History of Anglicanism
History of Anglicanism
Apostolic Foundations
Anglicanism claims continuity with the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ. Tradition holds that the Gospel reached the British Isles in the first century, brought by early disciples such as **Joseph of Arimathea** or **Aristobulus**, counted among the Seventy. The early British Christians maintained episcopal order and orthodoxy independent of Rome, establishing a national church rooted in Scripture, liturgy, and the Creeds.
The Celtic Church
In the early centuries, the faith blossomed among the Celtic peoples of Britain and Ireland. Saints such as **Patrick**, **Brigid**, **Columba**, and **David** nurtured a form of Christianity that emphasized holiness, missionary zeal, and Scriptural devotion. Monastic communities became centers of learning and evangelism, sending missionaries across northern Europe.
The Celtic Church maintained apostolic succession and orthodox faith, yet exhibited a local, pastoral character distinct from Roman uniformity. The **Synod of Whitby (664)** brought the Celtic Church into closer administrative alignment with Rome, but its spirit of Scriptural purity and native freedom endured—a seed that would flower again in the English Reformation.
The English Church before the Reformation
When **St. Augustine of Canterbury** arrived in 597 under papal commission, he found a Church already ancient. The English bishops accepted fraternal communion with Rome but preserved their national identity. The English Church possessed its own liturgies, synods, and pastoral customs.
Throughout the Middle Ages, reform movements such as those of **John Wycliffe** and the **Lollards** called for a return to the authority of Scripture and the example of the primitive Church. Thus, when the Reformation arrived, it was a restoration rather than a revolution.
The English Reformation
The sixteenth-century Reformation under **King Henry VIII**, **Edward VI**, and **Archbishop Thomas Cranmer** sought to restore the Church of England to the purity of apostolic faith. The **Book of Common Prayer (1549, 1552, 1559, 1662)**, the **Thirty-Nine Articles**, and the **Ordinal** enshrined a theology both catholic and reformed—rooted in the Scriptures, the Creeds, and the witness of the Fathers.
For the Reformed Episcopal tradition, the Reformation represents the English Church’s renewal, not its creation. It was a return to the faith of the apostles and the fathers, stripped of medieval excess and centered again upon Christ and His Word.
The American and Episcopal Church
The **Church of England** took root in the American colonies, and after the Revolution (1789), it was organized as the **Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America**. This Church inherited the episcopate through the consecration of **Samuel Seabury** in 1784 and **William White** and **Samuel Provoost** in 1787, maintaining apostolic succession within an independent national church.
Conclusion
Anglicanism is the authentic continuation of the ancient, apostolic Church in the English-speaking world. From the apostles to the Celts, from Augustine to Cranmer, and from the English Reformation to the present, the same Gospel endures: *one Lord, one faith, one baptism* (Ephesians 4:5).
Anglicanism stands as a testimony to the enduring work of God in His Church—ever reforming, yet always rooted in the faith once delivered to the saints.