In my previous article, I discussed the historical draw of the Anglican tradition. As a tradition that stands firmly in both the Catholic and Protestant traditions, Anglicanism provides a middle way between the two. If you have had any exposure to both of these Christian traditions, you’d know that there a few doctrinal differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. Growing up, I was under the assumption that since I was a Baptist, and therefore in the Protestant tradition, that I was in the correct Christian tradition. I felt intuitively that Catholics where somehow wrong, but I couldn’t articulate fully why. However, as I have been on this journey toward ancient Christianity, I have discovered that the Catholic tradition is doctrinally rich and that all Christians have much we can learn from Catholicism. In fact, most of us would not be a Christian if it were not for the Catholic Church. I say this because the core doctrines of the faith are birthed out of the Catholic tradition. In this way, Anglicanism serves as a bridge between the Catholicism and Protestantism. This week we will discuss the doctrinal draw of Anglicanism, one that is both creedal and reformational.
Creedal
As a tradition that stands firmly in the ancient traditions of Christianity (for further discussion on this topic see last month’s article), Anglicanism is doctrinally creedal. What do I mean by creedal? The word creed comes from the Latin credo which means “I believe”. At the doctrinal core, Anglicans hold to the three creeds of ancient Christianity: the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. All three of these creeds come in the first five centuries of Christianity, and serve as the backbone of all Christian doctrine. In the creeds, we find topics such as who is God, what is the Trinity, who is Jesus, who is the Holy Spirit, what is man’s relationship to God, how are we saved, and what can we expect from life here after. These foundational questions not only about life, but also of theological bedrock that forms the church.
I would even go so far as to say that without the creeds, there would be no Christianity. I know this statement is scandalous to many who would call themselves Christians, however, I have come to see the critical nature of the creeds for the Christian faith. The creeds serve primarily as a way to form and disciple believers in the faith, but they also serve as a defense from heresy and false teaching that would pull sheep away from the flock. For example, in the early days of church, false teaching about Jesus’ divinity and humanity circulated widely. Even today there are religious groups that deny the biblical and historic/orthodox understanding of who Jesus is and his relationship among the Trinity (i.e Latter-Day Saints/Mormons, Jehovah’s Witness, and Oneness Pentecostal, etc). These incorrect understandings about Jesus are clearly address in the creeds. For those who say that Jesus was only a good man, but was not God, the Nicene creed affirms that Jesus is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God”. For others who say that Jesus was God who only appeared to be man or was not fully man in the sense that we are, both the Apostles and Nicene creeds affirm that Jesus was “conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary”. Thus Jesus was conceived and born of a human being, his mother Mary. Additionally there are some who claim that Jesus was truly man, but is only a higher spirit being that was created sometime in the past. The Nicene creed affirms that Jesus was “begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father”. The creeds wholeheartedly affirm the historical teaching that Jesus was fully God and fully man. He is the self existent, uncreated, eternal God.
We could go through the creeds line by line and study them in depth. However, my point here is to show that Anglicanism firmly stands on the foundation of creedal Christianity. Anglicans wholeheartedly affirm all three of the ancient creeds. Most Sunday’s the Nicene creed is recited during the liturgy, and the Apostles creed is read during morning and evening prayer. The Athanasian creed is recited at varying times during the year as well. Sadly, there are many Christian traditions today that are distancing themselves from the ancient creeds. This is to their detriment. The creeds form the bedrock of all Christian doctrine. All other points of theology spring from the deep wells of the creeds. For a person to deny any point of doctrine from the ancient creeds is to set oneself in danger of heresy, or even to deny the faith altogether. As the final line of the Athanasian creed states, “This is the Catholic (i.e. universally Christian) faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved”.
