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{{Anglicanism}}
{{Anglicanism}}


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The degree of distinction between Reformed and western Catholic tendencies within the Anglican tradition is routinely a matter of debate both within specific Anglican churches and throughout the ''[[Anglican Communion]]''. Unique to ''Anglicanism'' is the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'', the collection of services that worshippers in most Anglican churches used for centuries. While it has since undergone many revisions and Anglican churches in different countries have developed other service books, the ''Prayer Book'' is still acknowledged as one of the ties that bind the ''Anglican Communion'' together. There is no single ''Anglican Church'' with universal juridical authority, since each national or regional church has full autonomy. As the name suggests, the ''Anglican Communion'' is an association of those churches in [[full communion]] with the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]].<ref name="ODCC">The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition p.65 (March 13, 1997)</ref> With over eighty<ref name="acomm" /> million members the Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion in the world, after the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].
The degree of distinction between Reformed and western Catholic tendencies within the Anglican tradition is routinely a matter of debate both within specific Anglican churches and throughout the ''[[Anglican Communion]]''. Unique to ''Anglicanism'' is the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'', the collection of services that worshippers in most Anglican churches used for centuries. While it has since undergone many revisions and Anglican churches in different countries have developed other service books, the ''Prayer Book'' is still acknowledged as one of the ties that bind the ''Anglican Communion'' together. There is no single ''Anglican Church'' with universal juridical authority, since each national or regional church has full autonomy. As the name suggests, the ''Anglican Communion'' is an association of those churches in [[full communion]] with the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]].<ref name="ODCC">The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition p.65 (March 13, 1997)</ref> With over eighty<ref name="acomm" /> million members the Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion in the world, after the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].

== Terminology ==
{{details|Christian Church|the universal Church of which Anglicanism is a part}}

The word ''Anglicanism'' is a [[neologism]] from the 19th century; being constructed from the older word ''Anglican''.<ref name="ODCC" /> The word refers to the teachings and rites of Christians throughout the world in communion with the [[Episcopal see|see]] of [[Diocese of Canterbury|Canterbury]]. It has come to be used to refer to the claim of those Churches to a unique religious and theological tradition apart from all other Christian churches, be they [[Eastern Orthodox]], [[Roman Catholic]], or [[Protestant]]; and is entirely distinct from the allegiance of some of these churches to the [[British Crown]].<ref name="ODCC" />

The word ''Anglican'' originates in {{lang|la|''ecclesia anglicana''}}, a [[Medieval Latin]] phrase dating to at least 1246 meaning "the [[England|English]] Church".<ref name=cat>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Anglicanism}}</ref> As an adjective, ''Anglican'' is used to describe the people, institutions, and churches as well as the liturgical traditions and theological concepts developed by the [[Church of England]].<ref name="ODCC" /> As a noun, an ''Anglican'' is a member of a Church in the [[Anglican Communion]]. The word is also used by followers of dissenting groups which have left the communion or have been founded separately from it, though the Anglican Communion considers this to be misuse.<ref name=gro>[http://www.anglicanjournal.com/sexuality-debate/055/article/group-drops-name Anglican Journal article "Group drops name"(1 May 2006)]Retrieved 23 January 2007</ref>

Although the term ''Anglican'' is found referring to the Church of England as far back as the 16th century, its use did not become general until the latter half of the 19th century. In British parliamentary legislation referring to the English [[Established Church]], it is described as the ''Protestant Episcopal Church'', thereby distinguishing it from the counterpart established ''[[Church of Scotland|Protestant Presbyterian Church]]'' in Scotland. [[High Church]]men, who objected to the term ''Protestant'', initially promoted the form ''Reformed Episcopal Church''; and it remains the case that word ''[[Episcopalian|Episcopal]]'' is preferred in the title of [[The Episcopal Church]] (the province of the Anglican Communion covering the United States) and the [[Scottish Episcopal Church]]. Outside of the British Isles, however, the word ''Anglican Church'' came to be preferred; as it distinguished these churches from others that claimed an episcopal polity; although the [[Church of Ireland]] and the [[Church in Wales]] continue to use the term only with reservations.

=== Anglicanism defined ===
{{Christianity}}
Anglicanism, in its structures, theology, and forms of worship, is commonly understood as a distinct Christian tradition representing a middle ground between [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] and [[Protestant]]ism and, as such, is often referred to as being a ''via media'' (or ''middle way'') between these traditions. The faith of Anglicans is founded in the [[Scriptures]] and the [[Gospels]], the traditions of the [[apostolic]] Church, the historic [[episcopate]], the first four [[Ecumenical Councils]], and the early [[Church Fathers]]. Anglicans understand the [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament]]s as 'containing all things necessary for salvation' and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith. Anglicans understand the [[Apostles' Creed]] as the baptismal symbol, and the [[Nicene Creed]] as the sufficient [[statement of faith|statement of the Christian faith]].

[[File:Rochester cathedral stained glass 2.jpg||thumb|left|Jesus depicted in a stained glass window in [[Rochester Cathedral]], Kent.]]

Anglicans believe the catholic and apostolic faith is revealed in Holy Scripture and the catholic creeds, and interpret these in light of the Christian tradition of the historic Church, scholarship, reason, and experience.

Anglicans celebrate the traditional sacraments, with special emphasis being given to the [[Holy Eucharist]], also called Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper or the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]]. The Eucharist is central to worship for most Anglicans as a communal offering of prayer and praise in which the life, death and resurrection of [[Jesus]] [[Christ]] are proclaimed through prayer, reading of the Bible, singing, and the reception of bread and wine as instituted at the [[Last Supper]]. Whilst many Anglicans celebrate the Eucharist in similar ways to the predominant western Catholic tradition, a considerable degree of liturgical freedom is permitted, and worship styles range from the simple to elaborate.

Unique to Anglicanism is the [[Book of Common Prayer]] (BCP), the collection of services that worshippers in most Anglican churches used for centuries. It was called ''common prayer'' originally because it was intended for use in all [[Church of England]] churches which had previously followed differing local liturgies. The term was kept when the church became international because all Anglicans used to share in its use around the world. In 1549, the first Book of Common Prayer was compiled by [[Thomas Cranmer]], who was then [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. Whilst it has since undergone many revisions and Anglican churches in different countries have developed other service books, the Prayer Book is still acknowledged as one of the ties that bind the Anglican Communion together.

== Anglican identity ==
=== Development ===
{{see also|History of the Anglican Communion}}

By the [[Elizabethan Settlement]], the Churches of England and Ireland had been established through legislation in [[British Parliament|Parliament]]; and assumed allegiance and loyalty to the British Crown in all their members. However, from the first, the Elizabethan Church began to develop distinct religious traditions; assimilating some of the theology of [[Reformed churches]] with the services in the [[Book of Common Prayer]], under the leadership and organisation of a continuing episcopate;<ref>{{cite book|last=Edwards |first=David L. |title=Christian England (Volume 2): From the Reformation to the 18th Century |year=1983 |publisher=Collins |page=89}}</ref> and over the years these traditions themselves came to command adherence and loyalty. Potentially this would create a crisis of identity, were secular and religious loyalties to conflict – and such a crisis indeed occurred in 1776 with the [[American Declaration of Independence]], most of whose signatories were, at least nominally, Anglican.<ref>{{cite book|last=Edwards |first=David L. |title=Christian England (Volume 3): From the 18th Century to the First World War |year=1984 |publisher=Collins |page=42}}</ref> For these American Patriots, even the forms of Anglican services were in doubt, since the Prayer Book rites of Matins, Evensong and Holy Communion, all included specific prayers for the British Royal Family. Consequently, the conclusion of the War of Independence resulted in the creation of two new Anglican churches, [[The Episcopal Church in the United States of America]] in those States that had achieved independence; and [[Anglican Church of Canada|The Church of England in Canada]] in those North American colonies remaining under British control and to which many Loyalist churchmen had migrated. Reluctantly, legislation was passed in the British Parliament (the Consecration of Bishops Abroad Act 1786) to allow bishops to be consecrated for an American church outside of allegiance to the British Crown (whereas no bishoprics had ever been established in the former American colonies).<ref>{{cite book|last=Edwards |first=David L. |title=Christian England (Volume 3): From the 18th Century to the First World War |year=1984 |publisher=Collins |page=43}}</ref> Both in the United States and in Canada, the new Anglican churches developed novel models of self-government, collective decision-making, and self-supported financing; that would be consistent with separation of religious and secular identities.<ref>{{cite book|last=Edwards |first=David L .|title=Christian England (Volume 3): From the 18th Century to the First World War |year=1984 |publisher=Collins |page=322}}</ref>

In the following century, two further factors acted to accelerate the development of a distinct Anglican identity. From 1828 and 1829, [[Dissenters]] and [[Roman Catholics]] could be elected to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Edwards |first=David L. |title=Christian England (Volume 3): From the 18th Century to the First World War |year=1984 |publisher=Collins |pages=113, 124}}</ref> which consequently ceased to be a purely Anglican body; but which nevertheless, over the following ten years, engaged in extensive reforming legislation affecting the interests of the established churches of both England and Ireland. The propriety of this legislation was bitterly contested by the [[Tractarians]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Edwards |first=David L. |title=Christian England (Volume 3): From the 18th Century to the First World War |year=1984 |publisher=Collins |page=178}}</ref> who in response developed a vision of Anglicanism as religious tradition deriving ultimately from the [[Ecumenical Councils]] of the patristic church. Those within the Church of England opposed to the Tractarians, and to their revived ritual practices, introduced a stream of Parliamentary Bills aimed to control innovations in worship;<ref>{{cite book|last=Chadwick |first=Owen |title=The Victorian Church, Part Two 1860–1901 |publisher=Black |page=324}}</ref> but this only made the dilemma more acute, with consequent continual litigation in the secular and ecclesiastical courts.

