Before you learn about the ideas of Anglicanism and the history of this religious movement, you need to understand the conditions under which it was formed and with which other Christian movements it competed.
Protestantism
The Reformation of the 16th-17th centuries contributed to the emergence of Protestantism. This spiritual and political ideology was one of the defining ones both in the life of European states and in the life of countries on other continents. For centuries, various Protestant movements have offered their views on resolving religious issues and providing for the spiritual needs of Christians.
The emergence of new branches of Protestantism continues to this day. The most popular Protestant movements are Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anglicanism. Zwinglism also played a significant role in the development of Protestantism, but you will learn more about it below.
Short description
Initially, the concept of "Lutheranism" was synonymous with Protestantism (on the territory of the countries of the former Russian Empire, this wording was relevant almost before the start of the revolution). The Lutherans themselves called themselves "EvangelicalChristians".
The ideas of Calvinism were widespread throughout the world and influenced the history of all mankind. The Calvinists made a great contribution to the formation of the United States of America, and also became one of the ideologists of the tendency to fight against tyranny in the 17th-19th centuries.
Unlike Calvinism and Lutheranism, Anglicanism appeared at the behest of the ruling elite in England. It is King Henry VIII who can be called the founding father of this movement. After its creation, the ecclesiastical institution became the national stronghold of the royal monarchy, in which the supremacy of Anglicanism began to belong to the king, and the clergy were subordinate to him as an important component of the apparatus of monarchical absolutism.
Zwinglianism is a bit different from other Protestant movements. If Calvinism and Anglicanism were at least indirectly connected with Lutheranism, then Zwinglianism was formed separately from this movement. It was widespread in southern Germany and Switzerland in the 16th century. By the early 17th century, it had merged with Calvinism.
Protestantism today
At the moment, Protestant movements are widespread in the United States of America, Scandinavian countries, England, Canada, Germany, Holland and Switzerland. North America can rightfully be called the main center of Protestantism, since there is the largest number of headquarters of various Protestant movements. Protestantism of today's type is characterized by a desire for universal unification, manifested in the creationWorld Council of Churches 1948.
Lutheranism
This movement originated in Germany, forming the basic foundations of Protestantism as such. At its origins were Philip Melanchthon, Martin Luther, as well as their like-minded people who shared the ideas of the Reformation. Over time, Lutheranism began to spread in France, Hungary, Austria, Scandinavian countries and North America. At the moment, there are approximately 75,000,000 Lutherans on our planet, 50,000,000 of which are members of the Lutheran World Union, formed in 1947.
Lutherans have several spiritual books, but the essence of their doctrine is most detailed in the "Book of Concord". Adherents of this movement consider themselves to be theists who support the idea of a triune God and confess the God-human essence of Jesus Christ. Of particular importance in their worldview is the concept of Adam's sin, which can only be overcome through God's grace. For Lutherans, the most reliable criterion for the correctness of faith is Holy Scripture. They also enjoy special authority with other sacred sources that fully and completely correspond to the Bible and not vice versa (the Holy Tradition of the Fathers can be cited as an example). The judgments of churchmen, which are directly related to the origins of confession, are also subject to critical evaluation. These include the work of Martin Luther himself, to whom the members of this movement treat with respect, but without fanaticism.
Lutherans recognize only two types of sacraments: baptism and communion. Through baptism manaccepts Christ. Through the sacrament, his faith is strengthened. Against the background of other confessions, Lutheranism is distinguished by the fact that not only holders of the holy dignity, but also ordinary Christians can take communion with a chalice. According to Lutherans, a priest is exactly the same person who is no different from ordinary lay people and is simply a more experienced member of a religious community.
Calvinism
From the holy Protestant trinity "Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism" the second movement played an important role in the reform processes. Originating in Germany, the flames of the Reformation soon engulfed Switzerland, giving the world a new Protestant movement called Calvinism. It arose almost at the same time as Lutheranism, but developed largely without the influence of the latter. Due to the large number of differences between these two Reformation branches, in 1859 they were officially separated, securing the independent existence of Protestant movements.
Calvinism differed from Lutheranism in more radical ideas. If Lutherans demand to remove from the church what does not correspond to biblical teaching, then Calvinists want to get rid of what is not required in this very teaching. The basic foundations of this trend were outlined in the works of Genet Calvin, the main of which is the work "Instruction in the Christian Faith".
The most important doctrines of Calvinism that distinguish it from other Christian movements:
- Recognition of the sanctity of only biblical texts.
- The ban on monasticism. According to the adherents of Calvinism, the main goal of a man and a woman is to create a strong family.
- The absence of church rites, the denial that a person can be saved only through the clergy.
- Affirmation of the doctrine of predestination, the essence of which is that the predestination of human and planetary life occurs according to the will of God.
According to the Calvinist teaching, only faith in Christ is necessary for eternal life and works of faith are not needed for this. Good works of faith are only necessary to show the sincerity of one's faith.
Zwinglianism
When it comes to Christian movements, many people think of Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism and Anglicanism, but at the same time they forget about another fairly important trend called Zwinglianism. The founding father of this branch of Protestantism was Ulrich Zwingli. Despite its almost complete independence from the ideas of Martin Luther, Zwinglianism is in many respects similar to Lutheranism. Both Zwingli and Luther were adherents of the idea of determinism.
If we talk about checking church rules for their truth, then Zwingli considered correct only that which is directly confirmed by the Bible. All elements that distract a person from deepening into himself and evoke vivid emotions in him had to be completely removed from the church. Zwingli advocated the termination of church sacraments, and in the churches of his like-minded people, fine arts, music and the Catholic Mass were canceled, which was replaced by sermons dedicated to the HolyScripture. The buildings of the former monasteries became hospitals and educational institutions, and monastic things were donated to charity and for education. In the late 16th and early 17th century, Zwinglianism became part of Calvinism.
Anglicanism - what is it?
You already know what Protestantism is and what its main directions are. Now we can go directly to the topic of the article, and more specifically to the features of Anglicanism and the history of this movement. Below you can find all the detailed information.
Origination
As mentioned earlier, Anglicanism is a Protestant movement, which is a purely English heritage. In Britain, the founder of the Reformation was King Henry VIII Tudor. The history of Anglicanism is very different from that of other Protestant movements. If Luther, Calvin and Zwingli wanted to radically change the Catholic church system, which at that time was in a state of crisis, then Henry went for it because of more personal motives. The English king wanted Pope Clement VII to divorce him from his wife Catherine of Aragon, but he did not want to do this at all, because he was afraid of anger from the German emperor Charles V. In order to achieve the desired goal, Henry VIII issued an order on the independence of the church institution in 1533 England from the papal protectorate, and already in 1534 he became the sole head of the newly minted church. After some time, the king issued the basic postulates of Anglicanism, the content of which in many respects resembled the Catholic ones, but withadmixture of ideas of Protestantism.
Church Reform
Despite the fact that Anglicanism was the idea of Henry VIII, it was his successor Edward VI who took up the real church reforms. When he first came to power, Anglican dogmas were described in 42 articles, bearing the characteristic features of both Catholicism and Protestantism. During the reign of Elizabeth, some of the rules of the English religion were revised, and as a result, only 39 articles remained, which are still in force today. The new faith outlined in these articles is a mixture of Catholicism, Calvinism and Lutheranism.
Features of the Anglican doctrine
Now let's look at the main dogmas and rules of the Anglican Church, drawn from one or another Christian movement.
From Lutheranism, Anglicanism took the following:
- Accepting the Bible as the main and only true source of faith.
- Approval of only two essential sacraments: baptism and communion.
- Cancellation of the veneration of saints, worship of icons and relics, as well as the doctrine of purgatory.
From Calvinism:
- The idea of predestination.
- The idea of reaching the Kingdom of Heaven through faith in Christ without doing charitable deeds.
From the Catholics, the Anglicans retained the classical church hierarchy, but it was not the Pope at the head, but the King of England. Like the main Christian denominations, Anglicanism adheres to the idea of a triune God.
Features of worship in Anglicanism
It was already mentioned earlier that this religious movement has its own rules and laws. Features of worship and the role of the priest in Anglicanism are described in the Book of Common Prayer. This work was based on the Roman Catholic liturgical order, which operated in Britain before the birth of the Protestant movements. In addition to the English translation of old ideas, religious reform in England was manifested in the reduction of an already existing rite (for example, in the abolition of most rites, traditions and services) and in changing prayers according to new rules. The creators of the Book of Common Prayer wanted to greatly increase the role of Holy Scripture in Anglican worship. The Old Testament texts were divided in such a way that each year a part of them was read once. The gospel, with the exception of the Revelation of John the Theologian, from which only some points were taken, is divided so that it is read three times during the year (with the festive and Sunday readings of the Apostle and the New Testament not counted). If we talk about the book of psalms, then it had to be read every month.
The liturgical system of Anglicanism is rather a copy of the Protestant system than the Roman Catholic or Orthodox. But despite this, this branch of Christianity retained some elements that were unacceptable in Protestantism. These include the church clothes of the priests, which they put on during worship, the denial of the devil and the blessing of water during baptism, the usewedding ring at marriage, etc.
The English church government is divided into two parts: Canterbury and York. Each is run by archbishops, but the head of the Canterbury branch is the chief ecclesiastical hierarch of the Church of England, whose influence extends beyond England.
Three parties were created long ago among the Anglicans, which exist to this day: the Low, the Broad and the High Churches. The first party represents the radical views of Protestantism and wants the Anglican Church to rely more on Protestantism in its teaching. The second party is not even a party as such: it includes ordinary people who, in fact, are indifferent to the existing rites, and Anglicanism in the form in which it exists now completely satisfies them. The High Church, unlike the Low Church, on the contrary, tries to depart as far as possible from the ideas of the Reformation and preserve the characteristic features of the classical church that appeared before the birth of Protestantism. In addition, representatives of this movement want to revive those rules and traditions that were lost many centuries ago, as well as bring Anglicanism as close as possible to the common universal church. In the 1930s, among the vysokotserkovniks, the "highest" church appeared. The founder of this party was the Oxford teacher Pusey, and its members called themselves Puseists. Because of their desire to revive the old church rites, they also received the name"ritualists". This party at all costs wanted to prove the importance of the Anglican religion and even unite it with the Eastern Church. Their views are very similar to the ideas of Orthodoxy:
- Unlike the same Lutheranism, Anglicanism of the highest church standard recognizes as authority not only the Bible, but also the Holy Tradition.
- According to them, in order to gain eternal life, a person needs not only to believe, but also to do charitable deeds.
- "Ritualists" stand for the veneration of icons and holy relics, and also do not reject the worship of saints and prayers for the dead.
- Does not recognize predestination in the Calvinist sense.
- Look at the sacrament from the point of view of Orthodoxy.
Now you know the definition of Anglicanism, the history of this Christian movement, as well as its characteristics and features. We hope you found this article helpful!