Anglicans, do you see yourselves as more Protestant, or more Catholic?

[luckyfredsdad]

When we use such terms as Catholic or Protestant, we should really define them according to the subject we are discussing. In 1791, in a letter to the House of Lords, the Romanists described themselves as Dissenting Catholic Protestants. [Cal. S,P.{

Protestant in classic religious terms is Lutheran after the break with Rome. Today it has spread to all the evangelical denominations. Anglicans only used the word to emphasise their objections to political interference in British politice by the Bishop of Rome.

Catholics are those people who accept the Revelation of Christ once delivered to the Saints, recorded in scripture and interpreted , explained and completed by the Bishops in Council! Tis is, or was when I was taught the basis of the Church in England.

 

[luckyfredsdad]

We don't accept sola scriptura (

"Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law?"

This was a political ploy to maintain the Lutheran House of Guelph, against the Roman Catholic , House of Stuart, the descendants of the Royal Martyr, S. Charles. In short it imposed by the House of Commons.It is not a doctrinal statement.

 

[Sean611]

I would say catholic, since I believe in apostolic succession and its importance. However, I do reject the Roman Catholic "add-ons" (like purgatory) and the abuses.

 

[brownen]

Catholic but not Roman.

 

[luckyfredsdad]

We don't accept sola scriptura (the belief that Scripture alone is the only source of authority), which is kind of a cornerstone belief of Protestantism. We accept three sources of authority, which, strangely enough, are Scripture, Tradition, and Reason

However, when the British monarch is crowned, the Archbishop of Canterbury asks the monarch the following as part of the coronation oath:

"Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law?"

This is not, nor ever has been, as far as I can tell a doctrine or belief of any kind in the Anglican Church. It is a parliamentary statement in favour of the Lutheran Guelph family and against the Stuart , King James.
In about 1695, (?) William of Orange, at the head of a 10 000, strong army of occupation, asked the Convocation to use the term protestant more in their pronouncements so as to facilitate easier relations with the Dutch Calvinist Church, his own Church. Convocation refused pointing out that protestant was not a word used theologically in any official document of the Church in England. (Rough Trans.)

 

[Gloriana The Faerie Queen]

I see myself as more Anglican than either catholic or protestant.
I firmly believe in the via media established by Elizabeth I and I don't belive in crossing the boundaries into Anglo-Catholicism nor into the Evangelical Protestant side.

a good old fashioned, said or sung Eucharist, said or sung Evening prayer (evensong) is all one needs.
if someone want to be evangelical or anglo-catholic they can do it in the privacy of their own homes or in prayer groups with likeminded churchmen but publicly their should be no devotions nor theology taught that isn't consistent with the BCP or the approved prayer books of various national churches (i.e. I hate the use of the Anglican Missal)

 

[Ann_of_Love]

I view myself as Anglican, which is a Catholic church.

 

[luckyfredsdad]

I see myself as more Anglican than either catholic or protestant.

Interesting! However to be an Anglican, is to be a Catholic within the Body of Christ, which is the Catholic CHurch.
S

I firmly believe in the via media established by Elizabeth I and I don't belive in crossing the boundaries into Anglo-Catholicism nor into the Evangelical Protestant side.

Elizabeth didn't establish a via media, that's a myth, she preserved the Catholic Church in this country from slipping in to a Sect, as Rome turned herself in to, at or Via, Trent!


a good old fashioned, said or sung Eucharist, said or sung Evening prayer (evensong) is all one needs.
if someone want to be evangelical or anglo-catholic they can do it in the privacy of their own homes or in prayer groups with likeminded churchmen but publicly their should be no devotions nor theology taught that isn't consistent with the BCP or the approved prayer books of various national churches (i.e. I hate the use of the Anglican Missal.


The basis of the Anglican faith is apostolic order and faith.

Individualism was not a part of it. Anglicanism is the distillation of two thousand years practice and whatever one thinks, Anglicans look back to antiquity!

 

[Albion]

I see myself as more Anglican than either catholic or protestant.

Interesting! However to be an Anglican, is to be a Catholic within the Body of Christ, which is the Catholic CHurch.

In the sense that we affirm the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic church of course that's true.

Normally however, when someone says what Gloriana did, they mean that the comparison between us and the RCC--with all the doctrinal innovations and modifications it has made since antiquity--is not all that strong.

 

[luckyfredsdad]

Where we differ from the Romans is that the Anglican Church holds to the teaching of the First thousand years, the years before the break within the Church. Rome doesn't. The reason is that Rome has gone against the Pauline Injunctions that nothing could be added to the Revealed Faith. She has claimed that the Bishop of Rome is Infallible & has Universal jurisdiction! Further more a basic plank in the Roman arsenal is that she is the One,Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church , the Body of Christ. This is incorrect and strikes at the traditional teachings of the Church.It is a well known teaching from such early fathers as S.Cyprian, and others, that there is no salvation outside the Church!This also is Orthodox teaching, see Timothy Wares book. These are what separate us from our Roman Bretheren, all the rest is pants, as it were!