Over the same period Anglican churches engaged vigorously in [[Mission (Christian)|Christian missions]], resulting in the creation, by the end of the century, of over ninety colonial bishoprics;<ref>{{cite book|last=Edwards |first=David L. |title=Christian England (Volume 3): From the 18th Century to the First World War |year=1984 |publisher=Collins |page=318}}</ref> which gradually coalesced into new self-governing churches on the Canadian and American models. However, the case of [[John William Colenso]] Bishop of Natal, reinstated in 1865 by the English [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] over the heads of the Church in South Africa,<ref>{{cite book|last=Edwards |first=David L. |title=Christian England (Volume 3): From the 18th Century to the First World War |year=1984 |publisher=Collins |page=324}}</ref> demonstrated acutely that the extension of episcopacy had to be accompanied by a recognised Anglican ecclesiology of ecclesiastical authority, distinct from secular power.

Consequently, at the instigation of the bishops of Canada and South Africa, the first [[Lambeth Conference]] was called in 1867;<ref>{{cite book|last=Edwards |first=David L. |title=Christian England (Volume 3): From the 18th Century to the First World War |year=1984 |publisher=Collins |page=325}}</ref> to be followed by further conferences in 1878 and 1888, and thereafter at ten year intervals. The various papers and declarations of successive Lambeth Conferences, have served to frame the continued Anglican debate on identity, especially as relating to the possibility of ecumenical discussion with other churches. This ecumenical aspiration became much more of a possibility, as other denominational groups rapidly followed the example of the Anglican Communion in founding their own transnational alliances: the [[World Alliance of Reformed Churches|Alliance of Reformed Churches]], the [[World Methodist Council|Ecumenical Methodist Council]], the [[World Alliance of Reformed Churches|International Congregational Council]], and the [[Baptist World Alliance]].

=== Theories of Anglican identity ===

In their rejection of absolute parliamentary authority, the Tractarians – and in particular [[John Henry Newman]] – looked back to the writings of 17th century Anglican divines, finding in these texts the idea of the English church as a ''[[via media]]'' between the Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions.<ref name=Morris>{{cite journal|last=Morris |first=Jeremy N. |year=2003 |month=Fall |title=Newman and Maurice on the Via Media of the Anglican Church: Contrasts and Affinities |journal=Anglican Theological Review}}</ref> This view was associated – especially in the writings of [[Edward Bouverie Pusey]] – with the theory of Anglicanism as one of three "[[Branch Theory|branches]]" (alongside the Catholic and Orthodox churches) historically arising out of the common tradition of the earliest [[Ecumenical Councils]]. Newman himself subsequently rejected the theory of the ''via media'', as essentially historicist and static; and hence unable to accommodate any dynamic development within the church.<ref name=Morris /> Nevertheless, the aspiration to ground Anglican identity in the writings of the 17th century divines, and in faithfulness to the traditions of the [[Church Fathers]] reflects a continuing theme of Anglican ecclesiology, most recently in the writings of [[Henry Robert McAdoo]].<ref>{{cite book|last=McAdoo |first=Henry Robert |authorlink=Henry Robert McAdoo |title=Anglican Heritage: Theology and Spirituality |publisher=Canterbury Press |year=1991}}</ref>

The Tractarian formulation of the theory of the ''via media'' was essentially a party platform, and not acceptable to Anglicans outside the confines of the [[Oxford Movement]]. However, the theory of the ''via media'' was reworked in the ecclesiological writings of [[Frederick Denison Maurice]], in a more dynamic form that became widely influential. Both Maurice and Newman saw the Church of England of their day as sorely deficient in faith; but whereas Newman had looked back to a distant past when the light of faith might have appeared to burn brighter, Maurice looked forwards to the possibility of a brighter revelation of faith in the future. Maurice saw the Protestant and Catholic strands within the Church of England as contrary but complementary, both maintaining elements of the true church, but incomplete without the other; such that a true catholic and evangelical church might come into being by a union of opposites.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sykes |first=Stephen. W. |authorlink=Stephen Sykes |title=The Integrity of Anglicanism |publisher=Mowbray |year=1978 |page=16}}</ref> Central to Maurice's perspective, is his belief that the collective elements of family, nation and church represent a divine order of structures through which God unfolds his continuing work of creation. Hence, for Maurice, the Protestant tradition has maintained the elements of national distinction which are amongst the marks of the true universal church, but which have been lost within Roman Catholicism in the parasitic internationalism of centralised Papal Authority. Within the coming universal church that Maurice foresaw, national churches would would each maintain the six signs of Catholicity: baptism, Eucharist, the creeds, Scripture, an episcopally ordered ministry, and a fixed liturgy; of which the latter would take a variety of forms in accordance with divinely ordained distinctions in national characteristics.<ref name=Morris /> Not surprisingly, this vision of a becoming universal church as a congregation of autonomous national churches, proved highly congenial in Anglican circles; and Maurice's six signs were adapted to form the [[Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral]] of 1888.<ref>{{cite book |last=Woodhouse-Hawkins |first=M. |editor=Wright, J. Robert |title=Quadrilateral at One Hundred |year=1988 |publisher=Mowbray |location=London |chapter=Maurice, Huntington, and the Quadrilateral: an Exploration in Historical Theology}}</ref>

In the latter decades of the 20th century, Maurice's theory, and the various strands of Anglican thought that derived from it, have been criticised by [[Stephen Sykes]];<ref>{{cite book |last=Sykes |first=Stephen. W. |authorlink=Stephen Sykes |title=The Integrity of Anglicanism |publisher=Mowbray |year=1978 |page=19}}</ref> who argues that the terms ''Protestant'' and ''Catholic'' as used in these approaches are synthetic constructs denoting ecclesiastic identities unacceptable to those to whom the labels are applied. Hence, the Roman Catholic Church does not regard itself as a party or strand within the universal church – but rather identifies itself as the universal church. Moreover, Sykes criticises the proposition, implicit in theories of ''via media'', that there is no distinctive body of Anglican doctrine, other than those of the universal church; accusing this of being an excuse not to undertake systematic doctrine at all.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sykes |first=Stephen. W. |authorlink=Stephen Sykes |title=The Integrity of Anglicanism |publisher=Mowbray |year=1978 |page=53}}</ref> Contrariwise, Sykes notes a high degree of commonality in Anglican liturgical forms, and in the doctrinal understandings expressed within those liturgies. He proposes that Anglican identity might rather be found within a shared consistent pattern of prescriptive liturgies, established and maintained through canon law, and embodying both a historic deposit of formal statements of doctrine, and also framing the regular reading and proclamation of scripture.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sykes |first=Stephen. W. |authorlink=Stephen Sykes |title=The Integrity of Anglicanism |publisher=Mowbray |year=1978|page=44}}</ref> Sykes nevertheless agrees with those heirs of Maurice who emphasise the incompleteness of Anglicanism as a positive feature, and quotes with qualified approval the words of [[Michael Ramsay]]:

{{quote|For while the Anglican church is vindicated by its place in history, with a strikingly balanced witness to Gospel and Church and sound learning, its greater vindication lies in its pointing through its own history to something of which it is a fragment. Its credentials are its incompleteness, with the tension and the travail of its soul. It is clumsy and untidy, it baffles neatness and logic. For it is not sent to commend itself as ‘the best type of Christianity,’ but by its very brokenness to point to the universal Church wherein all have died.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ramsay |first=Micheal |authorlink=Michael Ramsay |title=The Gospel and the Catholic Church |publisher=Longmans |year=1936 |page=220}}</ref>}}

== Doctrine ==
{{Main|Anglican doctrine}}

=== Catholic and Reformed ===

In the time of [[Henry VIII]] the nature of Anglicanism was based on questions of jurisdiction – specifically, the belief of the Crown that national churches should be autonomous – rather than theological disagreement. The effort to create a national church in legal continuity with its traditions, but inclusive of certain doctrinal and liturgical beliefs of the [[Protestant Reformers|Reformers]], was joined by a real concern to make the institution as hospitable as possible to people of different theological inclinations, so as to maintain social peace and cohesion. The result has been a movement with a distinctive self-image among Christian movements. The question often arises as to whether the Anglican Communion should be identified as a [[Protestant]] or [[Catholic]] church, or perhaps as a distinct branch of Christianity altogether. The official position of the Anglican Communion is that, like the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions, it is a full and distinct branch of the "[[One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church]]," created by Christ.{{Fact|date=February 2009}}

The distinction between Reformed and Catholic, and the coherence of the two, is routinely a matter of debate both within specific Anglican Churches and throughout the Anglican Communion by members themselves. Since the [[Oxford Movement]] of the mid-19th century, many Churches of the Communion have revived and extended liturgical and pastoral practices similar to Roman Catholic theology. This extends beyond the ceremony of [[High Church]] services to even more theologically significant territory, such as sacramental theology (see [[Anglican sacraments]]). While Anglo-Catholic practices, particularly liturgical ones, have resurfaced and become more common within the tradition over the last century, there remain many places where practices and beliefs remain on the more Reformed or Evangelical side (see [[Sydney Anglicanism]]).

=== Guiding principles ===

[[File:Hooker-Statue.jpeg|thumb|left|[[Richard Hooker (theologian)|Richard Hooker]] (1554–1600), one of the most influential figures in shaping Anglican theology and self-identity]]

For 'High Church' Anglicans, doctrine is neither established by a [[magisterium]], nor derived from the theology of an [[eponymous]] founder (such as [[Lutheranism]] or [[Calvinism]]), nor summed up in a confession of faith (beyond those of the [[creed]]s). For them, the earliest Anglican theological documents are its prayer books, which they see as the products of profound theological reflection, compromise, and synthesis. They emphasise the [[Book of Common Prayer]] as a key expression of Anglican doctrine. The principle of looking to the prayer books as a guide to the parameters of belief and practice is called by the Latin name ''[[lex orandi, lex credendi]]'' ("the law of prayer is the law of belief"). Within the prayer books are the so-called fundamentals of Anglican doctrine: The [[Apostles' Creed|Apostles']] and [[Nicene Creed]]s, the [[Athanasian Creed]] (extremely rarely recited, nowadays), the scriptures (via the lectionary), the sacraments, daily prayer, the [[catechism]], and apostolic succession in the context of the historic threefold ministry.

