The Sacramental Church

The Story of Anglo-Catholicism

Nash

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9781498273473
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

What is Anglo-Catholicism? What are its origins? Are Anglo-Catholics real Anglicans/Episcopalians? What is their relationship with Roman Catholics? Has Anglo-Catholicism betrayed Anglicanism's Protestant roots? The Sacramental Church answers these and many other questions. Addressed to the general reader, it explores the history, practices, beliefs, and attitudes of Anglo-Catholicism.While Anglo-Catholicism has deep roots in English Christianity, it attained its modern form through the nineteenth-century Catholic Revival--a movement that aroused strong passions among proponents and opponents alike. The revival, its proponents declared, reclaimed for the Anglican faith its heritage as an authentic branch of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. Anglo-Catholicism gave Anglicans/Episcopalians options to embrace ceremonial forms of worship, affirm the objective real presence and sacrificial nature of the Eucharist, venerate Mary the Mother of God, or join a monastery without abandoning their Anglican tradition. With an extensive bibliography and numerous direct quotes, The Sacramental Church provides a valuable reference source as well as a very readable story of Anglo-Catholicism--the expression of sacramental Christianity with special relevance to the English-speaking people.

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Introduction

This book’s title reflects the belief that Anglican Christianity is recovering its ancient heritage as a sacramental church—a church whose central act of worship is the Eucharist and whose mission is built upon the sacraments as well as on service to humanity. Offering the sacraments is itself a great service. Anglo-Catholicism is the force within Anglicanism making that recovery possible.

From a larger perspective Anglo-Catholicism emphasizes the transcendence of God and the mystery of Christ’s incarnation. That timeless mystery cannot be captured by scriptural literalism or doctrinal formulas but is glimpsed through shared experience, enhanced by the aesthetic and dramatic dimensions of the liturgy.

Anglo-Catholicism in its modern form is the product of far-reaching initiatives in the nineteenth-century, collectively known as the Catholic Revival. The revival reclaimed for the Anglican faith features of medieval English Christianity that, over time, had either fallen into disuse or been suppressed. Its objective was not historical reenactment or reversing the outcome of the Reformation but restoring what rightly belonged to Anglican Christianity through its roots in the “catholic” church of late antiquity—practices and principles of contemporary importance and relevance. Anglicanism’s claim to catholicity was not new, but the time had come to proclaim it with new vigor and act upon it.

This book tells the story of Anglo-Catholicism: how it came about, what it offers today, and why it has timeless appeal. A brief introduction to the Catholic Revival and Anglo-Catholicism follows, but first a few comments are in order concerning Anglicanism itself.

Anglican Christianity

The word “Anglican,” from the Latin ecclesia anglicana (“the English church”), appeared in medieval texts, but it was first used to refer to the church and its members in the eighteenth century; the abstract “Anglicanism” dates from the nineteenth century. Today “Anglican” refers to the Church of England and the family of autonomous daughter churches that trace their origins back to the English church. Our story focuses on the Church of England, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church in the United States, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Other authors are encouraged to tell the story pertaining to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the many other places where Anglo-Catholicism has flourished.

The Church of England and more than forty other churches comprise the Anglican Communion. Their bishops meet every ten years at Lambeth Conferences, representatives participate in the Anglican Consultative Council, and primates—heads of member churches—meet annually. A few daughter churches, including the Reformed Anglican Church and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, have seceded from the Anglican Communion. But they remain “Anglican.” Anglo-Catholics are found both inside and outside the Anglican Communion.

The Church of England came into being as a freestanding religious entity in the 1530s, when the English bishops proclaimed their independence from Rome and King Henry VIII declared himself its “supreme head.” The Book of Common Prayer of 1549 provided the liturgy in the vernacular English. But the episcopal structure and important beliefs and practices of the pre-Reformation church were preserved. English Christianity already had a tradition of more than a millennium, and that rich tradition molded Anglicanism as much as did the Reformation and subsequent events.

Anglicanism spread throughout the British Isles and, through colonial expansion, to many other countries. Some of them, like Canada and Australia, remain in the British Commonwealth, while the United States, South Africa, and others do not. Anglicanism also spread to countries with no historical links to England. For example, the Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil, the Province de l’Eglise Anglicane du Congo, and the Nippon Sei Ko Kai in Japan belong to the Anglican Communion. Anglicanism has strong English roots and has special relevance to the English-speaking people, but it cannot be defined by ethnicity, language, culture, or colonial history.

Many definitions of “Anglican” and “Anglicanism” have been offered, but precisely what the terms mean in the modern context is a perennial topic of debate. Rowan Williams, current archbishop of Canterbury, described Anglicanism as a form of Reformed Christianity “grounded in the historic ministry of bishops, priests and deacons, and with the classical early Christian formulations of doctrine about God and Jesus Christ.”1

Anglicanism is not homogeneous. The Church of England was built on principles of pluralism and inclusiveness and inspired similar principles in its daughter churches. Church parties emerged to promote particular shades of belief, preferences in religious practice, and attitudes toward civil government. “Churchmanship” became a major factor in ecclesiastical politics.

The English Reformation had broad popular support, but two main groups emerged: traditionalists, who wanted to preserve as much as possible of the medieval English church, and reformists, who wanted the Church of England to embrace Lutheran or Calvinist principles. Over time traditionalists became known as “high-church” and reformists as “low-church.” High-church Anglicans preserved the thread of continuity with pre-Reformation sacramental Christianity that eventually found its way into Anglo-Catholicism. A third, centrist party, the “broad church,” emerged in the nineteenth century.

Tension was not uncommon, but the parties generally tolerated one another, and commitment to church unity prevented squabbles from getting out of hand. The Catholic Revival provoked unusual tension, however, and Anglicanism was heavily polarized for more than fifty years. Thankfully, the turmoil subsided, and Anglo-Catholicism found its place within the general pluralism. Since then, other hot-button issues have arisen, and new parties have emerged to give voice to their concerns. Whether Anglican cohesion can be maintained remains to be seen.

Anglicanism’s main cohesive force has always been the liturgy. In classical Greece leitourgia meant public service. But in Christianity “liturgy” acquired its modern connotation of collective worship. The liturgy involves both words and actions; hence the Book of Common Prayer included the script and also the rubrics, or “stage directions,” for worship services. No matter how humble or informal, collective worship conducted on a regular basis inevitably develops some degree of ritual. Anglo-Catholics favor more elaborate ritual or ceremony than others do.

Anglicanism did not have a founder, or “guiding hand,” like a Martin Luther or a John Wesley. Neither does it have a comprehensive doctrinal canon, like the Roman Catholic dogmas or Calvinist confessions. Anglicans worshipped together and then reflected on the beliefs they shared. Anglican theology emerged from the liturgy—and is still doing so. The oft-quoted adage lex orandi lex credendi (“the law of prayer is the law of belief”) provides a good description of the Anglican approach to doctrine, and we shall invoke it frequently in this story of Anglo-Catholicism.

The Prayer Book has gone through multiple revisions and has been translated into many languages as well as into modern English. It provided a common tradition on which Anglican daughter churches have based their own liturgies. Anglican liturgies are still scripted, rather than spontaneous, but now offer optional forms, especially of the Communion Service, to meet the aspirations of individual clergy and parishes. Anglo-Catholics look for forms that express their sacramental focus.

The Catholic Revival

The most conspicuous outcome of the Catholic Revival was to restore the splendor of pre-Reformation ceremony to the Anglican liturgy. It will be instructive to contrast worship in the typical style of the eighteenth century with Anglo-Catholic worship today.

Styles of Worship

Anglican churches in, say, 1750 displayed all the puritan austerity of the post-Reformation era. Surviving medieval cathedrals and churches retained their architectural grandeur, but high altars had been removed, along with crucifixes and other images. Statues were defaced and murals or frescoes whitewashed over. Many of the old church buildings were also in poor repair. Some new churches had been constructed, and all the churches in North America were new; but their architecture was spartan, and decoration minimal. The dominant feature was the pulpit, a massive structure, towering over the pews and affirming the centrality of preaching in the religious consciousness of the time.

Worship followed the 1662 Prayer Book. The liturgy was standardized, with prescribed collects and scriptural readings for each Sunday and major festival. Devout Anglicans attended both morning and evening services. The Sunday morning service, which might last three hours, consisted of Morning Prayer, a sermon, and the first part of the Communion Service. The “evening” service, which might start as early as 3:00 p.m., included another sermon and Evening Prayer. It might also include baptisms, churchings,2 marriages, and catechism classes for children preparing for confirmation and first Communion.3

Services were read by a clergyman, assisted by the parish clerk who led the responses to prayers and made announcements. The priest might wear a white surplice for Morning or Evening Prayer but changed into a black “Geneva” gown—similar to today’s academic gown—for the sermon. The sermon, lasting about one hour, typically used the day’s scriptural readings to encourage moral, socially acceptable behavior. Some priests composed their own sermons, but many read homilies written by prominent divines. Sermons were often dry, but they were generally optimistic in tone. Anglican clergy shunned the emotionalism of nonconformist preachers and the “hellfire” style of the Great Awakenings in America.

Two or three times a year the “Lord’s Supper” would be offered, and the Communion Service would be read in full. On those Sundays, a simple Communion table was placed in the body of the church. No candles burned, unless they were needed for illumination, and no cross, flowers, ornaments, or images were permitted. Communicants knelt around the table—the only time laity or clergy made any kind of reverential gesture in church.

Today’s Anglo-Catholic church is very different. Attention is focused on the high altar. A cross and candles stand on the altar, which is draped in the liturgical colors of the day or season, or possibly stripped bare in penitential seasons. A tabernacle on the altar may contain the reserved Sacrament. The pulpit is placed to the side of the chancel or nave. The walls of the building may be adorned with religious images. Votive candles may burn before statues of the Virgin Mary and the saints.

The Communion Service—the “Sung Communion,” or “High Mass,” if the parish has the resources—is the main Sunday morning service. The faithful enter the church with reverence, genuflecting or bowing to the altar. They may bless themselves with holy water or may be sprinkled in the Asperges at the beginning of the service. Clergy, often more than one, wear ornate vestments in the liturgical colors of the season or festival. If a bishop is in attendance he or she most likely wears the traditional vestment...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: The Pre-Reformation English Church
• Chapter 3: The Church of England
• Chapter 4: The Anglican Church in Scotland and North America
• Chapter 5: High-Church Anglicanism
• Chapter 6: Catholic Revival I: Church, Doctrine, and the Spiritual Life
• Chapter 7: Catholic Revival II: Sacred Spaces and Ceremony
• Chapter 8: Anglo-Catholicism Today
• Bibliography
• About the Author