Anglican Religious Identity and History – Part I In an earlier blog, I offered the following one-sentence definition of Anglicanism: “Anglicanism is the life of the Catholic Church that was planted in England in the first few centuries after Christ; reshaped decisively by the English Reformation that reformed the received catholic traditions and also by [...]
Historical Definitions of Anglicanism So far, I’ve looked at a variety of definitions of Anglicanism: a 2-word definition, a one-sentence definition, normative, structural, and stylistic definitions of Anglicanism. A final kind of definition of Anglicanism commonly offered is a historical one, based on the development of the Anglican tradition over time. Historically defined, Anglicanism has [...]
The Charismatic Spirituality So far, in trying to understand aspects of orthodox Anglicanism, I’ve looked at Anglo-Catholicism and Evangelicalism. Now it’s time to look at the Charismatic spirituality. The modern Pentecostal movement, which is the precursor to the Charismatic spirituality, is often dated from the Azusa Street Revival of 1906, although others acknowledge antecedents in [...]
The Evangelical Spirituality In my last blog I looked at the Anglo-Catholic spirituality and some of the ways in which it threatens a clear and coherent Anglican identity. This time, I’ll examine the Evangelical spirituality. Historically (until recent decades), Evangelical Anglicans have also been Prayer Book Anglicans. While some have been more “Low Church” than [...]
The Anglo-Catholic Spirituality In my last blog I presented the idea that among orthodox Anglicans there are now 4 spiritualities that are presenting problems of diversity for a coherent orthodox Anglican identity: Anglo-Catholic, Evangelical, Charismatic, and Global. There are 2 other, older spiritualities I should mention before I discuss the Anglo-Catholic spirituality. The first is [...]
4 Orthodox Anglican Spiritualities In my last blog I introduced stylistic definitions of Anglicanism and promised to look at what I consider to be 4 orthodox spiritualities. What these 4 orthodox spiritualities are and how they interact will be an important part of the future for Anglicanism in the 21st century. Can a renewed orthodox [...]
Stylistic Definitions of Anglicanism In my previous two blogs I dealt with the normative and structural definitions of Anglicanism: today I’ll discuss what I call “stylistic” definitions of Anglicanism. Stylistic definitions of Anglicanism center not on structures or norms but on certain characteristics of Anglicanism that might be categorized as “stylistic,” or matters of a [...]
The Structural Definition of Anglicanism I began my last blog with the idea that in order to define adequately religious identities, it’s best to use complex and even multiple definitions. Last time I offered a normative definition of Anglicanism, a kind of definition which is especially helpful in defining religious identities more specifically. However, normative [...]
The Normative Definition of Anglicanism One of the things I discovered in spending several years trying to define Anglicanism for my Ph.D. was that most definitions of Anglicanism, and for any religious identity, are far too simplistic. In reality, religious identities are often bewilderingly complex. While many Anglicans have some sense of what they mean [...]
A One Sentence Definition of Anglicanism So far in my blogs on Anglicanism, I’ve offered a 2 word definition of Anglicanism (“Reformed Catholicism”) and explained both of these words. Over the course of the next several blogs I want to develop a more sophisticated and extended definition of Anglicanism, based on my Ph.D. thesis. Definitions [...]
Enter your name and email address below to begin receiving your Free copy of my daily devotional Give Us This Day. As a bonus, all new subscribers also receive a Free copy of my ebook Give Us This Day Vol. 1 Matthew.
Recent Comments