[[Low church|Evangelical]] Anglicans point more to the more Reformed [[Thirty Nine Articles]], with their insistence on justification by faith alone and predestination, and their hostility to the Roman Catholic Church (see [[Anti-Catholicism]]).{{Fact|date=February 2009}} Following the passing of the 1604 Canons, all Anglican clergy had formally to subscribe to the Articles. Nowadays, however, they are no longer binding, but are seen as a historical document that has played a significant role in the shaping of Anglican identity. The degree to which each of the Articles has remained influential varies. Arguably, the most influential of them has been Article VI on the ''sufficiency of Scripture,'' which states that ''Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.'' This article has informed Anglican biblical [[exegesis]] and [[hermeneutics]] since earliest times.

Anglicans look for authority in their so-called "standard divines" (see below). Historically, the most influential of these – apart from Cranmer – has been the sixteenth century cleric and theologian [[Richard Hooker (theologian)|Richard Hooker]] who after 1660 was increasingly portrayed as the founding father of Anglicanism. Hooker's description of Anglican authority as being derived primarily from Scripture, informed by reason (the intellect and the experience of God) and tradition (the practices and beliefs of the historical church), has influenced Anglican self-identity and doctrinal reflection perhaps more powerfully than any other formula. The analogy of the "three-legged stool" of scripture, reason, and tradition is often incorrectly attributed to Hooker. Rather Hooker's description is a hierarchy of authority, with scripture as foundational, and reason, and tradition as vitally important, but secondary, authorities.

Finally, the extension of Anglicanism into non-English cultures, the growing diversity of prayer books, and the increasing interest in ecumenical dialogue, has led to further reflection on the parameters of the Anglican identity. Many Anglicans look to the [[Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral]] of 1888 as the "''sine qua non''" of Communal identity.<ref name="lec">{{cite book|last=Sydnor |first=William |title=Looking at the Episcopal Church |publisher=Morehouse Publishing |year=1980 |location=USA |page=80}}</ref> In brief, the Quadrilateral's four points are the Holy Scriptures, as containing all things necessary to salvation; the Creeds (specifically, the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds), as the sufficient statement of Christian faith; the dominical sacraments of [[Baptism]] and [[Holy Communion]]; and the historic [[episcopalian church governance|episcopate]].<ref name="lec" />

=== Anglican divines ===

{{see also|John Donne|George Herbert|William Laud}} [[File:William Laud.jpg|left|thumb|[[William Laud]]]]
Within the Anglican tradition, there have been certain theological writers whose works have been considered standards for faith, doctrine, worship, and spirituality. While there is no authoritative list of these Anglican divines, there are some whose names would likely be found on most lists – those who are commemorated in [[Calendar of saints (Anglican)|lesser feasts]] of the Church, and those whose works are frequently [[anthology|anthologised]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Booty |first=John |chapter=Standard Divines |title=The Study of Anglicanism |page=163 ff. |isbn=080063151X |year=1998 |publisher=SPCK/Fortress Press |location=[London] |oclc=46883122}}</ref>

The corpus produced by Anglican divines is diverse. What they have in common is a commitment to the faith as conveyed by Scripture and the Book of Common Prayer, thus regarding prayer and theology in a manner akin to that of the [[Apostolic Fathers]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Booty |first=John |chapter=Standard Divines |title=The Study of Anglicanism |page=163 |isbn=080063151X |year=1998 |publisher=SPCK/Fortress Press |location=[London] |oclc=46883122}}</ref> On the whole, Anglican divines view the [[via media]] of Anglicanism, not as a compromise, but "a positive position, witnessing to the universality of God and God's kingdom working through the fallible, earthly ''ecclesia Anglicana''."<ref>{{cite book|last=Booty |first=John |chapter=Standard Divines |title=The Study of Anglicanism |page=164 |isbn=080063151X |year=1998 |publisher=SPCK/Fortress Press |location=[London] |oclc=46883122}}</ref> These theologians regard Scripture as interpreted through tradition and reason as authoritative in matters concerning salvation. Reason and tradition, indeed, is extant in and presupposed by Scripture, thus implying co-operation between God and humanity, God and nature, and between the sacred and secular. Faith is thus regarded as [[incarnation]]al, and authority as dispersed.

Among the early Anglican divines of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the names of Thomas Cranmer, [[John Jewel]], Richard Hooker, [[Lancelot Andrewes]], and [[Jeremy Taylor]] predominate. The influential character of Hooker's ''[[Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity]]'' cannot be overestimated. Published in 1593 and subsequently, Hooker's eight volume work is primarily a treatise on Church-state relations, but it deals comprehensively with issues of [[biblical interpretation]], [[soteriology]], [[ethics]], and [[sanctification]]. Throughout the work, Hooker makes clear that theology involves prayer and is concerned with ultimate issues, and that theology is relevant to the social mission of the church.

[[File:Christ Church Cathedral Oxford interior 20070801 Copyright Kaihsu Tai.jpg|right|thumb|Inside [[Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford]]]]
The eighteenth century saw the rise of two important movements in Anglicanism: [[Cambridge Platonists|Cambridge Platonism]], with its mystical understanding of reason as the "candle of the Lord," and the [[Evangelical]] [[Revivalism|Revival]], with its emphasis on the personal experience of the [[Holy Spirit]]. The Cambridge Platonist movement evolved into a school called [[Latitudinarianism]], which emphasised reason as the barometer of discernment and took a stance of indifference towards doctrinal and ecclesiological differences. The Evangelical Revival, influenced by such figures as [[John Wesley]] and [[Charles Simeon]], re-emphasised the importance of [[Sola fide|justification through faith]] and the consequent importance of personal conversion. Some in this movement, such as Wesley and [[George Whitefield]], took the message to the [[United States]], influencing the [[First Great Awakening]], and created an Anglo-American movement called [[Methodism]] that would eventually break away, structurally, from the Anglican churches after the American Revolution.

By the nineteenth century, there was a renewed emphasis on the teachings of the earlier Anglican divines: Theologians such as [[John Keble]], [[Edward Bouverie Pusey]], and [[John Henry Newman]] had widespread influence in the realm of polemics, homiletics, and theological and devotional works, not least because they largely repudiated the Old High Church tradition and replaced it with a dynamic appeal to antiquity which looked beyond the Reformers and Anglican formularies.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nockles |first=P.&nbsp;B. |title=The Oxford Movement in Context – Anglican High Churchmanship, 1760–1857 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |pages=7–8, 113, 125, 127 |isbn=0521381622 |oclc=185319963 224404167 28183241 59808939}}</ref> Their work is largely credited with the development of the [[Oxford Movement]], which sought to reassert Catholic identity and practice in the Anglican Church.{{Fact|date=February 2009}} Through such works as ''[[The Kingdom of Christ]]'', [[Frederick Denison Maurice]] played a pivotal role in inaugurating another movement, [[Christian socialism]]. In this, Maurice transformed Hooker's emphasis on the [[incarnation]]al nature of Anglican spirituality to an imperative for social justice. In the nineteenth century, Anglican biblical scholarship began to assume a distinct character, represented by the so-called "Cambridge triumvirate" of [[Joseph Lightfoot]], [[F. J. A. Hort]], and [[Brooke Foss Westcott]]. Their orientation is best summed up by Lightfoot's observation that "Life which Christ is and which Christ communicates, the life which fills our whole beings as we realise its capacities, is active fellowship with God."

The twentieth century is marked by figures such as [[Charles Gore]], with his emphasis on natural revelation, [[William Temple (archbishop)|William Temple]]'s focus on Christianity and society, [[John A.T. Robinson|J.A.T. Robinson]]'s provocative discussions of deism and theism, Darwell Stone's and E. L. Mascall's thomism and defence of Catholic orthodoxy, and Kenneth Kirk's Moral Theology.<ref>{{cite book|first=A. |last=Nichols |title=The Panther and the Hind – A Theological History of Anglicanism |publisher=Clark |year=1993 |pages=dedication page and p. 128 |isbn=0567292320|oclc=27933866 60104275 65896424 |nopp=true}}</ref> Outside England, one sees such figures as [[William Porcher DuBose]], [[William Meade]], and [[Charles Henry Brent]] in the United States. More recently, theologians such as Henry Chadwick, [[John Macquarrie]] and [[Don Cupitt]], who rejected all the doctrines of historic Christianity in favour of a "Christian Buddhism",<ref>{{cite book|first=A. |last=Nichols |title=The Panther and the Hind – A Theological History of Anglicanism |publisher=Clark |year=1993 |page=167 |isbn=0567292320|oclc=27933866 60104275 65896424}}</ref> [[Jeffrey John]], [[N.T. Wright]], and [[Rowan Williams]] have added to the mix.

=== Churchmanship ===

[[File:Tridentine mass.jpg|right|thumb|An eastward-facing [[Solemn High Mass]], a [[Catholic]] liturgical phenomenon which re-emerged in Anglicanism following the [[Oxford Movement|Catholic Revival]] of the nineteenth century.]]

"Churchmanship" can be defined as the manifestation of theology in the realms of liturgy, piety and, to some extent, spirituality. Anglican diversity in this respect has tended to reflect the diversity in the tradition's Reformed and Catholic identity. Different individuals, groups, parishes, dioceses and provinces may identify more closely with one or the other, or some mixture of the two.

