Links to Anglican Resources
on the Web
I have left the Episcopal Church of the United States of American (ECUSA), because it values heterodox autonomy more than catholicity as a member of the Anglican Communion, that is, those churches derived from and in communion with the Church of England. I belong to Holy Cross Anglican Church in Findlay, Ohio, temporarily under the oversight of Bishop Frank Lyons, missionary bishop of Bolivia, who provides a credally orthodox affiliation through which we can remain in Communion with vital, growing Anglican churches around the world.
The Anglican Communion is a unique hybrid. We claim to be both Protestant and Catholic, both Traditional and Reformed, and our theological ideal is the via media, the middle way between the extremes of radical Protestantism and slavish traditionalism. We use Richard Hooker's "lopsided stool," in which Scripture has priority but those things not clearly mandated or forbidden by Scripture can be left to Church Tradition and Human Reason.
Many of the beliefs and practices of the Anglican Communion are discussed at the Church of England's home page.
One thing that distinguishes Anglicans is their use of a Book of Common Prayer. Each national Anglican Church produces their own version.
But enough of that. If you want the most comprehensive site on Anglicanism, you need to visit Anglicans Online! -- though it is firmly in the camp of Episcopal Church autonomy rather than Anglican Communion catholicity.
I have added a few miscellaneous Anglican-related links below.
- Thomas Cranmer, when he wrote the first Anglican Book of Common Prayer, condensed the daily monastic offices into two main services, Morning and Evening Prayer, keeping Nones and Compline primarily for the use of religious communities. This is called the Daily Office. Many Anglicans pray both Morning and Evening Prayer each day.
Note that, if you would like to use this source for praying the Daily Office, your browser must be able to handle frames. However, the Mission of St. Clare provides frameless versions of the Daily Office, suitable for printing, with each day's readings inserted.
- Anglicans occasionally uses readings from the Old Testament Apocrypha. Unlike the Orthodox or Roman Catholics who consider them fully canonical, Anglicans hold that "the Church doth read them for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine," according to the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Episcopal Church, adopted in 1801 and with a lineage traceable to the English Reformation. The 39 Articles are now mostly ignored and marginalized in the Episcopal Church, which is one of the problems I have with them...
- Richard Hooker is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Anglicanism. He is to Anglicans what Menno Simons is to Mennonites and Martin Luther is to Lutherans: the key theological mind that defined the ethos of a Church. Some Hooker links:
- As a member of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Anglican Communion claims inclusion in the "tactile" apostolic succession; that is, that Anglican clergy can trace their ordinations back to the Apostles. The Church of Rome has not recognized this on the basis of slight changes in rite - although the official excuse is "incorrect intention." Here, available together for the first time, are Pope Leo XIII's Bull Apostolicae Curae and the response by the Archbishops of England.
- A valuable resource for learning more about Anglican Christianity is the ANGLICAN mailing list, which has members from around the world. You can find more information about the list here. But be warned: the volume can be a bit high.
Dan Berger's Home Page
Bluffton University Science Department Home Page
Bluffton University Home Page
