- Jun 26, 2004
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As a Book of Common Prayer fan I never understood how the idea of 'via media' was accepted by Anglicans. Seems I'm not the only one.
"Clearly, the conception of the Church of England as a half-way point between Rome and John Calvin’s Geneva (or Martin Luther’s Wittenberg) would have been incomprehensible to the English Reformers of the sixteenth century. Historians readily concede that the English Reformation was a conservative affair in some respects, including in its retention of an episcopal polity and its preservation of many liturgical forms. The Elizabethan religious settlement did seek to construct an inclusive national church. Nevertheless, it also established a church whose doctrinal identity was unambiguously Protestant. The chief architect of the English Reformation—Archbishop Thomas Cranmer—was, after all, martyred for explicitly rejecting Roman Catholic eucharistic theology (as were his colleagues Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer)."
Via Media: Factual or Fanciful?
"Clearly, the conception of the Church of England as a half-way point between Rome and John Calvin’s Geneva (or Martin Luther’s Wittenberg) would have been incomprehensible to the English Reformers of the sixteenth century. Historians readily concede that the English Reformation was a conservative affair in some respects, including in its retention of an episcopal polity and its preservation of many liturgical forms. The Elizabethan religious settlement did seek to construct an inclusive national church. Nevertheless, it also established a church whose doctrinal identity was unambiguously Protestant. The chief architect of the English Reformation—Archbishop Thomas Cranmer—was, after all, martyred for explicitly rejecting Roman Catholic eucharistic theology (as were his colleagues Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer)."
Via Media: Factual or Fanciful?