The range of Anglican belief and practice became particularly divisive during the 19th century when some clergy were disciplined and even imprisoned on charges of [[ritual heresy]] while, at the same time, others were criticised for engaging in public worship services with ministers of Reformed churches. Resistance to the growing acceptance and restoration of traditional Catholic ceremonial by the mainstream of Anglicanism ultimately led to the formation of small breakaway churches such as the [[Free Church of England]] in England (1844) and the [[Reformed Episcopal Church]] in North America (1873).{{Fact|date=February 2009}}

[[Anglo-Catholic]] (and some Broad Church) Anglicans celebrate public liturgy in ways that understand worship to be something very special and of utmost importance. [[Vestments]] are worn by the clergy, sung settings are often used and [[incense]] may be used. Nowadays, in most Anglican churches, the Eucharist is celebrated in a manner similar to the usage of Roman Catholics and some Lutherans though, in many churches, more traditional, "pre-Vatican II", models of worship are common, (e.g. an "eastward orientation" at the altar). Whilst many Anglo-Catholics derive much of their liturgical practice from that of the pre-Reformation English church, others more closely follow traditional Roman Catholic practices. The Eucharist may be sometimes be celebrated, in the form known as High Mass, with a priest, deacon and [[subdeacon]] dressed in traditional vestments, with incense and [[sanctus bell]]s and with prayers adapted from the Roman [[missal]] or other sources by the celebrant. Such churches may also have forms of [[Eucharistic adoration]] such as Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. In terms of personal piety some Anglicans may recite the [[Anglican Rosary|rosary]] and [[angelus]], be involved in a devotional society dedicated to "Our Lady" (the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]]) and seek the intercession of the saints.

In recent years the prayer books of several provinces have, out of deference to a greater agreement with Eastern [[Conciliarism]] (and a perceived greater respect accorded Anglicanism by Eastern Orthodoxy than by Roman Catholicism), instituted a number of historically Eastern and [[Oriental Orthodox]] elements in their liturgies, including introduction of the [[Trisagion]] and deletion of the [[filioque]] clause from the [[Nicene Creed]].

For their part, those [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical]] (and some Broad Church) Anglicans who emphasise the more Protestant aspects of the Church stress the Reformation theme of [[Salvation#Christian views of salvation|salvation]] by grace through faith. They emphasise the two dominical sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, viewing the other five as "lesser rites". Some Evangelical Anglicans may even tend to take the inerrancy of Scripture literally, adopting the view of Article VI that it contains all things necessary to salvation in an explicit sense. Worship in churches influenced by these principles tends to be significantly less elaborate, with greater emphasis on the Liturgy of the Word (the reading of the scriptures, the sermon and the intercessory prayers). The Order for Holy Communion may be celebrated bi-weekly or monthly (in preference to the [[daily office]]s), by priests attired in [[choir habit]], or more regular clothes, rather than Eucharistic vestments. Ceremony may be in keeping with their view of the provisions of the 17th century Puritans – in spite of the nineteenth century [[Anglo-Catholic]] interpretation of the [[Ornaments Rubric]] – no candles, no incense, no bells and a minimum of manual actions by the presiding celebrant (such as touching the elements at the [[Words of Institution]]).
In recent decades there has been a growth of [[Charismatic Movement|charismatic]] worship among Anglicans. Both Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals have been affected by this movement such that it is not uncommon to find typically charismatic postures, music, and other themes evident during the services of otherwise Anglo-Catholic or Evangelical parishes.

The spectrum of Anglican beliefs and practice is too large to be fit into these labels. Many Anglicans locate themselves somewhere in the spectrum of the Broad Church tradition and consider themselves an amalgam of Evangelical and Catholic. Such Anglicans stress that Anglicanism is the "''[[via media]]''" (middle way) between the two major strains of Western Christianity and that Anglicanism is like a "bridge" between the two strains.

=== Sacramental doctrine and practice ===
{{Main|Anglican sacraments}}

As befits its prevailing self-identity as a ''[[via media]]'' or "middle path" of [[Western Christianity]], Anglican sacramental theology expresses elements in keeping with its status as being both a church in the [[Catholicism|Catholic]] tradition as well as a church of the [[English Reformation|Reformation]]. With respect to sacramental theology the Catholic heritage is perhaps most strongly asserted in the importance Anglicanism places on the [[sacrament]]s as a means of [[Divine grace|grace]], [[sanctification]] and [[salvation]] as expressed in the church's [[liturgy]] and doctrine.

Of the seven sacraments, Anglicans recognise baptism and the Eucharist as being directly instituted by Christ. The other five sacraments are regarded variously as full sacraments by [[Anglo-Catholic]]s or as "sacramental rites" by [[Evangelicalism|Evangelicals]].

The seven sacraments are [[Baptism]], [[Confession (sacrament)|Confession and absolution]], [[Christian view of marriage|Holy Matrimony]], [[Eucharist|Holy Eucharist]] (also called Holy Communion or Mass or The Lord's Supper), [[Confirmation (sacrament)|Confirmation]], [[Holy Orders]] (also called Ordination), and [[Anointing of the Sick]] (also called Unction.)

Whilst infant [[baptism]] is the norm in Anglicanism, services of thanksgiving and dedication of children are sometimes celebrated, especially when baptism is being deferred. Anglicans regard baptism as an unrepeatable sacrament. People [[Baptism#Comparative summary|baptized]] in other traditions will be confirmed without being baptized again unless there is doubt about the validity of their original baptism. Already confirmed Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians are simply received into the Anglican Church.

==== Eucharistic theology ====
{{Main|Anglican Eucharistic theology}}

Anglican Eucharistic theology is divergent in practice, reflecting the essential comprehensiveness of the tradition. Some Low Church Anglicans take a strictly memorialist (Zwinglian) view of the sacrament. In other words, they see Holy Communion as a memorial to Christ's suffering, and participation in the Eucharist as both a re-enactment of the Last Supper and a foreshadowing of the heavenly banquet – the fulfilment of the Eucharistic promise. Other Low Church Anglicans believe in the [[Real Presence]] but deny that the presence of Christ is carnal or is necessarily localised in the bread and wine. Despite explicit criticism in the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]], many High Church or Anglo-Catholic Anglicans hold, more or less, the Roman Catholic view of the Real Presence, as expressed in the doctrine of [[transubstantiation]], seeing the Eucharist as a liturgical representation of Christ's atoning sacrifice with the elements actually transformed into Christ's Body and Blood.

Most Anglicans, however, implicitly or explicitly adopt the Eucharistic theology of [[consubstantiation]], first articulated by the Lollards, or Sacramental Union, first articulated by Martin Luther. Luther's analogy of Christ's presence was that of the heat of a horseshoe thrust into a fire until it is glowing. In the same way, Christ is present in the bread and the wine.

The classical Anglican aphorism regarding Christ's presence in the sacrament is found in a poem by [[John Donne]]:
<blockquote>
:He was the Word that spake it;
:He took the bread and brake it;
:and what that Word did make it;
:I do believe and take it.<ref>Donne, John. Divine Poems – On the Sacrament, (Flesher's Edition) http://www.giga-usa.com/quotes/topics/doctrine_t001.htm</ref></blockquote>

An Anglican position on the Eucharistic sacrifice ("Sacrifice of the Mass") was expressed in the response ''[[Saepius Officio]]'' of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to [[Pope Leo XIII]]'s Papal Encyclical ''[[Apostolicae curae]]''.

Anglican and Roman Catholic representatives declared that they had "substantial agreement on the doctrine of the Eucharist" in the [http://www.prounione.urbe.it/dia-int/arcic/doc/e_arcic_Eucharist.html Windsor Statement on Eucharistic Doctrine from the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Consultation] and the [http://www.prounione.urbe.it/dia-int/arcic/doc/e_arcic_elucid_euch.html Elucidation of the ARCIC Windsor Statement]. Despite this agreement, other ecclesiological differences between the two churches prevent full intercommunion.

==Practices: prayer and worship ==
{{details|Morning Prayer|the daily Anglican morning office}}
{{see also|Evening Prayer (Book of Common Prayer)|Prayer of Humble Access}}

In Anglicanism there is a distinction between liturgy, which is the formal public and communal worship of the Church, and personal prayer and devotion which may be public or private. Liturgy is regulated by the prayer books and consists of the Holy Eucharist (some call it Holy Communion or Mass), the other six Sacraments, and the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours.

=== Book of Common Prayer ===
[[File:Book of common prayer 1596.jpg|left|thumb|The 1596 [[Book of Common Prayer]]]]
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the foundational prayer book of Anglicanism. The original was one of the instruments of the [[English Reformation]] and was later to be adapted and revised in other countries where Anglicanism became established. The BCP replaced the various 'uses' or rites in Latin that had been used in different parts of the country with a single compact volume in the language of the people so that "now from henceforth all the Realm shall have but one use".

With British colonial expansion from the seventeenth century onwards, the Anglican church was planted across the globe. These churches at first used and then revised the use of the Prayer Book, until they, like their parent, produced prayer books which took into account the developments in liturgical study and practice in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which come under the general heading of the [[Liturgical Movement]].

=== Anglican worship: an overview ===
{{see also|Church of England parish church}}

Anglican worship services are open to all visitors. Anglican worship originates principally in the reforms of [[Thomas Cranmer]], who aimed to create a set order of service like that of the pre-Reformation church but less complex in its seasonal variety and said in English rather than Latin. This use of a set order of service is not unlike the Roman Catholic tradition. Traditionally the pattern was that laid out in the [[Book of Common Prayer]]. Although many Anglican churches now use a wide range of modern service books written in the local language, the structures of the Book of Common Prayer are largely retained. Churches which call themselves Anglican will have identified themselves so because they use some form or variant of the Book of Common Prayer in the shaping of their worship.

