Evangelical Anglicanism
Evangelical Anglicanism or evangelical Episcopalianism is a tradition or
In contrast to the
Description
In contrast to
According to
With respect to baptismal regeneration, evangelicals hold baptism to be "part of a process of regeneration, a step before eventual 'rebirth'."[8][9] Evangelical Anglicans hold a Reformed view of baptism understood in light of covenant theology in which baptism seals or pledges the blessings of the New Covenant to the individual Christian. However, regeneration is not simultaneous with baptism. In the case of infant baptism, the sacrament "signifies and seals to them graces which they still need to receive later by faith."[10]
Evangelicals maintain a Reformed view of Holy Communion, believing that Christ is spiritually or mystically present to the believer by faith, rather than corporeally present in the elements themselves.[11][12] According to this view, known as receptionism, the body and blood of Christ are received spiritually by faith.[13]
By region
Church of England
19th century
Evangelicalism emerged from the religious revivals of the 18th century.
Nineteenth-century evangelicals were fascinated with
The first evangelical bishop,
Evangelical insistence on the necessity of conversion provoked controversy within the Church of England over the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. Evangelicals rejected this doctrine, a position summarized by the Bishop of Winchester, who wrote, "I must look, notwithstanding his baptism, for the Scriptural evidence of his being a child of God."[19] The controversy came to a head in the late 1840s in what became known as the Gorham Judgment. In 1847, Henry Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter, refused to induct George Cornelius Gorham as vicar of a parish in Devon on the grounds that Gorham did not believe in baptismal regeneration. Gorham appealed the case all the way to the Privy Council, which in 1850 ruled in Gorham's favour.[19]
In 1844, a number of congregations separated from the Church of England. They formed the Free Church of England, a Protestant and reformed body, as a reaction to the ritualist movement.[citation needed]
20th century
From the 1870s into the early 20th century, evangelicals came to feel increasingly marginalized as ritualism became more commonplace within the Church of England. As evangelicalism continued to lose ground to the high-church party, a split became apparent between
In 1922, disaffected evangelicals left the Church Missionary Society over moves to broaden the society's theological boundaries and established the Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society (now known as Crosslinks). Soon, there were BCMS missionaries in Africa, Burma, and among the Inuit. In 1925, what would become Trinity College in Bristol was established by the BCMS to train missionaries. Trinity, then known as Tyndale Hall, would maintain a conservative position, while other evangelical colleges like Ridley Hall would go in a more theologically open direction.[21] The two later merged to form the present college.
The failure of the 1928 proposed Book of Common Prayer to be approved by Parliament was seen as a victory for evangelicals, though this was overturned when the ASB, and its successor Common Worship, were approved in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Beginning in the 1960s, evangelicals began to emerge from isolation. In response to
21st century
As other church parties experienced decline in the 21st century, evangelicalism has seen a rise in influence and popularity within the Church of England. According to Peter Brierley, a researcher on church statistics, 40 per cent of Anglicans attended evangelical parishes.
In December 2014, it was announced that the suffragan
Episcopal Church in the United States
19th century
In the 19th century, the newly organized
Like evangelicals in other Protestant denominations, they stressed the need for a conversion experience and participated in the revivalism of the Second Great Awakening, holding revival meetings and prayer meetings.[30] They also tended to disapprove of social amusements such as dancing, card-playing, and the theatre.[31]
While the high-church party disapproved of participation in inter-denominational voluntary societies, evangelical Episcopalians strongly supported them. Leaders such as
Participation in voluntary societies reflected evangelical Episcopalians' beliefs that every Christian had a responsibility to spread
By 1844, two-thirds of Episcopal clergy were evangelical.[34] Nevertheless, the growing influence of the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement on Episcopal Church leaders worried evangelicals. They experienced a loss of confidence in the church's institutions after 1844 when the church's General Convention refused to label the Oxford Movement a heresy. Their own attempts to stem the tide through heresy trials ultimately failed as well. In response, evangelicals chose to form their own distinctly evangelical Episcopal voluntary societies to promote education and evangelism, such as the Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge (which later merged with what is now known as the Episcopal Evangelism Society) and the American Church Missionary Society (which was modelled on the English society).[35]
After the American Civil War, the breach between evangelicals and high churchmen had deepened. While an older generation of evangelical leaders, such as McIlvaine, tried to preserve evangelical loyalty to the Episcopal Church, a younger generation was calling for schism and the creation of a distinctly evangelical church.[36] In 1873, some of these evangelicals led by George David Cummins and Charles E. Cheney organized the Reformed Episcopal Church.[37]
Towards the end of the 19th century, the old evangelical party would evolve into broad church liberalism.
