'The essence of the Reformation': a late 19th century Old High account of the Protestantism of the Church of England

From the 1872 primary visitation charge of William Connor Magee, Bishop of Peterborough, a classic Old High account of the heart of the Reformation of the Church of England - the restoration of the rights and liberties of a national church:

As a Church National, moreover, our Church of England has her inherent and inalienable rights and powers, as distinguished from those of the Church Catholic of which she is a part. The visible Catholic Church is not a despotism, it is a Confederation of independent States, "a republic," as it has been called, "composed of many monarchies," in which each State, that is to say, each National Church, has, if we may so speak, its own distinct and independent State rights. What these rights are, as defined by our own Church, we shall presently have occasion to consider: enough if I observe at present that it was the assertion of these, far more than of any particular doctrines, which was of the essence of the Reformation. Doctrinally the Reformation was the correction of certain corruptions of faith and discipline. But ecclesiastically it was the assertion of the right of a Church National to make such reforms for herself; and it is in this assertion of her rights as a Church National that there lies the true and lawful Protestantism of the Church of England.

It is the vision of both the Church Catholic and national churches found in classic works by divines of the ecclesia Anglicana, particularly John Overall's Convocation Book (1606) and Richard Field's Of the Church (1606/10). What is more, it rightly articulates the fundamental principle of the Reformation of the Church - that National Churches had the the right and liberty to govern and reform themselves. Without the affirmation of this principle, the reformation of "faith and discipline" could not have occurred. In seeking to reclaim the term 'Protestant' for Anglicanism - lost for too many Anglicans over the 20th century - this is where we might begin, for it is in the affirmation of the rights and liberties of National Churches that, as Magee declares, "the true and lawful Protestantism of the Church of England" is found.

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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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