Anglican worship, however, is as diverse as Anglican theology. A contemporary "[[low church]]" or Evangelical service may differ little from the worship of many mainstream Protestant churches. The service is constructed around a sermon focused on Biblical exposition and opened with one or more Bible readings and closed by a series of prayers (both set and extemporised) and hymns or songs. A "[[high church]]" or Anglo-Catholic service, by contrast, is usually a more formal [[liturgy]] celebrated by clergy in distinctive [[vestments]] and may be almost indistinguishable from a Roman Catholic service, often resembling the "pre-Vatican II" Tridentine rite. Between these extremes are a variety of styles of worship, often involving a robed choir and the use of the organ to accompany the singing and to provide music before and after the service. Anglican churches tend to have [[pew]]s or chairs and it is usual for the congregation to kneel for some prayers but to stand for hymns and other parts of the service such as the Gloria, Collect, Gospel reading, Creed and either the Preface or all of the Eucharistic Prayer. High Anglicans may genuflect or cross themselves in the same way as Roman Catholics.

Until the mid-twentieth century the main Sunday service was typically [[Morning Prayer|morning prayer]], but the [[Eucharist]] has once again become the standard form of Sunday worship in many Anglican churches; this again is similar to Roman Catholic practice. Other common Sunday services include an early morning Eucharist without music, an abbreviated Eucharist following a service of morning prayer and a service of [[Evening Prayer|evening prayer]], sometimes in the form of sung [[Evensong]], usually celebrated between 3 and 6 p.m. The late-evening service of [[Compline]] was revived in parish use in the early 20th century. Many Anglican churches will also have daily morning and evening prayer and some have midweek or even daily celebration of the Eucharist.

An Anglican service (whether or not a Eucharist) will include readings from the Bible that are generally taken from a standardised [[lectionary]], which provides for the entire Bible (and some passages from the [[Apocrypha]]) to be read out loud in the church over a three year cycle. The [[sermon]] (or [[homily]]) is typically about ten to twenty minutes in length, though it may be much longer in Evangelical churches. Even in the most informal Evangelical services it is common for set prayers such as the weekly [[Collect]] to be read. There are also set forms for [[intercessory prayer]], though this is now more often extemporaneous. In high and Anglo-Catholic churches there are generally prayers for the dead.

Although Anglican public worship is usually ordered according to the canonically approved services, in practice many Anglican churches use forms of service outside these norms. Many Evangelical churches sit lightly to the set forms of morning and evening prayer, though generally respecting the canonical order of Holy Communion. Liberal churches may use freely structured or experimental forms of worship, including patterns borrowed from ecumenical traditions such as those of [[Taizé Community]] or the [[Iona Community]].

[[Anglo-Catholic]] parishes might use the modern Roman Catholic liturgy of the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] or more traditional forms, such as the [[Tridentine Mass]] (which is translated into English in the [[English Missal]]), the [[Anglican Missal]], or, less commonly, the [[Sarum Rite]]. Traditional Catholic devotions such as the [[Rosary]], [[Angelus]] and [[Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament]] are also common among Anglo-Catholics.

==== Eucharistic discipline ====

Only [[Baptism|baptised]] persons are eligible to receive communion,<ref name="communion">{{cite news|url=http://gc2006.org/legislation/view_leg_detail.aspx?id=368&type=CURRENT |publisher=ECUSA |title=Upholding Communion of the Baptized |date=June 22, 2006}}</ref> although in many churches communion is restricted to those who have not only been baptised but also [[Confirmation|confirmed]]. In many Anglican provinces, however, all baptised Christians are now often invited to receive communion and some dioceses have regularised a system for admitting baptised young people to communion before they are confirmed.

The discipline of fasting before communion is practised by some Anglicans. Most Anglican priests require the presence of at least one other person for the celebration of the Eucharist (referring back to Christ's statement in Math 18:20 "When two or more are gathered in my name, I will be in the midst of them"), though some [[Anglo-Catholic]] priests (like Roman Catholic priests) may say private Masses. As in the Roman Catholic Church, it is a canonical requirement to use fermented [[wine]] for the Communion; unlike in Roman Catholicism, however, the consecrated bread and wine are always offered together to the congregation in a Eucharistic service ("Communion in Both Kinds"). In some churches the sacrament is reserved in a tabernacle or aumbry with a lighted candle or lamp nearby. Only a priest or a bishop may be the celebrant at the Eucharist, though [[Sydney Anglican]]s may soon authorise lay people to celebrate the Mass.

=== Divine office ===

[[File:Evensong in York Minster.jpg|right|thumb|Evensong at [[York Minster]]]]
All Anglican prayer books contain offices for [[Morning Prayer]] (Matins) and [[Evening Prayer (Anglican)|Evening Prayer]] (Evensong). In the original Book of Common Prayer these were derived from combinations of the ancient monastic offices of [[Matins]] and [[Lauds]]; and [[Vespers]] and [[Compline]] respectively. The prayer offices have an important place in Anglican history. Prior to the [[Oxford Movement|Catholic revival]] of the nineteenth century, which eventually restored the [[Holy Eucharist]] as the principal Sunday liturgy, and especially during the eighteenth century, a morning service combining Matins, the [[Litany]] and ante-Communion comprised the usual expression of common worship; while Matins and Evensong were sung daily in cathedrals and some collegiate chapels. This nurtured a tradition of distinctive [[Anglican chant]] applied to the [[canticle]]s and [[psalm]]s used at the offices (although [[plainsong]] is often used as well).

In some official and unofficial Anglican service books these offices are supplemented by other offices such as the [[Little Hours]] of [[Prime (liturgy)|Prime]] and prayer during the day such as ([[Terce]], [[Sext]], [[None (liturgy)|None]] and [[Compline]]). Some Anglican monastic communities have a Daily Office based on that of the Book of Common Prayer but with additional antiphons and canticles, etc. for specific days of the week, specific psalms, etc. See, for example, [[Order of the Holy Cross]]<ref>http://www.holycrossmonastery.com</ref> and Order of St Helena, editors, ''A Monastic Breviary'' (Wilton, Conn.: Morehouse-Barlow, 1976). The All Saints Sisters of the Poor,<ref>http://www.geocities.com/xnomad4/index.html</ref> with convents in Catonsville, Maryland and elsewhere use an elaborated version of the Anglican Daily Office. The [[Society of St. Francis]] publishes Celebrating Common Prayer which has become especially popular for use among Anglicans.

In England, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and some other Anglican provinces the modern prayer books contain four offices:
* Morning Prayer, corresponding to Matins and Lauds
* Prayer During the Day, roughly corresponding to the combination of Terce, Sext and None (Noonday Prayer in the USA)
* Evening Prayer, corresponding to Vespers
* Compline
In addition, most prayer books include a section of prayers and devotions for family use. In the US, these offices are further supplemented by an "Order of Worship for the Evening", a prelude to or an abbreviated form of Evensong, partly derived from [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] prayers. In the United Kingdom, the publication of ''Daily Prayer'', the third volume of [[Common Worship]] was published in 2005. It retains the services for Morning and Evening Prayer and Compline and includes a section entitled "Prayer during the Day". 'A New Zealand Prayer Book' of 1989 provides different outlines for Matins and Evensong on each day of the week, as well as "Midday Prayer", "Night Prayer" and "Family Prayer".

Some Anglicans who pray the office on daily basis use the present [[Divine Office]] of the Roman Catholic Church. In many cities, especially in England, Anglican and Roman Catholic priests and lay people often meet several times a week to pray the office in common. A small but enthusiastic minority use the [[Anglican Breviary]], or other translations and adaptations of the Pre-Vatican II Roman Rite and [[Sarum Rite]], along with supplemental material from cognate western sources, to provide such things as a common of Octaves, a common of Holy Women and other additional material. Others may privately use idiosyncratic forms borrowed from a wide range of Christian traditions.

==== "Quires and Places where they sing" ==== <!-- Please do not "correct" the capitalisation or spelling as it is a direct quote -->
{{Main|Anglican church music}}

In the late medieval period, many English cathedrals and monasteries had established small choirs of trained [[lay clerk]]s and boy [[choir|choristers]] to perform [[polyphony|polyphonic]] settings of the [[Mass (music)|Mass]] in their [[Lady Chapel]]s. Although these "Lady Masses" were discontinued at the Reformation, the associated musical tradition was maintained in the [[Elizabethan Settlement]] through the establishment of choral foundations for daily singing of the Divine Office by expanded choirs of men and boys. This resulted from an explicit addition by Elizabeth herself to the injunctions accompanying the 1559 [[Book of Common Prayer]] (that had itself made no mention of choral worship) by which existing choral foundations and choir schools were instructed to be continued, and their endowments secured. Consequently, some thirty-four cathedrals, collegiate churches and royal chapels maintained paid establishments of lay singing men and choristers in the late 16th century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mould |first=Alan |title=The English Chorister: A History |page=94 |isbn=1847250580 |year=2007 |publisher=Hambledon Continuum |location=London |oclc=71165225}}</ref> All save four of these have – with an interruption during the [[English Interregnum|Commonwealth]] – continued daily choral prayer and praise to this day. In the Offices of [[Matins]] and [[Evensong]] in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, these choral establishments are specified as "Quires and Places where they sing".

For nearly three centuries, this round of daily professional choral worship represented a tradition entirely distinct from that embodied in the intoning of [[Parish Clerk]]s, and the singing of "[[West gallery music|west gallery choirs]]" which commonly accompanied weekly worship in English parish churches. However, in 1841, the rebuilt [[Leeds Parish Church]] established a surpliced [[choir]] to accompany parish services; drawing explicitly on the musical traditions of the ancient choral foundations; and over the next century, the Leeds example proved immensely popular and influential for choirs in cathedrals, parish churches and schools throughout the Anglican communion.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mould |first=Alan |title=The English Chorister: A History |page=177}}</ref> More or less extensively adapted, this choral tradition also became the direct inspiration for robed choirs leading congregational worship in a wide range of Christian denominations.

