Tuesday
Aug042015
On the Catholicity of Anglicanism
Embryo Parson Posted on Tuesday, August 4, 2015 at 04:10PM Series of articles on Anglican catholicity by Fr. Matthew Kirby at the Continuum blog. Fr. Kirby calls this a series of essays "on the Catholicity of Anglican Catholicism", but as you will see he is dealing with the Church of England (and its progeny) in its "classical" manifestation, not its Anglo-Catholic one. He believes full catholicity is right there in the Elizabethan Settlement, which of course was the matrix of later Caroline divinity, on which the Oxford Movement relied for much of its rationale. Not to be missed. Adding this one to the sidebar.
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Reader Comments (3)
As I understand the issue, it was only groups like the Anabaptists and their ilk that believed that they were making a brand new start. The Reformers believed themselves to be clearing out the Medieval muck introduced by the Papacy since the Millennium, and restoring a purer church, not a new church.
I am not at all convinced that Episcopacy is commanded or decreed for the church. The scriptures do not command it, and the BCP 1662 describes it as "allowed". That little word "allowed" does not strike one as describing a divine law. The rationale is that it is an ancient and good practice of the church, and desirable.
In his book From Apostles to Bishops: The Development of the Episcopacy in the Early Church, Jesuit theologian Francis J. Sullivan acknowledges that the original succession was presbyteral and only later episcopal. If he's right, that would seem to justify the historic Anglican view. On the other hand, he makes a case that even if monarchical episcopacy arose later, it could still be a development jure divino. I don't think we can dismiss that argument out of hand.