Monday, February 13, 2006

Anglican Reformation

In a previous post I attempted to delineate the difference between Anglo-Catholicism, a movement which affirms the fullness of Anglican faith and practice as well as ecclesial integrity, and Anglo-Papalism, a movement which pines for corporate reunion and absorption with Rome. I believe it is quite safe to say that most if not all APA clergy who would describe themselves as Anglo-Catholics would not agree with the Anglo-Papalist position. I for one certainly do not, and I would expect a similar answer from many of my esteemed colleagues. The English Reformation, which is still cherished by genuine Anglican Catholics, is unique in the history of the Western Church - for it preserved the Catholic constitution and essence of the ancient British Church while correcting the diminutions of popular protestantism on one hand and the accretions of Romanism on the other. The ultimate result of the English Reformation, a period of time stretching from 1534 to 1662, was the emergence of the Via Media, a tenacious adherence to historic mainstream Christianity, that is, ancient Christian orthodoxy, which by necessity (at least as the English and Eastern Churches view it) excludes both Rome and Geneva.

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