In 1719 the cathedral choirs of [[Gloucester Cathedral|Gloucester]], [[Hereford Cathedral|Hereford]] and [[Worcester Cathedral|Worcester]] combined to establish the annual [[Three Choirs Festival]], the precursor for the multitude of summer music festivals since. By the 20th century, the choral tradition had become for many the most accessible face of worldwide Anglicanism – especially as promoted through the regular broadcasting of choral evensong by the [[BBC]]; and also in the annual televising of the festival of [[Nine lessons and carols]] from [[King's College, Cambridge]]. Composers closely concerned with this tradition include [[Edward Elgar]], [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], [[Gustav Holst]], [[Charles Villiers Stanford]] and [[Benjamin Britten]]. A number of important 20th century works by non-Anglican composers were originally commissioned for the Anglican choral tradition – for example the ''[[Chichester Psalms]]'' of [[Leonard Bernstein]], and the ''[[Nunc dimittis]]'' of [[Arvo Pärt]].

== Organisation and mission of the Church ==

=== Principles of governance ===

[[File:Flag of Anglican Communion.svg|thumb|300px|[[Compass rose]], symbol of [[Anglican Communion]]]]
Contrary to popular misconception, the British monarch is not the constitutional "Head" but in law "The Supreme Governor" of the Church of England, nor does he or she have any role in provinces outside England. The role of the crown in the Church of England is practically limited to the appointment of bishops, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, and even this role is limited, as the Church presents the government with a short list of candidates to choose from. This process is accomplished through collaboration with and consent of ecclesial representatives ''(see [[Ecclesiastical Commissioners]])''. The monarch has no constitutional role in Anglican churches in other parts of the world, although the prayer books of several countries where she is head of state maintain prayers for her as sovereign.

A characteristic of Anglicanism is that it has no international juridical authority. All thirty-nine provinces of the Anglican Communion are independent, each with their own [[primate (religion)|primate]] and governing structure. These provinces may take the form of national churches (such as in Canada, Uganda, or Japan) or a collection of nations (such as the West Indies, Central Africa, or South Asia), or geographical regions (such as Vanuatu and Solomon Islands) etc. Within these Communion provinces may exist subdivisions called [[ecclesiastical province]]s, under the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop. All provinces of the Anglican Communion consist of [[diocese]]s, each under the jurisdiction of a [[bishop]]. In the Anglican tradition, bishops must be consecrated according to the strictures of [[apostolic succession]], which Anglicans consider one of the marks of [[Catholicism|catholicity]]. Apart from bishops, there are two other orders of ordained ministry: [[deacon]] and [[priest]]. No requirement is made for [[clerical celibacy]], though many Anglo-Catholic priests have traditionally been bachelors. Because of innovations that occurred at various points after the latter half of the twentieth century, women may be ordained as deacons in almost all provinces, as priests in some, and as bishops in a few provinces. [[Anglican religious order]]s and communities, suppressed in England during the Reformation, have re-emerged, especially since the mid-nineteenth century, and now have an international presence and influence.

Government in the Anglican Communion is [[synod]]ical, consisting of three houses of [[laity]] (usually elected parish representatives), [[clergy]], and bishops. National, provincial, and diocesan synods maintain different scopes of authority, depending on their [[canon law|canons and constitutions]]. Anglicanism is not [[congregationalism|congregational]] in its polity: It is the diocese, not the parish church, which is the smallest unit of authority in the church, and diocesan bishops must give their assent to resolutions passed by synods. ''(See [[Episcopal polity]]).

===Focus of Unity: The Archbishop of Canterbury ===

[[File:Archbishcantarms.PNG|thumb|right|150px|Arms of the [[episcopal see|See]] of Canterbury.]]
The [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] has a precedence of honour over the other primates of the Anglican Communion, and for a province to be considered a part of the Communion means specifically to be in full communion with the [[episcopal see|See]] of [[Province of Canterbury|Canterbury]]. The Archbishop is, therefore, recognised as ''[[primus inter pares]]'', or first amongst equals even though he does not exercise any direct authority in any [[province (Anglican)|province]] outside England, of which he is chief primate. The current Archbishop of Canterbury as of 2003, [[Rowan Williams]] is the first appointed from outside the Church of England since the Reformation: he was formerly the [[Archbishop of Wales]].

As "spiritual head" of the Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury maintains a certain moral authority, and has the right to determine which churches will be in communion with his [[Episcopal See|See]]. He hosts and chairs the [[Lambeth Conference]]s of Anglican Communion bishops, and decides who will be invited to them. He also hosts and chairs the [[Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting]] and is responsible for the invitations to it. He acts as president of the secretariat of the Anglican Communion Office, and its deliberative body, the [[Anglican Consultative Council]].

=== Instruments of unity ===

The Anglican Communion has no international juridical organisation. All international bodies are consultative and collaborative, and their resolutions are not legally binding on the independent provinces of the Communion. There are three international bodies of note.

# The [[Lambeth Conference]] is the oldest international consultation. It was first convened by Archbishop [[Charles Longley]] in 1867 as a vehicle for bishops of the Communion to "discuss matters of practical interest, and pronounce what we deem expedient in resolutions which may serve as safe guides to future action." Since then, it has been held roughly every ten years. Invitation is by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
# The [[Anglican Consultative Council]] was created by a 1968 Lambeth Conference resolution, and meets [[wikt:biennial|biennial]]ly. The council consists of representative bishops, clergy, and laity chosen by the thirty-eight provinces. The body has a permanent secretariat, the Anglican Communion Office, of which the Archbishop of Canterbury is president.
# The [[Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting]] is the most recent manifestation of international consultation and deliberation, having been first convened by Archbishop [[Donald Coggan]] in 1978 as a forum for "leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation."

=== Ordained ministry ===

[[File:Chasublepurple.jpg|right|thumb|Priest in Eucharistic [[vestment]]s.]]

{{details|Anglican ministry|the Anglican priesthood}}
Like the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] and [[Roman Catholic]] churches (but unlike most Protestant churches), the Anglican Communion maintains the threefold ministry of deacons, priests and bishops.

==== Episcopate ====

[[Bishop]]s, who possess the fullness of Christian priesthood, are the successors of the [[Twelve Apostles|Apostles]]. Primates, archbishops and [[metropolitan bishop|metropolitans]] are all bishops and members of the [[historical episcopate]] who derive their authority through [[apostolic succession]] – an unbroken line of bishops that can be traced back to the apostles of [[Jesus]].

==== Priesthood (Presbyterate) ====

Bishops are assisted by priests and deacons. Most ordained ministers in the Anglican Communion are [[priest]]s, who usually work in [[parish]]es within a diocese. Priests in charge of the spiritual life of parishes are usually called the [[rector]] or [[vicar]].
A [[curate]] (or, more correctly, an 'assistant curate') is a term often used for a priest or deacon who assists the parish priest.

Non-parochial priests may earn their living by any vocation, though these are usually related to the educational, social service or healing professions. Many other non-stipendiary priests will work in Christian-related fields such as chaplains of hospitals, schools, prisons and the armed forces.

An [[archdeacon]] is a priest or deacon responsible for administration of an [[archdeaconry]], which is often the name given to the principal subdivisions of a [[diocese]]. An archdeacon represents the diocesan bishop in his or her archdeaconry. In the [[Church of England]] the position of archdeacon can only be held by someone in priestly orders who has been ordained for at least six years. In some other parts of the Anglican Communion the position can also be held by [[deacon]]s. In parts of the Anglican Communion where women cannot be ordained as priests or [[bishop]]s, the position of archdeacon is effectively the most senior office an ordained woman can be appointed to.

The Anglican Communion recognises Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox ordinations as valid. Outside the Anglican Communion, Anglican ordinations (at least of male priests) are recognised by the [[Old Catholic Church|Old Catholics]] and various [[Independent Catholic]] churches.

==== Diaconate ====

[[File:Stoledeacon.jpg|thumb|Deacon wearing a [[stole]] over his left shoulder.]]
{{main|Deacon}}
In Anglican churches, deacons often work directly in ministry to the marginalised inside and outside the church: the poor, the sick, the hungry, the imprisoned. Unlike Orthodox and Roman Catholic deacons who may be married only before ordination, deacons are permitted to marry freely both before and after ordination, as are priests. Most deacons are preparing for priesthood, and usually only remain as deacons for about a year before being ordained priests. However, there are some deacons who remain deacons. Many provinces of the [[Anglican Communion]] ordain both women and men as deacons. Many of those provinces that ordain women to the priesthood previously allowed them to be ordained only to the diaconate. The effect of this was the creation of a large and overwhelmingly female diaconate for a time, as most men proceeded to be ordained priest after a short time as a deacon.

Deacons may [[baptism|baptize]] and in some dioceses are granted licences to [[wedding|solemnize matrimony]], usually under the instruction of their parish priest and [[bishop]]. They sometimes officiate at [[Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament]], in the churches that have this service. Deacons are not permitted to preside at the [[Eucharist]] (but can lead worship with the distribution of already-consecrated Communion where this is permitted), [[absolution (religious)|absolve sins]] or [[blessing|pronounce a blessing]] in the name of the Church,<ref>http://www.katapi.org.uk/ChristianFaith/LXIII.htm#IV</ref> (however, these last two are sometimes permitted in an indirect form). It is the prohibition against deacons pronouncing a blessing in the Church's name that leads some in the church to believe that a deacon cannot properly solemnize matrimony. In most cases, deacons minister alongside other clergy.