20th century
The
Liberal evangelicals in the United States were influenced by liberal evangelicals in the Church of England. The difference between the American and English movements was that in the Episcopal Church the liberal evangelicals were the only evangelicals, whereas in England the liberals were countered by the conservative evangelicals.[39]
By mid-century, there was no living memory of the 19th-century evangelicals, and Episcopalians were "reluctant" to acknowledge that they had ever existed.[42] Beginning in the 1960s, however, conservative evangelicalism would re-emerge as an important force within the Episcopal Church. The evangelical revival in the Episcopal Church was part of a larger postwar evangelical resurgence known in North America as neo-evangelicalism, and it was promoted and supported by Anglicans from England, where evangelical Anglicanism had remained a vibrant tradition throughout the 20th century. The most influential voice from England was John Stott.[43]
The new evangelicals would provide the strongest opposition to the liberal trajectory of the Episcopal Church, especially regarding progressive views on homosexuality. In the late 1980s, evangelicals began to form organizations aimed at promoting and defending their understanding of Anglican orthodoxy and changing liberal church policies. In 1996,
Anglican Church of Australia
In the Anglican Church of Australia, Calvinist evangelicalism is the dominant theological orientation of these dioceses:
- Anglican Diocese of Sydney
- Anglican Diocese of Tasmania
- Anglican Diocese of North West Australia
- Anglican Diocese of Armidale
Additionally, the following non-evangelical dioceses have evangelical bishops:
- Anglican Diocese of Bathurst (Mark Calder)
- Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn (Stuart Robinson, Mark Short)
- Anglican Diocese of the Northern Territory (Greg Anderson)
- Anglican Diocese of Bendigo (Matthew Brain)
- Anglican Diocese of Rockhampton (Peter Grice)
Two of Australia's largest theological colleges are Anglican and Evangelical: Moore Theological College in Sydney and Ridley College in Melbourne.
Africa
In Africa, evangelicalism is the primary theological orientation of the Church of Uganda, and it is low church in liturgical style. This is due largely to the fact that in much of East Africa Anglicanism was introduced by the evangelical Church Missionary Society. The evangelical character of the Anglican church in Uganda, as well as in the Anglican Church of Rwanda, was strengthened by the East African Revival of the 1930s and 1940s.[45]
The growth of
See also
- Anglican Church in North America
- Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans
- GAFCON
- Ridley Theological College
- Conservative Evangelicalism in the United Kingdom
References
Citations
- ^ a b Harp 2005, pp. 180–181.
- ^ Harp 2005, p. 180.
- ^ a b c Chapman 2006, p. 68.
- ^ Harp 2005, p. 182; Joint Implementation Commission of the Covenant between the Methodist Church of Great Britain and the Church of England 2008, pp. 119–121.
- ^ Packer, J. I. (5 May 2018). "The Work of the Holy Spirit in Conviction and Conversion". Lausanne Movement. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
Psychologically, conversions take countless forms. Some are quiet, some tumultuous. Some are quick and clear, occurring the moment the gospel is understood, others take years before faith in Christ is confidently professed. Some occur so early in life that there is no conscious memory of them; some are deathbed occurrences.
- ^ a b Packer, J I, The Evangelical Identity Problem, Latimer Study 1, 1978, Latimer House; page 20
- ^ Harp 2005, p. 181.
- ^ Wilcox 2014, p. 80.
- ^ Butler 1995, p. 194: "When the infant grew to adulthood and experienced spiritual regeneration, then baptismal regeneration would be made effective."
- ^ Stott 1998, p. 6–7.
- ^ Budziszewski 2006, p. 20: "For example, many evangelical Anglicans acknowledge the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist."
- ^ Scotland 2004, p. 355: "Bishop Ryle was clear that there is 'a spiritual presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper to every faithful communicant, but no local corporal presence in the bread and wine to any communicant'. This, he went on to assert, 'is evidently the uniform doctrine of the Church of England'. Ryle was quite specific as to the meaning of 'a spiritual presence'. He spelt it out as follows: 'But we by the real spiritual presence of Christ do understand Christ to be present, as the Spirit of God is present, in the hearts of the faithful by blessing and grace; and this is all which we mean'".
