Welcome to Anglicanism.org a depository of papers, articles and items of general interest. Whilst many contributions are linked to the generic theme of Anglicanism we also feature a wide range of subjects beyond any particular definition.
The website contains a free-to-use library for information and study. We started life in 2009 as a specialist vehicle for the publication of pre-doctoral papers. However, the site has long since outgrown that rather narrow range and (we like to think) become something much more accessible without surrendering academic integrity.
You are welcome to browse, read and download. Perhaps you would like to submit a paper, letter or comment as well? If so please email the Editor at the address below. We are not a blogsite but we also have linked Facebook and Twitter pages where you may add your online comments.
Editor: The Rev’d Dr. Nicholas Henderson
Email: info@anglicanism.org
Latest Additions:
THE LOST ROAD A Search for the Soul of the West – Sean McGrath
Hugh Valentine reviews Sean McGrath's 'The Lost Road - a Search for the Soul of the West" - he writes: Sean McGrath’s position is that the Christian West has lost familiarity with the mystical and contemplative sinews it once knew. The cost of this is a loss of depth, a depth that bestows resilience in the face of life’s exhausting and dehumanising demands. This loss, he claims, is in major part the cause of the consumerist malady that is now global. He says that it is the Christian West that has inadvertently brought that about. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE
GADFLY Paul Oestreicher reflects on being a gadfly
The Rev'd Canon Paul Oestreicher reflects on being a 'gadfly' ... In 1984 my election as Bishop of Wellington in New Zealand made the English newspapers. A day or two later a postcard arrived from Francis House, whom I’d never met. It simply said “Don’t go. You are the gadfly our Church cannot do without.” I was puzzled. Who was this Francis and what is a gadfly? A gadfly, I soon learned, was a troublemaker who, more popularly, puts a cat among the pigeons ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE
Loving the prophet… or maybe not? Mark Rudall explores how pastoral concern for a congregation may actually silence a prophetic voice
Loving the prophet… or maybe not? The Rev'd Mark Rudall reflects ... The Church of England has received many refugees from other traditions and I became an Anglican at the end of the 20th century when the idea of Christian life as an ongoing journey of discovery, truly a pilgrimage, took ever deeper root. Unable to espouse the ‘saved, and that’s it’ static condition so often portrayed by traditional evangelicalism, there was also an awareness after 23 years in non-conformist ministry of being in a scene that was teetering towards an unappealing and dangerous conservatism. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO VIEW FULL ARTICLE
Editorial: A truth universally acknowledged … too many dictators
The Editor - The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas Henderson writes in his Advent Editorial - To plagiarise Jane Austen’s opening remark in her Pride & Prejudice: “It is a truth universally acknowledged …”. It is then a fact, reluctantly acknowledged by the Church, that the Christmas Season nowadays starts somewhere around the Feast of the Transfiguration 6th August and is over just after Christmas dinner....However, near universal popular sentiment does not necessarily equate to any outcome that might reflect the views of the people. CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE ...
Book review: True Evangelical: the changing face of Anglican Evangelicalism by John Went
Reviewer Fr. Keith Mascord writes of John Went's 'True Evangelical': The title of Bishop John Went’s book is, I suspect, deliberately provocative. Is Went saying that he himself is a ‘true evangelical’ in contrast to others? He is certainly comfortable, even proud, to identify as an evangelical, in large part because he believes that evangelicalism has the necessary resources to accommodate a rapidly changing world... I wondered if the title might have become even more provocative, given changes now up-ending Anglicanism in all of its forms? The Gafcon initiated schism had not yet happened when True Evangelical was published ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE
The Anglican Communion – A way forward
Bishop Keerthisiri Fernando writes in his Letter to the Editor: It is high time for all the members of the world-wide Anglican Communion to realise the true nature of the Anglican fellowship to comprehend the tensions of the 21st century. The fact that the structure of the Anglican communion is in between the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches makes matters complicated in seeking an understanding in the context of differences of opinion in various parts of the world. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE
Anglicanism traces its antecedents back to the independent Romano-British Church during the first few centuries of Christianity, the arrival of St Augustine of Canterbury at the behest of Pope Gregory the Great in the late sixth century, a replacement of indigenous Celtic/Irish traditions with Latin oversight in the seventh century and then onwards to the tumultuous sixteenth century the Reformation and the break with Rome. Subsequently modern Anglicanism has slowly emerged, at times almost accidentally, at first in the English speaking world and then as a worldwide denomination.
To describe Anglicanism in a paragraph scarcely does it justice but being in communion with the see of Canterbury has come to define a type of Christianity with a wide range of liturgical practice, a spectrum of theological interpretation and the inevitable tensions that exist in a body that spans countries and cultures. Not strictly speaking a Church, although the term ‘Anglican Church’ is frequently used, the Anglican Communion is now represented in some 144 countries.
The Compass Rose is the emblem of the Anglican Communion. It was originally designed by the late Canon Edward West of New York. The Greek inscription ‘The Truth Shall Make You Free’ (John 8:32) surrounds the cross. The compass points to Anglican/Episcopal Christianity throughout the world with the mitre on the top indicating the role of episcopacy and apostolic order that is characteristic of churches of the Communion.
The modern design is by Giles Bloomfield and the symbol was set in the nave of the mother church of the Anglican Communion, the Cathedral Church of Christ in Canterbury, founded 597 – (photograph above). It was dedicated by Archbishop Robert Runcie at the final Eucharist of the Lambeth Conference in 1988. A similar Compass Rose was dedicated in Washington National Cathedral in 1990 to encourage worldwide use. The official Anglican Communion flag with the emblem was designed by the Rev’d Bruce Nutter of Australia.