=== Laity ===

All baptised members of the church are called Christian [[faithful]], truly equal in dignity and in the work to build the church. Some non-ordained people also have a formal public ministry, often on a full-time and life-long basis – such as [[lay readers]] (also known as readers), [[churchwarden]]s, [[verger]]s and [[sexton (office)|sexton]]s.

=== Religious life ===

{{See also|Anglican religious order|Anglican devotions}}
A small yet influential aspect of Anglicanism is its [[Anglican religious order|religious orders]] and communities. Shortly after the beginning of the [[Catholic Revival]] in the Church of England, there was a renewal of interest in re-establishing religious and monastic orders and communities. One of Henry VIII's earliest acts was their dissolution and seizure of their assets. In 1841 [[Marion Rebecca Hughes]] became the first woman to take the vows of religion in communion with the [[Province of Canterbury]] since the Reformation. In 1848, [[Priscilla Lydia Sellon]] became the superior of the [[Society of the Most Holy Trinity]] at Devonport, the first organised religious order. Sellon is called "the restorer, after three centuries, of the religious life in the Church of England."<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas J. |last=Williams |title=Priscilla Lydia Sellon |location=London |publisher=SPCK |year=1950}}</ref> For the next one hundred years, religious orders for both men and women proliferated throughout the world, becoming a numerically small but disproportionately influential feature of global Anglicanism.

Anglican religious life at one time boasted hundreds of orders and communities, and thousands of [[religious]]. An important aspect of Anglican religious life is that most communities of both men and women lived their lives consecrated to [[God]] under the [[vow]]s of [[poverty]], [[sexual abstinence|chastity]] and [[obedience]] (or in [[Benedictine]] communities, Stability, Conversion of Life, and Obedience) by practicing a mixed life of reciting the full eight services of the [[Breviary]] in choir, along with a daily [[Eucharist]], plus service to the poor. The mixed life, combining aspects of the contemplative orders and the active orders remains to this day a hallmark of Anglican religious life. Another distinctive feature of Anglican religious life is the existence of some mixed-gender communities.

Since the 1960s there has been a sharp decline in the number of professed religious in most parts of the Anglican Communion, especially in [[North America]], [[Europe]], and [[Australia]]. Many once large and international communities have been reduced to a single convent or monastery with memberships of elderly men or women. In the last few decades of the 20th century, novices have for most communities been few and far between. Some orders and communities have already become extinct. There are however, still thousands of Anglican religious working today in approximately 200 communities around the world, and religious life in many parts of the Communion – especially in developing nations – flourishes.

The most significant growth has been in the [[Melanesia]]n countries of the [[Solomon Islands]], [[Vanuatu]] and [[Papua New Guinea]]. The [[Melanesian Brotherhood]], founded at [[Tabalia]], [[Guadalcanal (Pacific Ocean island)|Guadalcanal]], in 1925 by Ini Kopuria, is now the largest Anglican Community in the world with over 450 [[monk|brothers]] in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the [[Philippines]] and the United Kingdom. The [[Sisters of the Church]], started by Mother [[Emily Ayckbowm]] in [[England]] in 1870, has more [[nun|sisters]] in the Solomons than all their other communities. The [[Community of the Sisters of Melanesia]], started in 1980 by [[Sister Nesta Tiboe]], is a growing community of women throughout the Solomon Islands. The [[Society of Saint Francis]], founded as a union of various [[Franciscan]] orders in the 1920s, has experienced great growth in the Solomon Islands. Other communities of religious have been started by Anglicans in Papua New Guinea and in Vanuatu. Most Melanesian Anglican religious are in their early to mid 20s – vows may be temporary and it is generally assumed that brothers, at least, will leave and marry in due course – making the average age 40 to 50 years younger than their brothers and sisters in other countries. Growth of religious orders, especially for women, is marked in certain parts of [[Africa]].

=== Worldwide distribution ===
[[File:Anglican Communion corrected.gif|right|thumb|250px|A world map showing the Provinces of the '''Anglican Communion''' (Blue). Shown are the Churches in full communion with the Anglican Church: The Nordic Lutheran churches of the [[Porvoo Communion]] (Green), and the [[Old Catholic Church]]es in the [[Utrecht Union]] (Red).]]
Anglicanism represents the third largest Christian communion in the world, after the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and the [[Eastern Orthodox Churches]]. The number of Anglicans in the world is slightly over 77 million.<ref>[http://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html#Christianity Major Branches of Religions]</ref> The 11 provinces in Africa saw explosive growth in the last two decades. They now include 36.7 million members, more Anglicans than there are in England. England remains the largest single Anglican province, with 26 million members. In most industrialised countries, church attendance has decreased since the 19th century. Anglicanism's presence in the rest of the world is due to large-scale emigration, the establishment of expatriate communities or the work of missionaries.

The [[Church of England]] has been a church of [[missionary|missionaries]] since the seventeenth century when the Church first left English shores with colonists who founded what would become the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa and established Anglican churches. For example, an Anglican chaplain, [[Robert Wolfall]], with [[Martin Frobisher]]'s [[Arctic]] expedition celebrated the Eucharist in 1578 in [[Frobisher Bay]].

[[File:St Mary's Church Chennai.jpg|thumb|left|150px|[[Church of South India|CSI]] [[St. Mary's Church Chennai|St. Mary's Church]], [[Chennai]]. This is the first Anglican Church in [[India]]<ref>http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/18/stories/2005121801371100.htm The Hindu Restoration work under way at St. Mary's Church</ref>]]
The first Anglican church in the Americas was built at [[Jamestown]], [[Virginia]], in 1607. By the eighteenth century, missionaries worked to establish Anglican churches in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The great Church of England missionary societies were founded; for example the [[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]] (SPCK) in 1698. [[Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts]] (SPG) in 1701, and the [[Church Mission Society]] (CMS) in 1799. The nineteenth century saw the founding and expansion of social oriented evangelism with societies such as the [[Church Pastoral Aid Society]] (CPAS) in 1836, [[Mission to Seafarers]] in 1856, [[Mothers' Union]] in 1876 and [[Church Army]] in 1882 all carrying out a personal form of evangelism. The twentieth century saw the Church of England developing new forms of evangelism such as the [[Alpha course]] in 1990 which was developed and propagated from [[Holy Trinity Brompton Church]] in [[London]]. In the twenty-first century, there has been renewed effort to reach children and youth. [[Fresh expressions]] is a Church of England missionary initiative to youth begun in 2005, and has ministries at a [[skate park]]<ref>[http://www.legacyweb.org/YouthCong.htm Legacy XS Youth Centre & Skatepark, St. George's, Benfleet]</ref> through the efforts of [[St George's Church]], [[Benfleet]], [[Essex]] – [[Diocese of Chelmsford]] – or youth groups with evocative names, like the C.L.A.W (Christ Little Angels – Whatever!) youth group at [[Coventry Cathedral]]. And for the unchurched who do not actually wish to visit a bricks and mortar church there are Internet ministries such as the [[Diocese of Oxford]]'s online Anglican [[i-Church]] which appeared on the web in 2005.

=== Ecumenism ===

{{details|Anglican communion and ecumenism|the on-going dialogue between Anglicanism and the wider Church}}

Anglican interest in [[ecumenism|ecumenical]] dialogue can be traced back to the time of the Reformation and dialogues with both Orthodox and Lutheran churches in the sixteenth century. In the nineteenth century, with the rise of the Oxford Movement, there arose greater concern for reunion of the churches of "Catholic confession." This desire to work towards full [[Communion (Christian)|communion]] with other denominations led to the development of the [[Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral]], approved by the Third [[Lambeth Conference]] of 1888. The four points (the sufficiency of scripture, the historic creeds, the two dominical sacraments, and the historic episcopate) were proposed as a basis for discussion, although they have frequently been taken as a non-negotiable bottom-line for any form of reunion.

== Role of the Church in civilisation ==

Anglican concern with broader issues of social justice can be traced to its earliest divines. Richard Hooker, for instance, wrote that "God hath created nothing simply for itself, but each thing in all things, and of every thing each part in other have such interest, that in the whole world nothing is found whereunto any thing created can say, 'I need thee not.'" This, and related statements, reflect the deep thread of [[Incarnation|incarnational theology]] running through Anglican social thought – a theology which sees God, nature, and humanity in dynamic interaction, and the interpenetration of the secular and the sacred in the make-up of the cosmos. Such theology is informed by a traditional English spiritual ethos, rooted in Celtic Christianity and reinforced by Anglicanism's origins as an [[established church]], bound up by its structure in the life and interests of civil society.

Repeatedly, throughout Anglican history, this principle has reasserted itself in movements of social justice. For instance, in the eighteenth century the influential Evangelical Anglican [[William Wilberforce]], along with others, campaigned against the slave trade. In the nineteenth century, the dominant issues concerned the adverse effects of industrialisation. The usual Anglican response was to focus on education and give support to 'The National Society for the Education of the Children of the Poor in the principles of the Church of England'.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kitson Clark |first=G. |authorlink=George Kitson Clark|title=Churchmen and the Condition of England 1832–1885 |year=1973 |publisher=Methuen |page=100}}</ref> Lord Shaftesbury, a devout Evangelical, campaigned to improve the conditions in factories, in mines, for chimney sweeps, and for the education of the very poor. For years he was chairman of the Ragged School Board. Frederick Denison Maurice was a leading figure advocating reform, founding so-called "producer's co-operatives" and the [[Working Men's College]]. His work was instrumental in the establishment of the [[Christian socialism|Christian socialist]] movement, although he himself was not in any real sense a socialist but, "a Tory paternalist with the unusual desire to theories his acceptance of the traditional obligation to help the poor",<ref>{{cite book|first=E.&nbsp;R. |last=Norman |title=Church and Society in England 1770–1970 |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |year=1976 |pages=171–172}}</ref> influenced Anglo-Catholics such as Charles Gore, who wrote that, "the principle of the incarnation is denied unless the Christian spirit can be allowed to concern itself with everything that interests and touches human life." Anglican focus on labour issues culminated in the work of [[William Temple (archbishop)|William Temple]] in the 1930s and 1940s.

