THEOLOGICAL STUDIES
Church of England
INTRODUCTION
We have lumped the Church of England and the Episcopal Church together because although they have different names, they are essentially the same group. An official "break" between the 2 groups occurred because of the Revolutionary War. The Anglican church in America (the Church of England) would not have survived after the Revolutionary War because of the hostile relations between England and the U.S. even after the war was over. The truth is that these 2 groups still align themselves with each other. In fact, recently those conservative churches in the U.S. Episcopalian denomination are going to be given a tier 1 status with the rest of the Anglican faith (Church of England), while the more liberal groups are going to be given a tier 2 status.
What is driving all this is the Anglican church in Africa. Many of the churches in Africa, South America, and the Orient are very conservative. They are not going to put up with what is going on in the more liberal dioceses of the U.S. The African Anglican Church has flexed it muscles so that now the more liberal dioceses in the U.S. are being relegated to a tier 2 status.
All this is to say that in discussing the Church of England, we are also including the Episcopalian Church.
THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND
Before the Reformation
Although at the beginning of the third century AD England became a Christian country; however, during the Germanic invasions of the 5th and 6th centuries Christianity for all practical purposes was wiped out in England. St. Patrick though (a Roman Christian Briton and the patron saint of Ireland) brought Ireland to the Christian faith. From this movement missionaries were sent out to the rest of Britain, thereby bringing the rest of Britain to Christianity. (Although this is a simplified version, it is nevertheless the broad outline of what happened in England. All this is according to Winston Churchill.)
What is interesting about the early history of Christianity in England is that the missionaries who saved England were NOT from Rome but from Ireland. The result is that from the earliest days Christianity in England was of a different breed than that of Roman Catholicism. English Christianity will eventually fall beneath the spell of Roman Catholicism and the pope; however, for the next 1000 years there will always be a strain within English Christianity which remembers its original independence from Rome.
The Reformation in England and Henry VIII
At the start of the Reformation England was one of the leading opponents of Martin Luther. In fact in 1520 Henry VIII the king of England along with Sir Thomas More wrote Declaration of the Seven Sacraments Against Martin Luther for which Henry received the title "Defender of the Faith." (To this day the English monarchs still carry the title "Defender of the Faith.")
What changed Henry from being the Defender of the Catholic faith to being one of the biggest headaches the Roman Catholic Church has ever experienced? It all had to do with the issue of the heir to the English throne.
During the 15th century England went through one of the most traumatic periods in her history. First, in the late 1300's a boy aged 12 became king of England, Richard II. Around 60 years later a boy aged 9 months becomes king of England, Henry VI. Because of their age their reigns were marked by great turmoil and strife. In fact both of these kings met with a disastrous end, being murdered by their opponents. Two of the great families in England (the House of Lancaster and the House of York) from 1455-1485 went after each other to such an extent that by 1485 nearly all the nobility in England was dead, all because of weak heirs to the throne. This event was called the War of the Roses. The War of the Roses came to an end with the victory of Henry VII at Bosworth Market (1485).
When Henry VII became king, he fathered 2 sons: Arthur the older and Henry who later became Henry VIII. Because Spain was a great power, Henry married Arthur off to one of the leading princesses of Spain, Catherine. Along with Catherine came a huge dowry. Before Catherine though could produce a son, Arthur died.
Henry VII then was faced with a dilemma. He knew that it was against the Christian faith to marry Catherine off to Henry, and yet he did not want to return the dowry. What to do? He gets special permission from the pope (called a dispensation) and marries Catherine off to Henry. Since the pope had approved the marriage, it was now considered a Christian act.
For the next 20 years Catherine and Henry were ecstatically happy. The only problem was that Catherine did not bear Henry any sons. She did bear him a daughter, Mary; however, son after son was delivered still-born. Eventually Catherine who was 5 years older than Henry could not bear any more children.
Now up to this point no queen had ever ruled over England. Henry feared that if Mary became queen, dynastic wars would once more erupt in England. His desire for a strong male heir drove him to break with the Roman Catholic Church.
At first though Henry did not want to break with the Roman Catholic Church. The pope had given him a special dispensation to marry his brother's wife; all the pope had to do now was to give him another dispensation to divorce his brother's wife. He thought that this should have been no problem at all since Leviticus had stated that a man should not have intercourse with his brother's wife. He convinced himself that the Lord had killed his baby sons because he had been living in incest with Catherine. He turns to his chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, to get the pope to give him the dispensation to divorce his wife.
The pope, Clement VII, would have been all too glad to give Henry the dispensation to divorce Catherine. He had already lost northern Germany and many Swiss and southern German towns to Lutheranism; he didn't want to lose any more. The only problem was that the most powerful prince in Europe was Charles V, the king of Spain AND the Holy Roman Empire (the emperor in the movie Luther). This most powerful prince in Europe also happened to be the nephew of Catherine. He did not take kindly to his aunt being dumped by the King of England, the king of an inferior nation in his mind. He could do more than just influence the pope to keep him from granting a divorce to Henry. Because the pope was aligned with Charles' enemy, France, Charles conquered and sacked Rome in 1527. The result was that Charles now controlled the pope. Because of Charles the pope refused to allow Henry to divorce Catherine.
