Anglicanism
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the largest branches of Christianity, with around 110 million adherents within the Anglican Communion, and more than 400,000 outside of the Anglican Communion, worldwide as of 2025.
Adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans; they are also called Episcopalians in some countries. Most are members of national or regional ecclesiastical provinces of the international Anglican Communion, one of the largest Christian bodies in the world, and the world's third-largest Christian communion. The provinces within the Anglican Communion have historically been in full communion with the See of Canterbury and thus with the archbishop of Canterbury, whom the communion refers to as its Primus inter pares#Anglican Communion. The archbishop calls the decennial Lambeth Conference, chairs the meeting of primates, and is the president of the Anglican Consultative Council. Some churches that are not part of the Anglican Communion or recognised by it also call themselves Anglican, including those that are within the Continuing Anglican movement and Anglican realignment.
Anglicans base their Christian faith on the Bible, traditions of the apostolic church, apostolic succession, and the writings of the Church Fathers, as well as historically, the Thirty-nine Articles and The Books of Homilies.
Anglicanism forms a branch of Western Christianity, having declared its independence from the Holy See through the Act of Supremacy in 1534, a separation later consolidated by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. Many of the Anglican formularies of the mid-16th century correspond closely to those of historical Protestantism. In the first half of the 17th century, the Church of England and the associated Church of Ireland were presented by some Anglican [|divines] as comprising a distinct Christian tradition, with theologies, structures, and forms of worship representing a different kind of middle way, or via media, originally between Lutheranism and Calvinism, and later between Protestantism and Catholicism – a perspective that came to be highly influential in later theories of Anglican identity and expressed in the description of Anglicanism as "catholic and reformed". The degree of distinction between Protestant and Catholic tendencies within Anglicanism is routinely a matter of debate both within specific Anglican churches and the Anglican Communion. The Book of Common Prayer is unique to Anglicanism, the collection of services in one prayer book used for centuries. The book is acknowledged as a principal tie that binds the Anglican Communion as a liturgical tradition.
After the American Revolution, Anglican congregations in the United States and British North America were each reconstituted into autonomous churches with their own bishops and self-governing structures; these were known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States and the Church of England in the Dominion of Canada. Through the expansion of the British Empire and the activity of Christian missions, this model was adopted as the model for many newly formed churches, especially in Africa, Australasia, and the Asia-Pacific. In the late-19th century, the term Anglicanism was coined to describe the common religious tradition of these churches and also that of the Scottish Episcopal Church, which, though originating earlier within the Church of Scotland, had come to be recognised as sharing this common identity. By the 21st century, the global centre of Anglicanism had shifted to the Global South, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, with 63,556,000 in Africa, 24,400,000 in Europe, 4,565,000 in Oceania, 2,689,000 in Northern America, 1,230,000 in Asia, and 959,000 in Latin America in 2020.
Terminology
The word Anglican originates in Anglicana ecclesia libera sit, a phrase from Magna Carta dated 15 June 1215, meaning 'the English Church shall be free'. Adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans. As an adjective, Anglican is used to describe the people, institutions, churches, liturgical traditions, and theological concepts developed by the Church of England.As a noun, an Anglican is a church member in the Anglican Communion. The word is also used by followers of separated groups that have left the communion or have been founded separately from it. The word originally referred only to the teachings and rites of Christians throughout the world in communion with the see of Canterbury but has come to sometimes be extended to any church following those traditions or rites rather than actual membership in the Anglican Communion.
Although the term Anglican is found referring to the Church of England as far back as the 16th century, its use did not become general until the latter half of the 19th century. In British parliamentary legislation referring to the English Established Church, there is no need for a description; it is simply the Church of England, though the word Protestant is used in many legal acts specifying the succession to the Crown and qualifications for office. When the Union with Ireland Act created the United Church of England and Ireland, it is specified that it shall be one "Protestant Episcopal Church", thereby distinguishing its form of church government from the Presbyterian polity that prevails in the Church of Scotland.