- ^ Kennedy 2016, p. 243.
- ^ Chapman 2006, pp. 60–61.
- ^ Chapman 2006, pp. 64–65.
- ^ Chapman 2006, p. 65.
- ^ Chapman 2006, p. 66.
- ^ Chapman 2006, p. 67.
- ^ a b Chapman 2006, p. 63.
- ^ Schlossberg 2011, pp. 86–87.
- ^ Chapman 2006, p. 70.
- ^ Chapman 2006, p. 71.
- ^ "Hot and Bothered: The Rise of Evangelicalism Is Shaking Up the Established Church". The Economist. London. 10 March 2012. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
- ^ a b Sherwood, Harriet (13 August 2016). "As Traditional Believers Turn Away, Is This a New Crisis of Faith?". The Observer. London: Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- ^ "Suffragan Bishop of Maidstone announced" (Press release). Archbishop of Canterbury. 5 May 2015. Archived from the original on 1 August 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ Bell 1977, p. 114; Butler 1994, p. 194.
- ^ Guelzo 1993, p. 554.
- ^ Bell 1977, p. 114: "... most Wesleyans became members of the Methodist Church, but some remained within the Episcopal Church to form an influential group, the Evangelicals or the low-church party."
- ^ Kennedy 2016, p. 75: "Evangelical Anglicans in the main did not follow the sacramental emphasis of the Wesleys but tended to be Cranmerian in their eucharistic theology...They were also content with the 1662 rite as agreeable to Christ's institution, understanding consecration as the setting aside of the elements for holy use."
- ^ Butler 1994, p. 194.
- ^ Bell 1977, p. 114.
- ^ Butler 1994, pp. 196–197.
- ^ Butler 1994, pp. 202–203.
- ^ Guelzo 1993, p. 559.
- ^ Butler 1994, pp. 208–209.
- ^ a b Butler 1994, p. 210.
- ^ Prichard 2014, p. 191.
- ^ Prichard 2014, p. 235.
- ^ a b Butler 1995, p. 236.
- ^ Butler 1995, pp. 225, 228.
- ^ Prichard 2014, pp. 269–271.
- ^ Guelzo 1993, p. 576; Harp 2005, p. 180.
- ^ Bonner 2008, p. 269.
- ^ Hassett 2009, pp. 34, 37, 39.
- ^ a b Hassett 2009, pp. 26–27, 29.
Sources
- Bell, Marion L. (1977). Crusade in the City: Revivalism in Nineteenth-century Philadelphia. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8387-1929-9.
- Bonner, Jeremy (2008). "The Pittsburgh Paradigm: The Rise of Confessional Anglicanism in Southwestern Pennsylvania, 1950–2000". JSTOR 42612864.
- ISBN 978-0-8010-3156-4.
- JSTOR 1123849.
- ISBN 978-0-19-508542-6.
- ISBN 978-0-19-280693-2.
- JSTOR 42611573.
- Harp, Gillis J. (2005). "The Strange Death of Evangelical Episcopalianism". JSTOR 42612883.
- Hassett, Miranda K. (2009). Anglican Communion in Crisis: How Episcopal Dissidents and Their African Allies Are Reshaping Anglicanism. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-2771-8.
- Joint Implementation Commission of the Covenant between the Methodist Church of Great Britain and the Church of England (2008). Embracing the Covenant (PDF). Peterborough, England: Methodist Publishing House. ISBN 978-1-85852-346-0. Archived(PDF) from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- Kennedy, David J. (2016). Eucharistic Sacramentality in an Ecumenical Context: The Anglican Epiclesis. New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-6376-8.
- ISBN 978-0-8192-2877-2.
- Schlossberg, Herbert (2011). Conflict and Crisis in the Religious Life of Late Victorian England. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-1523-9.
- Scotland, Nigel (2004). Evangelical Anglicans in a Revolutionary Age, 1789–1901. Carlisle, England: Paternoster Press. ISBN 978-1-84227-231-2.
- Stott, John (1998) [1964]. "The Evangelical Doctrine of Baptism" (PDF). Churchman. 112 (1). Church Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
- Wilcox, Alastair (2014). The Church and the Slums: The Victorian Anglican Church and its Mission to Liverpool's Poor. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-5997-4.
External links
- Media related to Evangelical Anglicanism at Wikimedia Commons