Books on
Anglicanism
Information sources on Anglicanism from Trinity College Library
See
this booklist posted by the diocese of Ottawa
"Anglican
Communion" in Columbia Encyclopedia
|
A chronological survey
!Roman
Britain: to about 400
Christianity
in Britain begins in the period when large parts of it are controlled by the
Roman Empire. We don't know who first brings Christianity there:
perhaps Roman administrators or soldiers or traders. Some Britons are
converted. The Britons are a Celtic people; so the influence of Celtic
Christianity on Anglicanism starts here. Medieval Anglicans such as Bede
will later claim Roman British Christianity as an important part of their
heritage. They'll tell stories of British Christian zeal, martyrdom,
mission, and controversy.
!Medieval
Anglicanism: 400–1529
With the immigration and/or invasion of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and
other Germanic peoples in the 400s, we can begin to speak of England
(Angle-land) and an English Christianity. "Anglican" etymologically means
English; the ecclesia anglicana, the English Church, is now being
born. The medieval period can be divided into two sub-periods.
(1) Before 1066.
Celtic Christianity flourishes spiritually.
Anglo-Saxon Christianity develops after Pope Gregory I sends the
missionary Augustine, called Augustine of Canterbury, among the English
(597–604). Celtic Christianity generally seeks to remain
independent of Roman influence; by contrast, Anglo-Saxon Christianity
gravitates towards Rome. The differences are sometimes fanned into
conflicts.
(2) After 1066.
The Anglo-Saxon leadership of the Church is largely replaced
after England is conquered by the Normans (former Scandinavian Vikings who
have settled in what is naturally called Normandy, in northwestern France).
Anglicanism becomes more Europeanized.
By the Reformation, the basis has been laid for the Anglicanism that we
know, with its Celtic, English, Norman, and Roman influences (among others).
!The
Reformation and Elizabethan periods (1529–1603)
During these seventy-five years or so a new religious spirit shapes
Anglican identity, and a
new
understanding of Anglican authority is forged. To speak generally, this
spirit is moderately Protestant, as seen in its commitment to Scripture, its
criticisms of papal authority, and the strong influence of lay leaders (king
or queen, Parliament, lay patrons of parishes). Significant
instruments of Protestant influence are the Prayer Books, the homilies of
the reign of Edward VI, the histories of John Foxe, the Thirty-Nine
Articles, and the writings of such divines as John Jewel and Richard Hooker,
who defended the Church of England against controversialists on both the
Roman Catholic and Puritan sides.
!The
making of imperial Anglicanism (1603–1867)
In 1603 the crowns of England and Scotland are united in the person of
the king — who is numbered James I in the English succession, and James VI
in the Scottish succession. By now, too, Anglicans have reached the New
World — they celebrate the eucharist at Frobisher Bay (1578), announce the
establishment of the Church of England in Newfoundland (1583), and found
Jamestown in Virginia (1607). With the founding of overseas British colonies
and the rise of the British Empire, Anglican Christianity is extended to new
cultures and races under the supervision of mission societies, and
Anglicanism diversifies. The Episcopal Church in the United States becomes
independent of English jurisdiction during the American Revolution
(1776–1783). Globalization, colonialism, and indigenization raise
fresh questions of Anglican identity and authority.
!The
worldwide Anglican Communion (since 1867)
With
the important legal cases of Long v. Gray (1861) and Colenso v. Gray (1866),
which conclude that Anglican churches in self-governing colonies are
independent of the Crown and therefore of the Church of England, colonial
Anglican churches find themselves autonomous. Some fear that Anglicanism is
diversifying too much, and losing its English centre of gravity. Hoping to
tame these centrifugal forces, the ecclesiastical province of Canada
requests a meeting of Anglican bishops worldwide. The result is an episcopal
conference at Lambeth Palace, London, in 1867. This becomes the first in a
series of Lambeth Conferences held every ten years or so. the first Lambeth
Conference (1867). With this an Anglican communion is coming into existence,
as a worldwide family of autonomous churches. Throughout this period we see
pressures on the Anglican Communion in two directions. On the one hand we
see forces for greater closeness and cooperation: recent examples are the
Anglican Congress at Toronto in 1963, and the creation of the Anglican
Consultative Council and the Partners in Mission program in the following
decade. But on the other hand we see forces tending to undermine closeness
and cooperation: examples are the ordination of women, beginning in a
significant way in the 1970s; the displacement of the Prayer Book in the
1980s by forms of worship influenced by the Liturgical Movement; and strong
disagreements beginning in the 1990s about human sexuality. All three of
these developments raise profound questions about theological authority,
notably in the categories of Scriptural interpretation, tradition, and
doctrine.
|