The Anglican denomination derives from the Church of England. Churches that began as part of the Church of England tend to be called Anglican and those that formed outside of the Church of England but held to the same doctrine and liturgy tend to be called Episcopal. Care must be taken to distinguish between a denominational Episcopal church and a church that has an episcopal organization structure but does not hold to Anglican/Episcopal doctrine.
Most Anglican and Episcopal churches belong to the Anglican Communion, which is the third largest Christian communion after Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. The theology of the Anglican Communion was derived from a 1571 document titled the “Thirty-nine Articles” plus the Book of Common Prayer, which contains a catechism answering theological questions.
The Thirty-nine Articles is primarily a document that distinguishes Anglican theology from Roman Catholicism. For example, it states that the Holy Scripture contains all things necessary for salvation, thereby discounting both the authority of church tradition and the need for priest-administered sacraments. It only recognizes the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper and condemns the doctrine of transubstantiation. But the Thirty-nine Articles do teach that the sacraments are more than just symbolic. Sacraments are said to work invisibly inside a believer to quicken, strengthen, and confirm faith. Purgatory and public prayer in non-local languages (i.e., Latin) are condemned.
The Thirty-nine Articles specifically affirms the three major creeds: Nicene, Athanasian, and Apostles. Although the Bible contains all things necessary for salvation, these creeds are said to be fully proven by Holy Scripture.
Last, the Thirty-nine Articles strongly asserts the doctrine of predestination of the elect. Every person is born into the world with original sin and is deserving of God’s wrath and condemnation. This original sin makes it impossible for a person to have saving faith apart from the grace of God. God has therefore, before the foundation of the world was laid, chose certain people to be given eternal salvation. This is achieved through the death of Christ, which is described as a propitiation and a satisfaction.
The catechism in the Book of Common Prayer largely follows the Thirty-nine Articles, but only affirms the Nicene and Apostle’s Creed (it refers to the Athanasian Creed as simply an ancient document proclaiming the nature of the Incarnation and of God as Trinity). Some interesting additions are that God’s will for humanity is most clearly shown in the Ten Commandments, that infants should be baptized, and that the Lord’s Supper results in the forgiveness of sins. Another interesting addition is that the Holy Spirit guides the Church to identify the true interpretation of Scripture. A seeming departure from the Thirty-nine Articles is that the mission of the Church is to restore all people to the unity of God, which seems to contradict the position of predestination of the elect that is strongly asserted in the Thirty-nine Articles.
But this is as far as Anglican theology goes in terms of specifics. Individual Anglican and Episcopal churches can therefore hold a wide range of beliefs concerning sexuality, the role of women, the death penalty, divorce, remarriage after divorce, and so forth. The Anglican Communion website describes this doctrinal flexibility as follows: “Anglicanism’s greatest strength–its willingness to tolerate a wide variety in Anglican faith and lifestyle–is also the thing that provokes the most debate among its practitioners … Anglicanism represents a middle way between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.”[i]
The issue of homosexuality has been particularly controversial in Anglican and Episcopal churches. For example, the United States Episcopal Church, which is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, has allowed for homosexual clergy since 2012 and has blessed homosexual marriages since 2015. Many local churches were not in favor of these and other socially liberal changes and therefore formed the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), which is not part of the Anglican Communion. There is also a growing movement for more conservative Anglican and Episcopal churches to organize themselves under conservative bishops, who are often from another country. Switching bishops is referred to as Anglican realignment. For example, many local churches in the U.S. have left the United States Episcopal Church and have realigned under the Nigerian Anglican bishop. Although part of the Anglican Communion, the Anglican Church of Nigeria holds that homosexuality is evil, a perversion, and contrary to Scripture.
[i] www.anglicancommunion.org/theology/doctrine.aspx
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