Anglicanism

The term Anglican (from the "Angles" or English) describes those people and churches following the religious traditions developed by the established Church of England. The Anglican Communion codifies the Anglican relationship to the Church of England as a theologically broad and often diverging community of churches, which holds the English church as its mother institution. Adherents of Anglicanism number in the tens of millions worldwide.

Related Topics:
Angles - Established - Church of England - Anglican Communion

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The issue of Catholic and Protestant affiliation is often confusing. Many churches of the Anglican Communion regard themselves as Protestant churches, while others, such as Anglo-Catholics, would deny being Protestant at all. The Church of England claims explicitly that the Church "upholds the catholic faith" (however, the Athanasian Creed states "And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance." The phrase "catholic church" by definition means the universal Christian Church). Ultimately, the Anglican Church is both Catholic (stressing its continuity with the ancient Church), and Reformed/Protestant (noting that the Church does not accept the universal infallible authority of the Pope). The conduct of eucharistically centred worship services is in keeping with the catholic liturgical tradition, and the Communion emphasises its status of full communion with the Old Catholic Church — a small community of churches which split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1870 over the doctrine of papal infallibility. On the other hand, the origins of Anglicanism are deeply connected with the Protestant Reformation.

Related Topics:
Catholic - Protestant - Anglo-Catholics - Full communion - Old Catholic Church - Roman Catholic Church - 1870 - Protestant Reformation

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As with the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches (but unlike other Protestant churches), Anglicans claim authority within the church through apostolic succession from the first followers of Jesus. Anglicans traditionally date their church back to its first archbishop Saint Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century and centuries earlier to the Roman occupation. Many other Anglicans however point out that Christian missionaries have existed in British lands since the 1st century, and consider Celtic Christianity a prefix of their faith, since many Celtic elements remained. They also point out that bishops from British lands participated in the early Ecumenical Councils.

Related Topics:
Orthodox - Roman Catholic - Apostolic succession - Jesus - Saint Augustine of Canterbury - Roman occupation - Celtic Christianity

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