In England, the Reformation took its own particular form. It was dictated in part by political circumstances—the Pope’s refusal to allow Henry VIII to divorce his wife and the King’s resulting determination to set up a national church that would allow him to have his own way—but there was also a religious motive, with the influence of Luther and Calvin making itself felt in England as elsewhere in Europe. The new Church of England eventually positioned itself between Protestantism and Catholicism. It maintains formal links with the state and has expanded, hand-in-hand with the British Empire, across the globe. Today there is an 80-million-strong Anglican Communion, the third largest Christian grouping in the world.
The theological basis of the Church of England was originally defined in the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563. These represent the culmination of a series of attempts to lay down the distinctive beliefs of the national church. The process began under Henry VIII in 1536 with 10 articles putting a modest distance between the new church and Rome. The gap widened in 1552 with a fresh set of 42 articles, drawn up by one of the most Protestant-leaning of English Reformation figures, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. The final tally of 39 was the result of a compromise agreed during the reign of Elizabeth I.
Balancing act The tone and composition of the Thirty-Nine Articles demonstrate clearly the balancing act that is Anglicanism. The first eight articles are broadly Catholic and look back to the apostles and the practices of the early Church. The next 10 turn to the newer insights of the Reformation but stop short of a full endorsement of matters such as Luther’s position on justification by faith alone: Anglicanism leaves room also for good works. The rest concern themselves with doctrine and the position of the Church in relation to the state.
The Book of Common Prayer, the other pillar of Anglicanism, also evolved during this turbulent period. The hand behind much of it was again that of Thomas Cranmer, who also pursued the dissolution of the monasteries, the promotion of services in English rather than Latin, and an end to the veneration of saints and the overabundance of religious imagery in churches. While a key adviser to first Henry VIII and then, after his death in 1547, to his son Edward VI, Cranmer combined words of devotion from the Roman tradition with an interpretation of the sacraments that owed more to Luther and Calvin. After many disputes and revisions, a final text appeared in 1662 and has remained in use ever since, though in 1980 an Alternative Service Book was introduced.
“When an Anglican is asked, ‘Where was your church before the Reformation?’ his best answer is to put the counter-question, ‘Where was your face before you washed it?’”
Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1961–74
Fault line The fault line in the Church between Catholic and Protestant—or Reformed, as most Anglicans prefer—persists to this day. “Low” or “Evangelical” Anglicanism owes much to Luther, Zwingli and Calvin with its simple ceremonies and Bible-centered teachings.
Meanwhile “High” or “Anglo-Catholic” Anglicans take their lead from Catholicism when it comes to forms of worship and theology, though most reject the supreme authority of the Pope. In recent times many High Anglicans have joined Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy in exasperation at their church’s ordination of women, and the overstepping of authority they believe this represents. In 2009, the Pope agreed to allow “Catholic” Anglicans to convert to Rome as parishes or even whole dioceses.
The Oxford Movement
In the 1830s, the Oxford Movement (also known as the Tractarians, due to their habit of setting out their views in tracts or booklets) attempted to steer Anglicanism closer to the traditions of the early Church and—its critics said—of Roman Catholicism. Its key figures—John Henry Newman, Edward Pusey and John Keble, all academics at Oxford University—felt that Anglicanism had become too plain and encouraged a return to medieval forms of worship and monasticism. They argued that the Thirty-Nine Articles could be reconciled with the teachings of the Catholic Council of Trent. Newman’s conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1845 weakened the movement substantially.
The center ground in Anglicanism, usually known as the Liberals and traditionally the repository of power in the Communion, has shrunk as it has struggled to hold the worldwide Church together over divisive issues such as female ordination (enthusiastically embraced in some provinces; banned in others) and homosexuality. The policy of no single province moving ahead with reform until all others have been convinced, for the sake of unity, has been abandoned. The election in 2003 of an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in the Episcopalian (Anglican) Church in the United States has caused some African provinces to threaten to break away from the Communion.
“It has been the wisdom of the Church of England, ever since the first compiling of her Publick Liturgy, to keep the mean between the two extremes, of too much stiffness in refusing, and of too much easiness in admitting any variation from it.”
Book of Common Prayer, 1662
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the leader of the Anglican Communion, but his powers are strictly limited. He presides as first amongst equals over the once-every-ten-years gathering of all Anglican bishops, the Lambeth Conference, which first met in 1867, but can only get his own way by persuasion and consent. Many Anglican provinces—such as the Church of England itself—operate on a similarly democratic model, with key decisions voted for by representatives of the bishops, clergy and laity at regular meetings called synods.
Evelyn Underhill and Anglican spirituality
Anglicanism has struggled to develop its own distinctive spirituality, particularly in provinces such as England, where its role as the state religion has required it to appeal to a broad constituency. However, the Wolverhampton-born poet and novelist Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941) attracted a large following in the first decades of the twentieth century with her writings, lectures and retreats. Her most successful book, Mysticism (1911), had as its subtitle “A Study of Man’s Nature and the Development of Man’s Spiritual Consciousness.” She placed great emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit, on contemplative (rather than public) prayer, and on the emerging discipline of psychology.
The Church of England remains an established church, though calls for disestablishment have been loud and persistent. Its head is the British monarch, and its bishops are appointed by the state, with some of them sitting in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of Parliament. Anglican doctrine reacts more swiftly to the secular mood than does Roman Catholicism. For example, the Communion does not oppose artificial contraception, and, though it regrets abortion, it does not oppose it being legally available. The Church of England regards the whole English population as being part of its congregation, not just those who are Anglican. It exists therefore as much for those without it as within.
the condensed idea
Struggling toward a middle way
| timeline | |
|---|---|
| 1529 | Henry VIII declares himself head of English church |
| 1563 | Thirty-Nine Articles |
| 1662 | Book of Common Prayer |
| 1867 | First Lambeth Conference |
| 2003 | First openly gay bishop |