To my mind for anyone to use the terminology of ,"Catholic or Protestant, " as our friend has done is to seriously denigrate the Church in England and to severely mislead others within our Communion. Further, as an Anglican Priest, should I not politely point this out? Isn't that what this thread, or even this board is for? If Gloriana is offended in any way, I apologise, but never the less I feel it is a necessity to eradicate this misleading myth and this is my small contribution.

 

[Albion]

To my mind for anyone to use the terminology of ,"Catholic or Protestant, " as our friend has done is to seriously denigrate the Church in England and to severely mislead others within our Communion.

Naaa. Not only shouldn't we make a theological dissertation out of a simple and commonly-asked question but, in addition, those who have given their answers so far have done nothing more than answer the OP in the terms that it presented to us for consideration.

 

[luckyfredsdad]

If that is your opinion, so be it, it's a free Board and anyhow you are able to hold an opinion. Never-the-less, it is misleading to use the term in this way as well as totally innacurate.

 

[ebia]

Where we differ from the Romans is that the Anglican Church holds to the teaching of the First thousand years, the years before the break within the Church. Rome doesn't. The reason is that Rome has gone against the Pauline Injunctions that nothing could be added to the Revealed Faith. She has claimed that the Bishop of Rome is Infallible & has Universal jurisdiction! Further more a basic plank in the Roman arsenal is that she is the One,Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church , the Body of Christ. This is incorrect and strikes at the traditional teachings of the Church.It is a well known teaching from such early fathers as S.Cyprian, and others, that there is no salvation outside the Church!This also is Orthodox teaching, see Timothy Wares book. These are what separate us from our Roman Bretheren, all the rest is pants, as it were!

To my mind for anyone to use the terminology of ,"Catholic or Protestant, " as our friend has done is to seriously denigrate the Church in England and to severely mislead others within our Communion. Further, as an Anglican Priest, should I not politely point this out? Isn't that what this thread, or even this board is for? If Gloriana is offended in any way, I apologise, but never the less I feel it is a necessity to eradicate this misleading myth and this is my small contribution.

You can of course "point out" whatever it is you hold to. But this being STR you're guaranteed a range of disagreement with whatever it is.

 

[AndrewRD]

There are certainly elements of both, but I tend to think of it as more protestant--though not necessarily 'Protestant', with a large 'P'.

Granted, much of this probably has to do with my thinking being a lot more 'reformed' than many of my Anglican peers...

 

[Albion]

If that is your opinion, so be it, it's a free Board and anyhow you are able to hold an opinion. Never-the-less, it is misleading to use the term in this way as well as totally innacurate.

If that's your opinion, it's now on record.

 

[Albion]

You can of course "point out" whatever it is you hold to. But this being STR you're guaranteed a range of disagreement with whatever it is.

So succinct; so true.

 

[luckyfredsdad]

EBIA. FEB.2010.

On the whole, though, were not a church that draws the line in the sand about that sort of issue.

LUCKYFREDSDAD!
Without wishing to be rude or insensitive you are wrong! Anglicanism is simply catholicism with an English face, it is the distillation of catholicism deriving from two thousand years of belief in the Revelation of Christ ,Scripture and the Seven Ecumenical Councils. These latter, as I have been taught are a means of communication and input by the Holy Ghost within the structure of the Body of Christ here on earth.

If your Church doesn't believe in these things, then no matter what is on the Church Notice Board or whatever, it does not fill the criteria demanded by the Anglican Church for membership. It doesn't hold to the faith once revealed by Christ to the Saints, taught by Him to the apostles and passed on to the Ancient Catholic Fathers! In my opinion you are in an Anglican Sect!

To you and your fellows!

Luckyfredsdad. Clerk in Holy Orders.

 

[elahmine]

Catholic infused with some protestant ideas

 

[Albion]

Catholic infused with some Protestant ideas

Seems like a reasonable way of putting it. The effort, after all, was to retain the historic church while cleaning out certain abuses and innovations that had been added to the faith over the years--which is also the concern that launched the Reformation on the continent.

 

[elahmine]

Seems like a reasonable way of putting it. The effort, after all, was to retain the historic church while cleaning out certain abuses and innovations that had been added to the faith over the years--which is also the concern that launched the Reformation on the continent.

exactly! So we are still Catholic, but we contain some of the much necessary reforms that the reformation brought about without losing the historic church in the mix. No need to through the baby out with the bathwater.