Six Distinctives of The Anglican Tradition; or Why I Love My Church

 

I’ve done it, after centuries of debate I have the answer! I can define what Anglicanism is.   Well perhaps not, but a good starting point may be to take a step back and look at what distinctives this tradition truly has.  

It does our church tradition a grave disservice to describe it in such a way that makes it seem as though it has no more distinctives than water when conforming to the shapes of various vessels. Yet it is precisely this theological surrender that is all too ubiquitous.  The failure to define Anglicanism is the understandable result of decades of impasse. The conflict between the various tribes to lay hold of the title of true Anglicanism has failed to bear fruit.  It is rather difficult to even begin to describe Anglicanism in such a way that both the reformed and Anglo-Catholic camps won’t immediately object to.  However, despite these challenges, there is a real unique beauty to our tradition that unites all these tribes. There is something to the Anglican approach that makes it such a wonderful way to live out a mere Christianity.

 

1: Heavenly View of the Eucharist.

Like most Western Christian traditions, Anglicanism can be distinguished in part by its approach to the Lord's Supper. Yet this distinction is not one primarily of definition but of orientation and charity. Although leaving room for a variety of views on the exact nature of Christ’s presence, the Anglican approach to the Lord's Supper is unique in Christendom today in emphasizing the eucharist primarily in terms of a heavenly feast.  Cranmer’s foundational communion liturgy emphasizes the communicants entering into the presence of angels to partake of Christ in the wedding supper of the Lamb. Likewise, the 39 Articles describe eating the Eucharist in a heavenly manner.  Subsequent generations of Anglican theologians developed this concept further in perhaps in slightly different directions than what Cranmer had in mind, but all still harken back to this heavenly directionality to the eucharist. It is an upward directionality that is emphasized as opposed to the Lutheran emphasis of a downward directionality of Christ descending to the altar, or a Presbyterian focus on spiritual reflection. The Anglican conception of Communion becomes a glorious fulfilment of the Lord's prayer in that our daily bread is part of how God forgives us and how for a brief moment part of those on earth are experiencing heaven.  

2: Centrality of Communal Prayer.

The Book of Common Prayer is perhaps the most commonly cherished and agreed upon aspect of the protestant episcopal churches. Even though all other traditions pray, the Anglican tradition uniquely centralizes its daily practice and democratizes the monastic office of prayer to all laity. The Book of Common Prayer makes all Anglicans a united force of monastic prayer. No longer is a life and rhythm of prayer something reserved only for monastic brethren. Every vocation is elevated through prayer.   Even when we pray the office by ourselves we use the second person plural because we are praying it with everyone else that morning who is praying the daily office. And because it is the central Anglican text, prayer is not a periphery in the Anglican life but instead the central devotional aspect.

3. Reformed Catholicity.

Ironically the very dynamic I condemned earlier which keeps our tradition from a satisfactory definition, stems from one of our best distinctives: our purposely broad tent. In other words, the diversity allowed within the Anglican tradition is not a bug but a feature. Although we are a confessional tradition, that confession is intended to be broad enough to incubate a reformed evangelical catholic faith. All classical Protestants can be welcome members of an Anglican Church on purpose. Rather than shattering into a million pieces this defined but broad confession is supposed to unite a Reformational mere Christendom.

4. Indigenization.

Just as the first major project of the Reformational English church was to translate both the scriptures and liturgy into the vernacular, in both language and culture, so too has every Anglican missionary endeavour striven to indigenize both the liturgy and the Word. The very word Anglican can essentially stand for indigenized Evangelical Catholicism. The tradition is merely named after the first place in which it was indigenized, but each subsequent culture has taken it as their own and added to the beauty of its expression of the Gospel. The Church of Nigeria, for example, is not an English church, but Nigeria’s own expression of the reformed evangelical catholic faith. Thus, all of the global variations are reflections of the Gospel taking root in those respective people. Anglicanism is global.

5. Parish Ministry

There is often a holistic sense of pastoral duty to the whole geographical area of the local church.  Growing from the broad responsibilities of the medieval administrative unit of the parish, Anglicans can often be found bringing the church into the public sphere. It is this same impulse that leads them to be so ecumenically involved on the local level in regional ministries. Consequently, there is a sense that the local church does not exist solely for the sake of the congregants, but for the whole community.

6. Conciliar Bishops

Uniquely among Protestants, Anglicans are always identifiable by their episcopal Church governance (Scandinavian Lutherans and Hungarian reformed likewise have bishops, but do not consider it central to their identity).  Yet these Anglican bishops are not the monarchical powerhouses of the Roman church. There is no Anglican Pope. Instead, reflecting the value Archbishop Cranmer placed on the authority of church councils, Protestant Episcopal provinces could be more accurately described as being governed by synodical councils.

 

Now this is by no means an exhaustive list of the Anglican tradition’s distinctives. However, I do hope that it can serve as a starting point. There is much goodness and beauty within our tradition that can sometimes be forgotten in the midst of denominational angst and liturgical infighting. I have no doubt that some of my points above will be disputed by fellow Anglicans, but I hope as a whole they will serve as an incentive to reflect on how God has equipped us To be part of his body.