Anglicanism: It’s not what you think it is

The Gospel Coalition has a very good overview article. Here are some things you may not know about Anglicanism:

1. Since the arrival of Christianity in Britain in the 3rd century, British Christianity has had a distinct flavor and independence of spirit, and was frequently in tension with Roman Catholicism.

2. The break with Rome in the 16th century had political causes, but also saw the emergence of an evangelical theology.

3. Anglicanism is Reformed.

4. Scripture is the supreme authority in Anglicanism.

5. Justification by faith alone is at the heart of Anglican soteriology.

6. In Anglican thought, the sacraments are "effectual signs" received by faith.

7. The Anglican liturgy—best encapsulated in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer—is designed to soak the congregation in the Scriptures, and to remind them of the priority of grace in the Christian life.

8. Anglicanism is a missionary faith, and has sponsored global missions since the 18th century.

9. Global Anglicanism is more African and Asian than it is English and American.

Read the entire article here for more details.

Sweet dropper

"Sweet Dropper: Richard Sibbes and Conforming Puritanism" by Evan May.

How Lutheran Was The English Reformation?

How Lutheran Was The English Reformation?

How Lutheran was the English Reformation? In its early years, primarily during the reign of Henry VIII, the people working for reform were looking to Wittenberg and listening to Luther. Barnes, whose influence was doctrinal, was a student at Wittenberg and brought Lutheran doctrine to England.

Tyndale, the translator of the Bible, translated in Wittenberg and Germany under Luther’s influence. Cranmer had close associations in Lutheran Germany and followed Lutheran principles in liturgy and worship. The English church could have become a Lutheran church.

What was the end result? The exiles that came to England during Edward’s reign and that went to the continent during Mary’s reign represent strong Calvinistic influence. Cranmer, more like Melanchthon in being given to compromise and not a confessor like Luther, became a Calvinist in his doctrine of the Lord’s Supper while retaining Lutheran liturgical principles. In the Elizabethan Settlement the Anglican Church retained enough of what England’s early reformers had given it that it is not surprising that someone coming from an Episcopal church can feel comfortable in a Lutheran liturgical service.

There’s also an excellent (though brief) timeline of the English Reformation and its primary influences.

“The Real and True Nature of Anglicanism”

There are Anglicans who still believe this:

The Real and True Nature of Anglicanism
Our ultimate question does not concern the real and true nature of Anglicanism but the real and true nature of Christianity and as to how well the Anglican tradition of Christian faith comports with the revealed faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christendom (faith and institution) is far greater than mere Anglicanism. A minister of the Church of England, for example, is not ordained into the Anglican Communion as such, but into the Church of God. The Church of God is not measured by institutions and statistics, bishops, patriarchs, metropolitans, and jurisdictions but by the reality of faith which only the Lord himself can measure. The visible church and the invisible church are not co- extensive, "For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel" (Romans 9:6). The true Israelite in Old and New Testament terms is the person with the circumcised heart ("No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God" Romans 2:29) and only God can read the heart and count his true people, "The Lord knows who are his" (2 Timothy 2:19).

Externalities, however important, are not of the essence of the Christian faith, but rather union with Christ. The Church of God must be gathered, organized, and administered, but the external phenomenon is not an accurate representation of the true people of God and it consists of "wheat and tares" at every level of participation from leadership through tenuous membership.

The Church of England and the Reformation

Dr William Witt, PhD Notre Dame, who teaches systematic theology at a conservative Anglican seminary here in the Pittsburgh area, has posted an article that discusses Anglicanism and the Reformation.

Here are a few selections:

The Church of England, and the rest of us

Paul Levy “shows some love for Anglicans” by providing a brief review of Persistently Preaching Christ, a work discussing the ministry of St Andrew’s the Great Church [STAG] in Cambridge.

I do want to commend the book because it's haunted me since I read it. The story of the last 50 years in the life of the church is recounted. Interspersed with this are testimonies of people who have passed through STAG and been profoundly influenced by it. I found myself thanking God for this church in Cambridge that I've never set foot in. There are enormous amounts of practical wisdom in it and STAG, with many of the people it's produced, could so very easily be proud and full of itself and yet the book is laced through with an humility which is inspiring.

The Word has been preached and been applied to the congregation and it has done a remarkable work. I would want to commend this book to every minister. There will be points you will be frustrated and disagree with it and yet you will finish the book I hope with profound thankfulness for what God can do in a local congregation through the power of his Word.

In part, the Church of England, the Anglican church, believes itself not to be a part of the Reformation, but a continuing portion of the ancient church. They threw off the papacy but not much else. They retained an “episcopacy”, not entirely based on Scriptural principles, and they were rivals of the Puritans and the Scottish Presbyterians. It’s all another messy – but enlightening – portion of Reformation history, and it’s all a part of our heritage as Reformation Christians.

Nevertheless, their 39 Articles are thoroughly Reformed in their doctrine. And the conservative Anglicans among them struggle mightily to retain this identity.

We who are outside of the CofE need to be very careful in our criticisms. In the last 40 years we have seen strong Bible teaching, Reformed Anglican Churches thriving in many places. On the non conformist side of the bench it's probably not seen as much growth. We need to be humble enough to see that and recognise God has and is doing great things in many of our Anglican churches. My conscience couldn't allow me to be in the CofE. Part of me can't understand they're in it, but they are. I would love them all to come out and be Presbyterian but in all likelihood if they did we'd all split within 5 years over minutiae. What the future holds for them I have no idea and they are going to have to fight and contend for the truth, that is the imperative of the gospel. It could well be that they are turfed out before too long. So my new policy to my conservative evangelical brothers is, if they're fighting I must be praying and be grateful for them.

The Birth of the Church of England

One of the tasks I have set for myself, sort of a longer-term goal, is to tell the story of, and more specifically, the need for the Protestant Reformation.

That will of course involve looking at all types of “traditions”—to be distinguished from the “Tradition” of the Roman Catholic Church (their “living voice” not only makes Scripture into a was nose, but it makes the history of the church into a wax nose as well).

Traditional Anglicans believe that Christianity existed as early as the middle of the first century (perhaps some were Christians from as early as Pentecost). Whether or not that’s the case, there were churches in England as early as the middle of the second century.

Saint Alban, who was killed in 304 AD, is believed to be the first English Christian martyr, and the British church was represented at the Council of Arles in 314.

Some time later, the Anglo Saxons conquered England. Schaff notes, “Christianity was nearly extirpated in Britain”. It was re-introduced some time later through a missionary effort by Pope Gregory I. Here is Schaff’s account: