Anglicanism

Anglicanism takes it's name from the latin ecclesia anglicana meaning the English Church dating back to at least the eleventh century. It is now recognised as a Christian denomination that has historically taken a via media (middle way) between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. However, the Anglican Church is now very broad, and includes members, ordained and lay, who are both Anglo-Catholic, Evangelical, Charismatic and all the shades betwixt and between.

All Anglicans celebrate the Dominical Sacraments (Baptism and the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion and The Lord's Supper or Mass). Dominical means that they are recorded as commands from Jesus Christ in the gospels for His disciples to keep. Confirmation, Ordination, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick and Reconciliation (Confession) are also considered to be sacraments. The Anglican Book of Common Prayer (BCP) describes sacraments as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace".

The majority of Sunday morning services are focal points for the celebration of the Eucharist. The service celebrates the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ through a communal sacrifice of prayer and praise culminating in each member of the Church receiving the consecrated bread and wine as instituted by Christ Himself at the Last Supper. The service can be uniform week by week, parish by parish and country by country when using the Book of Common Prayer. This was written by Cranmer (1548-49) to enable every person to be able to understand and follow the services in their own everyday language. Common Worship has continued that tradition through revising the liturgy in today's language, as well as enabling a degree of flexibility and creativity to inhabit the set liturgies. Consequently, some Eucharistic services can be predominantly catholic in tradition, whereas others range from simple to contemporary protestant in style. This liturgical freedom is greatly valued by Anglicans throughout the world as it enables different ethnic and social cultures to be incorporated into the Anglican Communion within a recognisable pattern of worship.

Although identified as the Church of England, the Anglican Communion incorporates churches throughout the world as the spreading Empire and missionary work of the C17-C19 centuries enabled Anglicanism to be adopted in many countries as their tradition of Christian worship. The Anglican Communion is the third largest Church in the world behind the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches with a membership of approximately seventy-seven million people.

What Anglicans Believe

Anglicans believe that the one holy catholic (meaning universally inclusive) and apostolic faith is revealed in the scriptures which are interpreted in the light of Church tradition, reason and academic study of the texts themselves (hermeneutic and exegetical criticism). Anglicans believe that the faith is summed up in the words of the Nicene Creed and this is affirmed by the entire congregation during regular patterns of worship by declaring it together as one. The Apostles Creed
is a Baptismal statement of faith.

Scripture

The Anglican Church believes that the Holy Bible 'contain[s] all things necessary for salvation' and that the scriptures are a benchmark against which all of life should be weighed, morally and spiritually. However, in keeping with the various traditions listed above there are different emphases on scriptural interpretation and application. Some prioritize a literal interpretation of the texts (fundamentalism), some view the scriptures in in conjunction with scientific, historical and cultural understanding and development (liberalism), some focus on revelation and interpretation of the scriptures through the charisma, aiming at an understanding of the universal truth to be unearthed from it's culturally bound narrative in order to be applied to today's world.  In true Anglican tradition, many will find their own via media on the spectrum of interpretative traditions.

Tradition

The Anglican Church is also founded on the traditions of the apostolic Church, primarily through the apostolic succession (historic episcopate i.e. the laying on of hands from the Apostles having passed through the generations to the laying on of hands of today's Bishops when ordaining candidates to the office of deacon, priest or bishop), the first four Ecumenical Council and the early Church Fathers.

Reason

Anglicanism is a scholarly tradition that encourages its priests to a life-long devotion to the prayerful study of scripture. Anglicans believe that the gift of reason (intellect and creativity) is a gift from God that we should use and apply to our understanding of scripture, doctrine and the way we negotiate the world and the challenges of life. Anglicanism is often seen as a Church with inner tensions, but these tensions are life-giving debates that invigorate the Church causing its' members to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in all wisdom and understanding on a wide range of issues. This prevents the Church from becoming homogenous (without differences) and stagnating, instead allowing divergent opinions to inform and influence debates about tradition and lifestyle in particular.

Experience