Henry was determined though. He was not to be trifled with. First, because Cardinal Wolsey had failed to get Henry the divorce, he dismissed Wolsey from his post, replacing him with Sir Thomas More. Wolsey died before Henry was able to haul him off to the Tower of London and cut off his head. Second,
Henry put the question of the lawfulness of his marriage to the universities in Europe. The universities responded almost unanimously that Henry had been wrong in marrying Catherine. (It didn't hurt that he bribed the universities to agree with him.) Third, he removes Sir Thomas More who is loyal to Rome and replaces him with Thomas Cromwell. Upon the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury Henry appoints another friendly voice Thomas Cranmer to be the next Archbishop. Henry secretly marries Anne Boleyn who is pregnant with Henry's child. Cranmer declares that Henry's marriage to Catherine was invalid and that his marriage to Anne was valid (1533). Parliament, which justifiably feared Henry's wrath, passes every law and statute that Henry wants passed. Two of these laws are (1) Henry and not the pope is head of the Church of England and (2) Anne's children and not Mary's will be heirs to the throne. The Catholic forces in Europe are too weak or too divided to invade England and stop Henry. Henry thinks he's won.
On Sept. 7, 1533 Anne gives birth to the heir to the English throne, Elizabeth I, a daughter. Nothing has changed for Henry. He still has only daughters and no sons. Henry is furious and blames everything on Anne; and eventually leaves Anne's bed for that of another, Jane Seymour. Anne though does get pregnant; this time it's a boy. The only problem is that Anne receives some disturbing news about Henry and goes into labor; she miscarries the son. Henry will off with her head.
After cutting off Anne's head, Henry marries Jane Seymour who gives him a son, Edward VI. Edward will become king of England after Henry's death.
The Reformation in England and Edward VI
The only thing Henry wanted to change in the Church of England was its head. As long as he was king, the rest of the religion of the Church of England remained the same, the same liturgy, mass said in Latin, etc. Upon Henry's death Edward ascends the throne and with him some radical changes in the liturgy and beliefs. For all practical purposes although the Church of England looked Catholic with all its priests, bishops, pomp, litury, it was still Protestant at heart. The mass is done away with. Consubstantiation replaces transubstantiation. The worship services are done in English. Grace by faith replaces grace by the 7 sacraments. Cranmer even produces an English Prayer Book to be used in worship. Henry VIII changed the head of the church, while Edward changed its body. The Church of England, numbering over 70 million today, truly becomes a Protestant faith from the time of Edward onward.
The Episcopalian Church in America
When the United States achieved political independence, the ties that had bound the Anglican congregations to the Church of England were severed. However, English law required bishops consecrated by Church of England prelates to swear allegiance to the British crown. Permission was finally granted by the archbishop of Canterbury, and in 1787, bishops of the Church of England consecrated Samuel Provoost the first Episcopal bishop of New York, and William White the first of Pennsylvania. In 1784 clergyman Samuel Seabury had accepted consecration from nonjuring bishops of Scotland and became the first bishop of Connecticut. In 1789 the Episcopal Church was formally organized as an independent denomination. It still though aligns itself with the Church of England.
THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND/EPISCOPALIAN FAITH
When it is all said and done, what is the most important, driving point of the Church of England, Episcopal church? It is the apostolic succession. The Church of England (along with Catholics) believe there is a historical connection between the present bishops of the Church of England and the original apostles. In other words, after Peter laid his hands upon the bishop who would succeed him at Rome, that bishop laid his hands upon his successor, so on and so forth, until today we have bishops who can trace their heritage all the way back to St. Peter. If it were not for this belief, the Church of England could for all purposes be Lutheran. This though separates the Church of England from other major Christian Protestant denominations.
The emphasis on the apostles though should go beyond the laying on of hands. As important as the apostolic succession is adherence to the writings of the apostles themselves. We have nothing from the hand of Jesus. All our documents about Jesus are from the hands of the apostles themselves: Matthew, Peter (Gospel of Mark), Paul (his 13 letters and Gospel of Luke), and John. This separates us from Mormons/DaVinci Code addicts, etc. who accept the testimony of non-apostles.
Why accept the word of the apostles? First, they were eyewitnesses, while Joseph Smith and authors of the Gnostic Gospels were not. Second, the apostles not only taught certain things about Jesus, they died for these beliefs about Jesus, something sane people simply don't do.
Is it important that we take the records of the apostles seriously? Twice in his first letter the apostle John says that it is critically important that we take the apostles and their writings seriously:
What WE have seen and heard, WE proclaim to you
that you may have fellowship with US,
and indeed OUR fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ (John 1:3).
WE are from God; he who knows God listens to US;
he who is not from God does not listen to US.
By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error (4:6).
Acceptance of the apostles and their teachings are tantamount to acceptance of Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Himself declared:
He who receives whomever I send receives Me;
And he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me (John 13:20).
Now are the apostles divine? No, but they are official spokesmen for Jesus. Rejecting them is tantamount to rejecting Jesus, just like rejection of a U.S. ambassador is tantamount to the rejection of the U.S. itself.