The word Episcopal is preferred in the title of the Episcopal Church and the Scottish Episcopal Church, though the full name of the former is The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Elsewhere, however, the term Anglican Church came to be preferred as it distinguished these churches from others that maintain an episcopal polity.
Definition
In its structures, theology, and forms of worship, Anglicanism emerged as a distinct Christian tradition representing a middle ground between Lutheran and Reformed varieties of Protestantism; after the Oxford Movement, Anglicanism has often been characterized as representing a via media between Protestantism as a whole, and Catholicism.The faith of Anglicans is founded in the Scriptures and the Gospels, the traditions of the Apostolic Church, the historical episcopate, the first four ecumenical councils, and the early Church Fathers, especially those active during the five initial centuries of Christianity, according to the quinquasaecularist principle proposed by the English bishop Lancelot Andrewes and the Lutheran dissident Georg Calixtus.
Anglicans understand the Old and New Testaments as "containing all things necessary for salvation" and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith. Reason and tradition are seen as valuable means to interpret scripture, but there is no full mutual agreement among Anglicans about exactly how scripture, reason, and tradition interact with each other. Anglicans understand the Apostles' Creed as the baptismal symbol and the Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.
Anglicans believe the catholic and apostolic faith is revealed in Holy Scripture and the ecumenical creeds and interpret these in light of the Christian tradition of the historic church, scholarship, reason, and experience. Anglicans celebrate the traditional sacraments, with special emphasis being given to the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper, or the Mass. The Eucharist is central to worship for most Anglicans as a communal offering of prayer and praise in which the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are proclaimed through prayer, reading of the Bible, singing, giving God thanks over the bread and wine for the innumerable benefits obtained through the passion of Christ; the breaking of the bread, the blessing of the cup, and the partaking of the body and blood of Christ as instituted at the Last Supper. The consecrated bread and wine, which are considered by Anglican formularies to be the true body and blood of Christ in a spiritual manner and as outward symbols of an inner grace given by Christ which to the repentant convey forgiveness and cleansing from sin. While many Anglicans celebrate the Eucharist in similar ways to the predominant Latin Catholic tradition, a considerable degree of liturgical freedom is permitted, and worship styles range from simple to elaborate.
Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of services which worshippers in most Anglican churches have used for centuries. It was called common prayer originally because it was intended for use in all Church of England churches, which had previously followed differing local liturgies. The term was kept when the church became international because all Anglicans used to share in its use around the world. In 1549, the first Book of Common Prayer was compiled by Thomas Cranmer, the then archbishop of Canterbury. While it has since undergone many revisions and Anglican churches in different countries have developed other service books, the BCP is still acknowledged as one of the ties that bind Anglicans together.
Identity
Early history
According to legend, the founding of Christianity in Britain is commonly attributed to Joseph of Arimathea and is commemorated at Glastonbury Abbey. Many of the early Church Fathers wrote of the presence of Christianity in Roman Britain, with Tertullian stating "those parts of Britain into which the Roman arms had never penetrated were become subject to Christ". Saint Alban, who was executed in AD 209, is the first Christian martyr in the British Isles. For this reason he is venerated as the British protomartyr. The historian Heinrich Zimmer writes that "Just as Britain was a part of the Roman Empire, so the British Church formed a branch of the Catholic Church of the West; and during the whole of that century, from the Council of Arles onward, took part in all proceedings concerning the Church."After Roman troops withdrew from Britain, the "absence of Roman military and governmental influence and overall decline of Roman imperial political power enabled Britain and the surrounding isles to develop distinctively from the rest of the West. A new culture emerged around the Irish Sea among the Celtic peoples with Celtic Christianity at its core. What resulted was a form of Christianity distinct from Rome in many traditions and practices."
The historian Charles Thomas, in addition to the Celticist Heinrich Zimmer, writes that the distinction between sub-Roman and post-Roman Insular Christianity, also known as Celtic Christianity, began to become apparent around AD 475, with the Celtic churches allowing married clergy, observing Lent and Easter according to their own calendar, and having a different tonsure; moreover, like the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox churches, the Celtic churches operated independently of the Pope's authority, as a result of their isolated development in the British Isles.