Reformational
At the same time, Anglicans are also reformational. These days the term reformed means different things to different traditions. For many in the reformed tradition, it simply means “not Catholic” which often times equates to being anti-Catholic. This is not the case for Anglicans. Strictly speaking, the Anglican tradition is Protestant, in that it came out of the Catholic tradition during the reformation of the sixteenth century. However, the reformation that transpired in England was starkly different from the reformation(s) happening on the European continent. England broke away from the Catholic Church for political as well as theologian reasons. King Henry VIII wanted a divorce from his wife who, could not produce him a male heir. The pope would not grant such a scandalous request, so Henry broke away from the Catholic Church and divorced his wife anyway. England remained separate from the Catholic Church for the remainder of Henry’s reign and the during the short reign of his son Edward. That changed however when Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary) took the throne in 1553. Mary brought back Catholicism and martyred many Anglicans who would not convert. She died in 1558, and was succeeded by her sister Elizabeth I who reinstated Anglicanism as the official religion of England. Sadly, however, many Catholics were persecuted during her reign. Other than during the interregnum (the suspension of the monarchy) from 1649-1660, when Presbyterianism was established as the state religion, Anglicanism has been the official religion of the British empire and commonwealth since the reformation.
Unlike many of the reformed and Protestant traditions that greatly distanced themselves from Catholicism, Anglicans did not. In fact, Anglicanism embraced much of its Catholic heritage, especially during the Oxford Movement of the mid-1800s. While officially being a Protestant tradition, Anglicanism is also Catholic. In our previous article, we discussed that Anglicanism serves as a Via Media or “middle way” between the two. So in that sense, Anglicanism is a Reformed Catholic tradition.
How is Anglicanism Catholic and at the same time reformed/Protestant? We see this primarily in Anglican doctrine, which is distilled in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. The reason that the reformation of the sixteenth century occurred is primarily due to teachings/beliefs that crept into the Church during the Middle Ages about purgatory and the system of indulgences. The Catholic teaching on purgatory is that most believers do not go directly to heaven upon death, but go to be purged from remaining sin in purgatory. The Church also taught that a person’s time spent in purgatory could be lessened by family and friends here on earth through indulgences. This system of indulgences grew very corrupt and became a money making industry. In fact this is what Martin Luther was protesting in his 95 Theses.
Additionally, Catholics and Orthodox Christians hold Scripture and Tradition on the same level. Many doctrines in these traditions arise out of, what they all Sacred Tradition and not necessarily directly from Scripture. The heart cry of the reformation, however, was Sola Scriptura, the idea that scripture alone must be the sole authority for truth and doctrine. While this is a noble desire, if worked to its logical conclusion Sola Scriptura can lead to all sorts of problems. For this reason Anglicans prefer the idea of Prima Scriptura, that Scripture is the primary source of truth and doctrine, but it can be supported by tradition and reason. For Anglicans a doctrine must be directly or implicitly taught in Scripture before it is accepted as an official doctrine. However, Anglicans deeply depend on the tradition of ancient Christianity, and even reason to inform doctrine. This is what makes Anglicanism distinct from other reformed traditions. Yet it is also what makes it firmly Catholic as well.
Conclusion
As discussed above, Anglicanism firmly stands in both the Catholic and Protestant/Reformed traditions. Anglicans are doctrinally Catholic because we affirm the ancient creeds and embrace much of Church tradition. Anglicans are also reformed because we hold Scripture as primary, while not discounting tradition and reason. Unfortunately, much of Protestant/Reformed tradition cuts itself off from ancient Christianity because it rejects much of Christian tradition and resets the clock at 1517 or when their specific tradition was founded. Sadly, many Protestants have even distanced themselves from the ancient creeds, at least in part. By doing so, these traditions deprive themselves of the richness and fullness of the Catholic tradition as well as open themselves up to threat of false teaching. For these reasons, I now gladly stand the Reformed Catholic tradition of Anglicanism. Now we turn to the final reason that I am now an Anglican, the spiritual formation. We will turn to this in our next article.
Recommended Reading
- To Be A Christian: An Anglican Catechism (ACNA)
- Anglicanism: A Reformed Catholic Tradition by Gerald Bray
- The Nicene Creed: An Introduction by Phillip Cary
- The Heritage of Anglican Theology by J. I. Packer
- Reformation Anglicanism by Ashley Null and John Yates
Photo credit: Tim Wildsmith, courtesy of Unsplash
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