6. Anglicanism from 1662

In 1662 Cranmer’s Prayer Book and the old Church of England episcopal system was restored. The 1662 Book of Common Prayer was a revised version of the 1552 and 1559 Prayer Books. The Act of Uniformity of 1662 required that only the ceromonies of the Book of Common Prayer be used and only clergy ordained by a bishop could minister in the church.  The result was that more than 3000 clergy and laity left the Church of England. These “Dissenters” wanted a more reformed Church. The Church of England had moved further into the middle between the Reformed churches and the Roman Catholic Church.

6.1 James II and William III

James II, the brother of Charles II, became King in 1685. He was strongly Roman Catholic and neither Anglicans nor Dissenters supported him when, in 1688, William III (William of Orange) and Queen Mary replaced him.

William was a strong Protestant. In 1689 the Toleration Act was passed which allowed dissenters to worship independently from the Church of England. This was a most significant development. From then on different kinds of Christian churches could develop side by side in England.

6.2  The Eighteenth Century

In the 18th century the moral and spiritual life of England declined. New religious societies were started to help improve the life of the church and the nation.  Pietism, a movement from Europe, introduced an emphasis on emotions and personal experience.

New intellectual movements rose from the work of philosophers such as Newton, Locke, Pascal and Descartes. They questioned accepted beliefs and put forward a new method of establishing truth. This new method was based on reason and questioning. This period of intellectual change is known as the Enlightenment.

The Industrial Revolution changed the nature of society as factories were built and people moved to the cities looking for work.

6.3 The Evangelical Revival

An evangelical revival led by John and Charles Wesley and George Whitfield also changed England.  This revival led to the beginnings of the Methodist church. It also encouraged many powerful evangelical leaders to act against the slave trade and to start schools. Missionary Societies were formed including the Church Missionary Society in 1799 and the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804.

The Church of England also joined in the missionary movement of the 19th century. Missionaries were sent to all parts of the world - wherever European colonial expansion allowed them.  Many new national churches have resulted from this missionary movement.

A fuller article on the 18th Century Evangelical Revival is here.

6.4.The Oxford Movement

In the 19th century some in the Church of England tried to improve the national life by bringing the church back to her ancient roots.  A group of clergy began writing tracts to challenge the nation.  This group became known as Tractarians. They also wanted to bring back some of the liturgical practices that had been changed at the Reformation. This has become known as the Oxford Movement.  Many of the modern practices of Anglicanism that have restored old Roman Catholic rituals and beliefs have resulted from this movement.

7. The Modern Anglican Communion

The Anglican Communion now stretches around the world.

Many currents have influenced the modern church, but four of these are important at the present time.

7.1 Anglo-Catholicism.

The Oxford Movement resulted in new developments in liturgy and theology. Many Anglican churches began to use rituals which had been abandoned at the Reformation, and some clergy began to teach doctrines that moved in the direction of Roman Catholic doctrines, especially concerning the Holy Communion service. Some said that Christ was at least spiritually present in the Communion service, and that it was an offering again as a memorial of his sacrifice. Some of the ideas that have influenced the Anglo-Catholic movement also came from the time of Hooker and Andrewes at the end of the 16th century.

7.2 Post– Enlightenment Liberalism

A significant current in theology developed from the Enlightenment. During the 19th century scholars began to question many assumptions about the Bible, especially whether miracles really happened. Some also questioned whether the gospel writers had written down what Jesus actually said and did or whether they had written down what the church of a later  time thought was important.  In more recent years, this scepticism has been applied to many other aspects of the Bible’s teaching.  One of the aims of many theologians now is to make the Christian faith acceptable and understandable to modern people.  Christian teaching is therefore adapted to the world view and culture of the modern world.

In the Anglican Church this approach has become dominant in many parts of the church that previously were Anglo-Catholic, as well as parts that favoured ritual and were the heirs of Hooker and Andrewes, but did not follow all of the teachings of the Oxford movement (sometimes called High or Broad church).

7.3 Evangelicalism

The Reformers referred to themselves as evangelicals, and the evangelical current in the Anglican church has roots that go back to at least John Wyclif. Evangelicals generally hold to the doctrines of the Reformation, especially those connected with salvation, Holy Communion and the authority of the Bible, but they have also been influenced by the Evangelical Revival in the 18th century.  They put a strong emphasis on the gospel and personal faith in Christ. Evangelicals have also had a focus on applying the gospel to the life of society. Nowadays there are different views among evangelicals about the ordination of women and the charismatic movement.

7.4 The Charismatic Movement.

Since the 1950’s the charismatic movement (an adaptation of Pentecostalism) has had a big impact on the Anglican Church, especially the Anglo-Catholic and evangelical parts. At first, Charismatic Anglican churches were able to be distinguished from other kinds of Anglican churches. But now charismatic theology and practice has been adapted and integrated in different ways by different parts of the church. The result is that churches influenced by the charismatic movement still retain their original evangelical or Anglo-Catholic foundations.

7.5 Recent Trends

With the growth of the church in Africa and the global South, a rift has developed between churches which hold to a traditional theology and those, especially in the western world, that have tried to adapt Christian teaching to their culture in a way which appears to weaken the authority of the Bible. Tensions were apparent when women were first ordained as priests, and more recently major tensions have emerged about the authority and application of the Bible to same sex relationships.

At the same time there has been an attempt to focus more authority and responsibility on what are called the Instruments of Unity of the Anglican Communion, especially the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates. The Windsor Report proposed a Covenant which would be a way of clarifying the responsibilities of churches in the Anglican Communion. It is too early to know whether this will be useful. At present the world wide Anglican Church is a communion or fellowship of autonomous churches which have a common tradition and history.

The Chalcedon Definition

We, then, following the holy Fathers, and all in agreement, teach everyone to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [of the same essence or being] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial [of the same nature or substance] with us according to the Manhood; in all things like us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Bearer of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, that are not confused, that are not changed,  that are not divided, that are not separated; the distinction of natures is not taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature is preserved, and occurs together in one Person and one Being, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.  Return to Article

Copyright Dale Appleby 2009