A Brief History of Anglicanism in the Seventeenth Century: The Struggle for a Middle Way
Dr Ross Hebb, who is both an Anglican theologian and an historian, describes his latest video series which is currently streaming on YouTube.
By Ross Hebb
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM holds that the Anglican church was the creation of Henry VIII; others maintain that it is wholly the product of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. While these assertions are anchored in the story of Anglicanism, both are incorrect. Henry did not create a new church. Henry died a committed Roman Catholic. The Anglican denomination arose during the 16th-century Reformation but did not reach maturity until a century later. This was a century of debate, dissension and division.
Was the Church in England to retain essential elements of traditional Western Catholic belief and practice or was it to be completely a ‘new’ and wholly ‘Protestant’ entity? Was it to retain the traditional creeds, the sacraments and the three-fold ministry of ‘Catholic’ Christianity or were these all ‘papist’ elements to be discarded? Was it to be an episcopal church, governed by bishops or was it to be run by presbyters? Was each congregation a ‘church’ by itself or was each congregation part of a much larger whole with a history traceable back to New Testament times? Was it to retain infant baptism, the sign of the cross upon the child’s forehead, confirmation by bishops, the marriage ring in wedding ceremonies and Holy Communion as a major and essential service of worship?
In sum, was the Anglican Church solely something new, sprung from the turmoil of the Protestant Reformation or did it have a noble and proud historic past and an ongoing continuity with that storied past? Was it possible to ‘protest’ abuses and practices of the past and remain ‘Catholic’? Could an entire national Church steer a path between the excesses in doctrine and the claims of Rome on the one hand and the sparse and stark biblicism of ‘Protestantism’ on the other?
These are the issues and debates which raged during the 17th century and constituted the struggle for the ‘soul’ of Anglicanism. The struggle raged at least until the year 1662.
These four, roughly 25-minute, sessions, detail the tumultuous history of the Anglican Church throughout the 17th century. The first session recounts the church of Archbishop Laud and the Caroline Divines as they struggled against Puritanism. The second session outlines the loss and devastation of the English Civil War and the destruction of the Anglican Church physically, devotionally and constitutionally. The third session tells the tale of the amazing return of the monarchy, bishops and the Church of the Prayer Book. The final session relates the story of another watershed change in government accomplished without bloodshed in the events of the Glorious Revolution.
Throughout the series, the intimate and necessary relationship and interaction between church and state, between crown and bishops, is told. While this was typical of the period, and essential to an understanding of history, it is often misunderstood and consequently misinterpreted in our times. The intent of this series is to show that historic Anglicanism is neither Erastian [a doctrine that the state is superior to the church in ecclesiastical matters] nor anachronistic but rather a stronger and a more profound expression of the Christian Faith.
Here are the links to all 4 sessions:
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Dr. Hebb hopes to complete three more series focused on Anglicanism in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
He filmed an earlier YouTube series consisting of six ten-minute sessions on “How We Got the Prayer Book” – a brief history of its compilation and transmission over the last 400 years. TAP
