"We had not left the Catholic Church": Bramhall on the Reformation of the Church in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland

From John Bramhall's Protestants' Ordinations Defended (a defence of the episcopal order of the reformed ecclesia Anglicana against Roman allegations of invalidity). Bramhall was Bishop of Derry 1634-61, then Archbishop of Armagh 1661-63. Challenging a Roman controversialist's account, he provides an overview of the Reformation of the Church in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland:

To his objection then I answer; first, for our reformers; - that Cranmer, and those others who were prime actors in the Reformation, were not private persons, but public pastors of the Church; to whom this author saith, that "God unfoldeth the meaning of His" word; to whom "He delivereth infallibly the inheritance of truth." Yet these were not our reformers, but the synods and Parliaments of our kingdom under the sovereign prince, the synods proposing, the Parliament receiving, the king authorizing.

Secondly, for the manner of our reformation:- it was not seditious, tumultuous, nor after a fanatical or enthusiastical way, but done with all requisite helps, taking the Primitive Church to be their pattern, and the Holy Scriptures, interpreted according to the analogy of faith, to be their rule.

Thirdly, for the subject of their reformation:- as it was not other Churches but their own, so it was not of "articles" of "Faith" ... but it was of corruptions which were added of later times, by removing that "hay and stubble" which the Romanists had heaped upon the foundation; always observing that rule of Vinccntius Lirinensia, to call nothing into question which had been believed always, everywhere, and by all Christians ...

Lastly, for the extent of our separation. - We have not left the Catholic Church, but only the Roman Church; and that not absolutely, but in their superstructures, which they have addded to the doctrine of saving truth.

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Why I support the ordination of women: a High Church reflection

A number of commenters on this blog have asked about my occasional expressions of support for the ordination of women to all three orders. With some hesitation, I have decided to post a summary of my own views on this matter. The hesitation is because I have sought on this blog to focus on issues and themes which can unify those who identify with or have respect (grudging or otherwise!) for what we might term 'classical' Anglicanism (the Anglicanism of the Formularies and - yes - of the Old High Church tradition). Some oppose the ordination of women (and I have friends and colleagues who do so, Anglo-Catholic, High Church, and Reformed Evangelical). Some of us support it (again, friends and colleagues covering a wide range of theological traditions). Below, I have organised my thinking around 5 points (needless to say, no reference to Dort is implied). 1. The Declaration for Subscription required of clergy in the Church of Ireland states: (6) I promise to submit ...

How the Old High tradition continued

Charles Gore's 1914 letter to the clergy of his diocese, ' The Basis of Anglican Fellowship ', can be regarded as a classical expression of the Prayer Book Catholic tradition. A key part of the letter - entitled 'Romanizing in the Church of England' - addressed the "Catholic movement", questioning beliefs and practices within it which tended to "a position which makes it very difficult for its extremer representatives to give an intelligible reason why they are not Roman Catholics". Gore provides the outlines of an alternative account and experience of catholicity within Anglicanism, defined by three characteristics. What is particularly interesting about these characteristics is their continuity with the older High Church tradition. Indeed, the central characteristic as set out by Gore was integral to High Church claims over centuries: To accept the Anglican position as valid, in any sense, is to appeal behind the Pope and the authority of t...

'Whether the Lutheran Churches have right Ordinations and perfect succession of Bishops': Jeremy Taylor, 'Episcopacy Asserted', and Lutheran orders

Amidst the bitter controversies over episcopacy in the Three Kingdoms during the early 1640s, controversies which had become war in Scotland in 1637 and then in England in 1642, Jeremy Taylor wrote his Laudian defence of episcopal order, The Sacred Order and Offices of Episcopacy Asserted and Maintained . He proposed in this work that the non-episcopal Reformed churches could have had episcopally-ordered clergy: Those good people might have had order from the bishops of England or the Lutheran churches, if at least they thought our churches catholic and Christian. Leaving aside the reality that, for example, French Protestants would have been placed in an invidious political position if they had done as Taylor proposed, it is the reference to "the Lutheran churches" which is significant. To begin with, a large portion of the Lutheran churches - those in the German lands - were governed by a system of superintendency. It is almost inconceivable that Taylor was not aware of th...

laudable Practice

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