In what is known as the Gregorian mission, Pope Gregory I sent Augustine of Canterbury to the British Isles in AD 596, with the purpose of evangelising the pagans there, as well as to reconcile the Celtic churches in the British Isles to the See of Rome. In Kent, Augustine persuaded the Anglo-Saxon king "Æthelberht and his people to accept Christianity". Augustine, on two occasions, "met in conference with members of the Celtic episcopacy, but no understanding was reached between them".
Eventually, the "Christian Church of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria convened the Synod of Whitby in 663/664 to decide whether to follow Celtic or Roman usages". This meeting, with King Oswiu as the final decision maker, "led to the acceptance of Roman usage elsewhere in England and brought the English Church into close contact with the Continent". As a result of assuming Roman usages, the Celtic Church surrendered its independence, and, from this point on, the Church in England "was no longer purely Celtic, but became Anglo-Roman-Celtic". The theologian Christopher L. Webber writes that "Although "the Roman form of Christianity became the dominant influence in Britain as in all of western Europe, Anglican Christianity has continued to have a distinctive quality because of its Celtic heritage."
Following the Synod of Whitby, tensions between Rome and the English king would gradually escalate, due in part to royal assertions that it was the custom of England for the king to exercise authority over the Church. In the late 1000s, William the Conqueror refused to swear fealty to the Pope citing English tradition, controlled appointments to ecclesiastical offices and forbade papal legates to enter England without royal permission. In 1164, under Henry II, the Constitutions of Clarendon, citing English custom, required royal assent for excommunications and mandated that ecclesiastical court appeals terminate with the king rather than the Pope. The Magna Carta in 1215, asserting that "the English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired" would be annulled by Pope Innocent III, but reissued in both 1216 and 1225. Under Edward I, in 1279, the Statute of Mortmain required royal approval to grant or transfer land to the Church. Additionally, Edward I would reject Pope Boniface VIII's bull Clericis Laicos which forbade secular taxation of clergy. Per the king's orders, non-compliant clergy were punished by law and church property was seized. The 1351 Statute of Provisors, under Edward III, prohibited papal appointments to English benefices, reserving the power for the king. The 1353 Statute of Praemunire prohibited appeals to papal courts for either ecclesiastical or temporal matters. To date, neither the Statute of Provisors nor the Statute of Praemunire has been repealed. In 1401, Henry IV's statute De Heretico Comburendo would transfer heresy trials from ecclesiastical to secular courts, further cementing the tradition of English kings claiming authority over English ecclesiastical matters. English delegates to the Councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basel would voice support for conciliarism in an attempt to limit the powers of the Pope over-against the bishops of the Church.
The Church in England remained united with Rome until the English Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534, declaring King Henry VIII the "Supreme Head" of the Church of England. This act culminated centuries of English monarchs asserting authority over ecclesiastical matters, from William I's refusal of papal fealty to the Statutes of Provisors and Praemunire. Henry and his theologians, including Thomas Cranmer, cited these historical customs to justify royal supremacy, arguing that the crown traditionally governed the Church. The immediate catalyst was Henry's need to annul his 24-year marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which he believed was invalid based on biblical prohibitions and the lack of a male heir, seen as divine judgment. When Pope Clement VII, under pressure from Emperor Charles V, refused the annulment, Henry acted to resolve the issue domestically, supported by legislative steps like the Submission of the Clergy and Act in Restraint of Appeals. The break with Rome reflected a mix of theological conviction, historical precedent, and political necessity, fulfilling a longstanding English desire for ecclesiastical autonomy while addressing immediate dynastic concerns. This laid the foundation for the development of Anglicanism as a distinct national church.
The English Church under Henry VIII continued to maintain Catholic doctrines and liturgical celebrations of the sacraments despite its separation from Rome. With little exception, Henry VIII allowed no changes during his lifetime. Under King Edward VI, however, the church in England first began to undergo what is known as the English Reformation, in the course of which it acquired a number of characteristics that would subsequently become recognised as constituting its distinctive "Anglican" identity.