism. I had not realized that angelicanism was still the national state religion of Great Britain. I'm not sure what I thought it was, but I thought that it had changed for some reason. Do the angelicans hold primarily to reformation/protestant teachings, or are they closer to catholic teaching? I noticed that there has been much effort to reconcile with the catholic pope.

Anglicanism - Protestant - Anglican Religion Beliefs Religious General

Not 'angel' but 'angli' as in anglican not angelican. Anglican refers to anglo as in anglo-saxon, I.e British.

It is still the state religion in England only, not the other provinces of the Communion. Prince Charles has indicated that he intends to change this if he becomes king. A change to the 1662 prayer book was proposed in 1927, accepted by the Church, but rejected by Parliament. The same occurred with a revision in 1928. The basic gist was that the proposals introduced Orthodox and Catholic ceremonial which was rejected by the English public, though accepted by the Church of England itself.

Though there have been Reformation elements since King Edward VI, the core of Anglicanism has remained Catholic in theology, but without the pope. However, Anglicanism is probably most akin with Eastern Orthodoxy theologically (though not strictly so), while still remaining Roman Catholic liturgically. Remember that Christianity in the British Isle's has existed since at least the early 3rd century, and did not accept papal jurisdiction until the 7th century, in some areas not until the 8th. Officially, there are moderate Lutheran and Calvinistic doctrines (via the 39 articles). Though there are some evangelical elements that still hold to these doctrines, they are generally considered the remnant of Reformation politics.

There was an attempt at reunion in the late nineteenth century, but was rejected in the end by the Roman Catholic side. The Episcopal Church in the U.S. attempted something similar with the Orthodox that succeeded in the early 20th century, but ultimately failed because of the ordination of women to the episcopate, (and the presbytery). There has also been concern expressed by the Orthodox due to divergent core theologies in different provinces of the Communion, especially by a general Anglican inclusiveness. The acceptance of the 39 articles of religion as being in accord with Scripture and Tradition, though not requiring belief in said articles, is one example of this, (the protestant side); while other parts of the communion are far more Orthodox and Catholic in theology, some even going so far as to accept hands down all Roman Catholic theologies, and desiring a union with the pope, while others accepting a more Eastern Orthodox theology, and desiring a union with the churchs of the East.

I personally doubt a union with either at this point, though Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) seems intent on reexploring such a possibility. (At the ceremony for Ratzinger's installment as pope, he accepted a copy of the Book of Common Prayer in German with enthusiasm, and is reported to have remarked to one of his cardinals his excitement at having received it.) Ultimately, Anglicanism is best compared to Roman Catholicism as the Oriental Orthodox are to Eastern Orthodoxy. Anglicans accept officially the first four ecumenical councils, but considering the first 7 as compatible with Anglican theology; Scripture is canonically accepted in both the Septuagint and Vulgate editions (I.e. the full Catholic and Orthodox bibles which include the deutero-canonical texts), as well as various English and other translations (to mention a few, such as the old Bishop's Bible, the only officially accepted translation; the King James edition, colloquially called the 'authorized version'; the Revised Standard Version; the New Revised Standard Version; the Revised English Version; as well as others); Anglican bishops are in historical succession with Augustine of Canterbury, which takes their canonical authority back to at least the 6th century, if not preceding it (to the 3rd), and bishops are considered an essential element, unlike most other protestant faiths (only Anglican, and some continuing Anglican and Lutheran, churches still maintain this outside of Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism); and finally, Tradition is still important to understanding Scripture, both its interpretation and its origin.

I hope this answers your question, though I was perhaps verbose in my response.

Message Edited! Persephone: Please use the quote tags when copying someone's message into your response. See FAQ Board.

Religion Anglican Protestant Anglicanism

As Protestants decline, those with no religion gain

Protestant numbers and influence are declining in the USA as the number of people with no religion ('Nones') rises. Ref. Source 5