Anglican doctrine

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (June 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (September 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Part of a series on
Anglicanism
Theology Christian theology Anglican doctrine Thirty-nine Articles Books of Homilies Caroline Divines Chicago–Lambeth Quadrilateral Episcopal polity Sacraments Mary
Ministry and worship Eucharist King James Version (Book of Common Prayer) Liturgical year Churchmanship (High, Low, Central, Broad) Monasticism Saints Jesus Prayer
Christianity Jesus Christ Paul Christian Church First seven ecumenical councils
Background and history Celtic Christianity Augustine of Canterbury Bede Medieval cathedral architecture Apostolic succession Henry VIII English Reformation Thomas Cranmer Dissolution of the monasteries Church of England Edward VI Elizabeth I Matthew Parker Richard Hooker James I Charles I William Laud Nonjuring schism Latitudinarian Anglo-Catholicism (Liberal) Oxford Movement
Anglican Communion Anglican Communion history Archbishop of Canterbury Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings Lambeth Conference Bishops Anglican Consultative Council Ecumenism Ordination of women Windsor Report
Continuing Anglicanism Anglican realignment Bartonville Agreement Congress of St. Louis North American Anglican Conference
Christianity portal
v t e

Anglican doctrine (also called Episcopal doctrine in some countries) is the body of Christian teachings used to guide the religious and moral practices of Anglicans.

Approach to doctrine

Anglicanism does not possess an agreed-upon confession of faith, such as the

Article VIII of the Thirty-Nine Articles declared the three Catholic creeds – the Apostles', the Nicene and the Athanasian – to "be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture" and were included in the first and subsequent editions of The Book of Common Prayer. All Anglican prayer books continue to include the Apostles' and Nicene Creed. Some — such as the Church of England's Common Worship or A New Zealand Prayer Book — omit the Athanasian Creed, but include alternative "affirmations". This liturgical diversity suggests that the principles enunciated by the Apostles' and Nicene creeds remain doctrinally unimpeachable. Nonetheless, metaphorical or spiritualised interpretations of some of the creedal declarations – for instance, the virgin birth of Jesus and his resurrection – have been commonplace in Anglicanism since the integration of biblical critical theory into theological discourse in the 19th century.^{[citation needed]}

The first four ecumenical councils of

Works related to Thirty-Nine Articles at Wikisource

The Church of England has not amended the Thirty-Nine Articles. However, synodical legislators made changes to canon law to accommodate those who feel unable to adhere strictly to the Thirty-Nine Articles. The legal form of the declaration of assent required of clergy on their appointment, which was at its most rigid in 1689, was amended in 1865 and again in 1975 to allow more latitude. Outside of the Church of England, the Articles have an even less secure status and are generally treated as an edifying historical document not binding on doctrine or practice.

Homilies

The Homilies are two books of thirty-three sermons developing

The Homilies are noteworthy for their beautiful and magisterial phrasing and the instances of historical terms. Each homily is heavily annotated with references to scripture, the church fathers, and other primary sources. The reading of the Homilies in church is still directed under Article XXXV of the Thirty-Nine Articles.

Prayer books

The original Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England was published in 1549, and its most recently approved successor was issued in 1662. It is this edition that national prayer-books (with the exception of Scotland's) used as a template as the Anglican Communion spread outside England. The foundational status of the 1662 edition has led to its being cited as an authority on doctrine. This status reflects a more pervasive element of Anglican doctrinal development, namely that of lex orandi, lex credendi, or "the law of prayer is the law of belief".^{[Note 2]}

Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral

The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral is a summation of the Anglican approach to theology, worship and church structure and is often cited as a basic summary of the essentials of Anglican identity. The four points are:

1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as "containing all things necessary to salvation," and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.
2. The Creeds (specifically, the Apostles' and Nicene) as the sufficient statement of Christian faith;
3. The dominical sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion;
4. The historic
   episcopate
   locally adapted.

The four points originated in resolutions of the

Given that the foundational elements of Anglican doctrine are either not binding or are subject to local interpretation, methodology has tended to assume a place of key importance. Hence, it is not so much a body of doctrinal statements so much as the process of doctrinal development that is important in Anglican theological identity.^[citation needed]

Lex orandi, lex credendi

Anglicanism has traditionally expressed its doctrinal convictions based on the prayer texts and liturgy of the church. In other words, appeal has typically been made to what Anglicans do and prescribe in common worship, enunciated in the texts of the Book of Common Prayer and other national prayer books, to guide theology and practice. Applying this axiom to doctrine, there are three venues for its expression in the worship of the Church:

• The selection, arrangement, and composition of prayers and exhortations;
• The selection and arrangement of the lectionary; and
• The
  rubrics (regulations) for liturgical action and variations in the prayers and exhortations.^[3]

The principle of lex orandi, lex credendi functions according to the so-called "three-legged stool" of scripture, tradition, and reason attributed to Richard Hooker.[4] This doctrinal stance is intended to enable Anglicanism to construct a theology that is pragmatic, focused on the institution of the church, yet engaged with the world. It is, in short, a theology that places a high value on the traditions of the faith and the intellect of the faithful, acknowledging the primacy of the worshipping community in articulating, amending, and passing down the church's beliefs. In doing so, Anglican theology is inclined towards a comprehensive consensus concerning the principles of the tradition and the relationship between the church and society. In this sense, Anglicans have viewed their theology as strongly incarnational – expressing the conviction that God is revealed in the physical and temporal things of everyday life and the attributes of specific times and places.