=== Pacifism ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2008}}

A question of whether or not Christianity is a [[pacifist]] religion has remained a matter of debate for Anglicans. In 1937, the [[Anglican Pacifist Fellowship]] emerged as a distinct reform organisation, seeking to make pacifism a clearly defined part of Anglican theology. The group rapidly gained popularity amongst Anglican intellectuals, including [[Vera Brittain]], [[Evelyn Underhill]] and former British political leader [[George Lansbury]]. Furthermore, the Reverend [[Hugh Richard Lawrie Sheppard|Dick Sheppard]], who during the 1930s was one of Britain's most famous Anglican priests due to his landmark sermon broadcasts for [[BBC]] [[radio]], founded the [[Peace Pledge Union]] a [[secular]] pacifist organisation for the non-religious that gained considerable support throughout the 1930s.

Whilst never actively endorsed by the Anglican Church, many Anglicans unofficially have adopted the Augustinian "[[Just War]]" doctrine. The Anglican Pacifist Fellowship remain highly active throughout the Anglican world. It rejects this doctrine of "just war" and seeks to reform the Church by reintroducing the pacifism inherent in the beliefs of many of the earliest Christians and present in their interpretation of Christ's [[Sermon on the Mount]].

Confusing the matter was the fact that the 37th Article of Religion in the Book of Common Prayer states that "it is lawful for Christian men, at the commandment of the Magistrate, to wear weapons, and serve in the wars." Therefore, the Lambeth Council in the modern era has sought to provide a clearer position by repudiating modern war and developed a statement that has been affirmed at each subsequent meeting of the Council. This statement was strongly reasserted when "the 67th General Convention of the Episcopal Church reaffirms the statement made by the Anglican Bishops assembled at Lambeth in 1978 and adopted by the 66th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 1979, calling "Christian people everywhere ... to engage themselves in non-violent action for justice and peace and to support others so engaged, recognizing that such action will be controversial and may be personally very costly... this General Convention, in obedience to this call, urges all members of this Church to support by prayer and by such other means as they deem appropriate, those who engaged in such non-violent action, and particularly those who suffer for conscience' sake as a result; and be it further Resolved, that this General Convention calls upon all members of this Church seriously to consider the implications for their own lives of this call to resist war and work for peace for their own lives."

[[File:Archbishop-Tutu-medium.jpg|right|thumb|[[Desmond Tutu]] (born 1931), former Primate of the Anglican [[Church of the Province of South Africa]], is a noted [[pacifist]] and a leading figure in the successful fight against apartheid]]

=== After World War II ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2008}}

The focus on other social issues became increasingly diffuse after the [[Second World War]]. On the one hand, the growing independence and strength of Anglican churches in the global south brought new emphasis to issues of global poverty, the inequitable distribution of resources, and the lingering effects of colonialism. In this regard, figures such as [[Desmond Tutu]] and [[Ted Scott]] were instrumental in mobilizing Anglicans worldwide against the [[apartheid]] policies of [[South Africa]]. Rapid social change in the industrialised world during the twentieth century compelled the church to examine issues of gender, sexuality and marriage.

These changes led to Lambeth Conference resolutions countenancing [[contraception]] and the [[remarriage]] of divorced persons. They led to most provinces approving the [[ordination of women]]. In more recent years it has led some jurisdictions to permit the ordination of people in same-sex relationships and to authorise rites for the blessing of same-sex unions (see [[homosexuality and Anglicanism]]). More conservative elements within Anglicanism (primarily African churches and factions within North American Anglicanism) are opposed to these changes. Some liberal and moderate Anglicans see this opposition as representing a new [[fundamentalism]] within Anglicanism. The lack of social consensus among and within provinces of diverse cultural traditions has resulted in considerable conflict and even schism concerning some or all of these developments (see [[Anglican realignment]]). Some Anglicans opposed to various liberalising changes, in particular the [[ordination of women]], have converted to Roman Catholicism.

These latter trends reflect a countervailing tendency in Anglicanism towards insularity, reinforced perhaps by the "big tent" nature of the movement, which seeks to be comprehensive of various views and tendencies. The insularity and complacency of the early established [[Church of England]] has tended to influence Anglican self-identity, and inhibit engagement with the broader society in favour of internal debate and dialogue. Nonetheless, there is significantly greater cohesion among Anglicans when they turn their attention outward. Anglicans worldwide are active in many areas of social and environmental concern.


==References==
==References==

Semakan pada 16:20, 13 Mei 2009

Sebahagian daripada siri
Golongan Anglikan
Pertubuhan

Ketua Biskop Canterbury
(Rowan Williams)
Mesyuarat Ketua Paderi
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Majlis Perunding Anglikan
Biskop, Diosis, dan
Politi Episkopal

Latar belakang

Kristian  • Gereja Kristian
Anglikanisme  • Sejarah
Yesus  • Santo Paulus
Katolik dan Katolikisme
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Ministry • Majlis ekumenikals
Augustine dari Canterbury  • Bede
Medieval Architecture
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Thomas Cranmer
Pembubaran Biara-biara
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Matthew Parker
Richard Hooker  • James I
Versi Diwibawakan • Charles I
William Laud  • Nonjuring schism
Ordination of women
Homoseksualiti • Laporan Windsor

Teologi

Tritunggal (Tuhan Bapa, Tuhan Anak, Roh Kudus)
Teologi  • Doktrin
Thirty-Nine Articles
Caroline Divines
Oxford Movement
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Liturgi dan Penyembahan

Book of Common Prayer
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Topik Anglikan

Ecumenism  • Monasticism
Prayer  • Music  • Art

Portal Anglikanisme

Anglicanism is a tradition of Christian faith. Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs, worship and church structures.[1] The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 meaning the English Church. Adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans. The great majority of Anglicans are members of churches which are part of the international Anglican Communion.[2] There are, however, a number of churches outside of the Anglican Communion which also consider themselves to be in the Anglican tradition, most notably those referred to as Continuing Anglican churches.

The faith of Anglicans is founded in the scriptures, the traditions of the apostolic church, the apostolic succession – "historic episcopate" and the early Church Fathers.[1] Anglicanism forms one of the branches of Western Christianity; having definitively declared its independence from the Roman pontiff at the time of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. The earliest Anglican formularies corresponded closely to those of contemporary Reformed Protestantism; but by the end of the 16th century, the retention in Anglicanism of many traditional liturgical forms and of the episcopate was already seen as unacceptable by those promoting the most developed Protestant principles. In the first half of the 17th century the Church of England and associated episcopal churches in Ireland and in England's American colonies were presented by some Anglican divines as comprising a distinct Christian tradition, with theologies, structures and forms of worship representing a middle ground, or via media, between Reformed Protestantism and Roman Catholicism; a perspective that came to be highly influential in later theories of Anglican identity. Following the American Revolution, Anglican congregations in the United States and Canada were each reconstituted into an independent church with their own bishops and self-governing structures; which, through the expansion of the British Empire and the activity of Christian missions, was adopted as the model for many newly formed churches, especially in Africa, Australasia and the regions of the Pacific. In the 19th century the term Anglicanism was coined to describe the common religious tradition of these churches; as also that of the Scottish Episcopal Church, which, though originating earlier within the Church of Scotland, had come to be recognised as sharing this common identity.

The degree of distinction between Reformed and western Catholic tendencies within the Anglican tradition is routinely a matter of debate both within specific Anglican churches and throughout the Anglican Communion. Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of services that worshippers in most Anglican churches used for centuries. While it has since undergone many revisions and Anglican churches in different countries have developed other service books, the Prayer Book is still acknowledged as one of the ties that bind the Anglican Communion together. There is no single Anglican Church with universal juridical authority, since each national or regional church has full autonomy. As the name suggests, the Anglican Communion is an association of those churches in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.[3] With over eighty[2] million members the Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

References

  1. ^ a b "What it means to be an Anglican". Dicapai pada 2009-03-16. Text "Church of England" ignored (bantuan)
  2. ^ a b "The Anglican Communion Official Website - Home Page". Dicapai pada 2009-03-16.
  3. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition p.65 (March 13, 1997)

Further reading

  • Anson, Peter F. (1955). The Call to the Cloister: Religious Communities and kindred bodies in the Anglican Communion. SPCK.
  • Hein, David, ed. (1991). Readings in Anglican Spirituality. Cincinnati: Forward Movement.
  • Hein, David, and Gardiner H. Shattuck Jr. (2005). The Episcopalians. New York: Church Publishing.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Hein, David. (2009). "Thoughtful Holiness: The Rudiments of Anglican Identity." Sewanee Theological Review.
  • Jasper, R. C. D. (1989). The development of the Anglican Liturgy, 1662–1980. London: SPCK.
  • More and Cross. Anglicanism.
  • Mould, Alan (2007). The English Chorister: A History. London: Hambledon Continuum.
  • Neill, Stephen. Anglicanism.
  • Nichols, Aidan (1993). The Panther and the Hind: A Theological History of Anglicanism. T&T Clark.
  • Norman, Edward (2004). Anglican Difficulties: A New Syllabus of Errors. Morehouse.
  • Sachs, William L. (1993). The Transformation of Anglicanism: From State Church to Global Community. Cambridge University Press.
  • Sykes, Stephen, John Booty, and Jonathan Knight, (eds.). The Study of Anglicanism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  • Temple, William. Doctrine in the Church of England.
  • Griffith Thomas, William Henry (1930). The Principles of Theology: An Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles. London: Longmans, Green & Co.

External links

Templat:Anglican Churches