This approach has its hazards, however. For instance, there is a countervailing tendency to be "text-centric", that is, to focus on the technical, historical, and interpretative aspects of prayer books and their relationship to the institution of the church, rather than on the relationship between faith and life. Second, the emphasis on comprehensiveness often instead results in compromise or tolerance of every viewpoint. The effect that is created is that Anglicanism may appear to stand for nothing or for everything, and that an unstable and unsatisfactory middle-ground is staked while theological disputes wage interminably. Finally, while lex orandi, lex credendi helped solidify a uniform Anglican perspective when the 1662 Prayer Book and its successors predominated, and while expatriate bishops of the United Kingdom enforced its conformity in territories of the

Process of doctrinal development

The principle of lex orandi, lex credendi discloses a larger theme in the approach of Anglicanism to doctrine, namely, that doctrine is considered a lived experience; since in living it, the community comes to understand its character. In this sense, doctrine is considered to be a dynamic, participatory enterprise rather than a static one.

This inherent sense of dynamism was articulated by

Newman's suggestion of two criteria for the sound development of doctrine has permeated Anglican thinking. These are, first, that development must be open and accessible to the faithful at every stage; and second, that it must be subject to appeal to scripture and the precedents of antiquity through the process of sound scholarship. The method by which this is accomplished is by the distillation of doctrine through, and its subordination to a dominant Anglican ethos consisting of the maintenance of order through consensus, comprehensiveness, and contract; and a preference for pragmatism over speculation.^[5] In other words, the former — experience — flows from the latter — method. Anglican doctrinal methodology means concurrence with a base structure of shared identity: An agreement on the fundamentals of the faith articulated in the creeds; the existence of Protestant and catholic elements creating both a via media as well as a "union of opposites";^{[Note 4]} and the conviction that there is development in understanding the truth, expressed more in practical terms rather than theoretical ones.^[6] In short, the character of Anglicanism is that the church "contains in itself many elements regarded as mutually exclusive in other communions."^[7]

Formal doctrine

Anglican churches in other countries generally inherited the doctrinal apparatus of the Church of England, consisting most commonly an adaptation of the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Quadrilateral into general principles. From the earliest times, they have adapted them to suit their local needs.

Constitutions and canon law

Canon law in the churches of the Anglican Communion stem from the law of the

As mentioned above, the Anglican Communion has no international juridical organisation. The Archbishop of Canterbury's role is strictly symbolic and unifying, and the Communion's three international bodies are consultative and collaborative, their resolutions having no legal effect on the independent provinces of the Communion. Taken together, however, the four do function as "instruments of unity", since all churches of the Communion participate in them. In order of antiquity, they are:

1. The Archbishop of Canterbury, as the spiritual head of the Communion, is the focus of unity, since no church claims membership in the Communion without being in communion with him.
2. The
   episcopate
   , to discuss matters of mutual concern, and to pass resolutions intended to act as guideposts. It is held roughly every ten years and invitation is by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
3. The Anglican Consultative Council meets usually at three year intervals. Consisting 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.
4. The
   Primates' Meeting is the most recent manifestation of international consultation and deliberation, having been first convened by Archbishop of Canterbury Donald Coggan as a forum for "leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation."^[8]

The focus of doctrinal debate on issues of social theology has continued into the 21st century. Indeed, the eclipse of issues of classical doctrine, such as confessions of faith, has been exemplified by the relatively non-controversial decisions by some Communion provinces to amend the Nicene Creed by dropping the

The consecration of bishops and the extension of sacraments to individuals based on gender or sexual orientation would ordinarily be matters of concern to the synods of the autonomous provinces of the Communion. Insofar as they affect other provinces, it is by association — either the physical association between the individuals to whom the sacraments have been extended and those who oppose such extension; or the perceptual association of Anglicanism generally with such practices. Regardless, these issues have incited debate over the parameters of domestic autonomy in doctrinal matters in the absence of international consensus. Some dioceses and provinces have moved further than others can easily accept, and some conservative parishes within them have sought pastoral oversight from bishops of other dioceses or provinces, in contravention of traditional Anglican polity (see Anglican realignment). These developments have led some to call for a covenant to delimit the power of provinces to act on controversial issues independently, while others have called for a renewed commitment to comprehensiveness and tolerance of diverse practice.

See also

• Anglican Eucharistic theology
• History of Calvinist–Arminian debate
• Anglican Marian theology
• Anglican sacraments
• Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral
• Ritualist movement
• Bangorian Controversy
• Nonjuring schism
• Christian theological controversy

Some contemporary Anglican theologians

Anglo-Catholicism:

• Kenneth Leech
• Eric Lionel Mascall
• Graham Leonard
• Rowan Williams

Evangelicalism:

• George Carey
• Peter Jensen
• J. I. Packer
• John Stott
• N. T. Wright

Liberalism:

• Marcus Borg
• David Edward Jenkins
• John Shelby Spong
• Desmond Tutu

Notes

References