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:
“From Pakistan to the UK: A Christian Woman’s Journey of Faith, Perseverance, and Renewal”
Sabeeta Mushtaq writes of her faith journey: ... I was born and raised in Pakistan, a Muslim country, into a Catholic Christian family. Growing up as a religious minority in a society where Islam is the dominant faith was a unique experience that came with its own set of challenges and blessings. Despite facing discrimination and social barriers, my faith and upbringing instilled in me a keen sense of purpose and determination that propelled me forward. My early education was in Pakistan, where I worked hard to excel in my studies despite the obstacles. As a Christian in a Muslim-majority country, I encountered moments of marginalization, but I refused to let those experiences define or limit me. Instead, they fuelled my resolve to not only succeed but to advocate for others in similar situations. ...
Review: The Holiness of Ordinary People – by Madeleine Delbrêl
Kathryn Rose writes: Madeleine Delbrêl's *The Holiness of Ordinary People* offers a profound exploration of spirituality in everyday life, providing readers with an insightful reflection on how ordinary people can live out their faith in the world. Delbrêl, a French Catholic social worker, writer, and mystic, draws from her own life experiences working in the streets of Ivry, a working-class suburb of Paris, to share her observations on the holiness found in the mundane. ...
East meets West – a reflective faith journey from China to London
Jenny Clarke writes: I was brought up as an atheist. I remember that at the age of 10, I made a vow to devote my life to communism, and I received a red scarf, which signifies my status as a member of the Young Pioneers of China. In a way, this ceremony is very similar to a standard confirmation service in my church. We had 12 children from the local parish school confirmed on 12th May 2024, but I hardly saw them afterwards in the church on Sundays. This is not a criticism. Turning up to Sunday mass week by week requires sacrifice. Those youngsters will have had to miss football clubs, Sunday TV, weekends away or other fun. Sometimes, I struggle to go to mass, so I shouldn’t offer to take the speck out of others' eyes before taking out the beams of my own. ...
Review: What Christ? Whose Christ? Alan Race & Jonathan Clatworthy (Editors)
Jason Plessas writes: For a book that sets the Nicene Creed among other things in its sights, What Christ? Whose Christ? reads in some ways like a credal rededication to the founding principles of Modern Church, the liberal Christian theological society to which its editors Alan Race and Jonathan Clatworthy belong. The pair’s introduction relays the book’s antecedence in a 1921 conference at Girton College, Cambridge, entitled ‘Christ and the Creeds’, held by a group of Anglican modernists called the Churchman’s Union which across the ‘20s “debated, and largely doubted…the physical resurrection of Jesus, the Virgin Birth, miracles and the realist and ransom doctrines of the Atonement”. Race and Clatworthy enthusiastically adopt the CU’s mantle, as the book “continues this spirit of critical enquiry first highlighted at the turn of the twentieth century and yet often still resisted at the turn of the twenty-first.” Where is this Churchman’s Union then, you might ask, if its work of the last century goes uncompleted in this one? It became ecumenical and now operates under a different name. You guessed it: it’s Modern Church, of course! In its promises of bearing the flame of theological free enquiry, What Christ? Whose Christ? does not disappoint. ...
Roman coins in the Gospels and their significance, or Bringing the Gospels up to date — through coins
Dr. Richard Reece writes: We see inflation everywhere, but because it is a particularly present problem we tend to ignore its effects in published commentaries. This means that early translations of the Gospels have an unfortunate effect on our picture of the time of Jesus. In the earliest translations it was reasonable, if a little 'antiquarian', to equate the Roman denarius often mentioned in the Gospels with the silver penny. But that has stuck so that the sermon or homily can seriously suggest that the value of the coin remains 1p. Brave commentators realise that things need to be brought up to date ...
A new way of reading John
The Rev'd Andy Rowland writes: By disregarding the Bible’s divisions into chapters, we can recapture some of the impact that John in particular made on his first audiences. The shorter letters at the end of the New Testament may give a clue as to the natural length of a piece of writing in the early church, and how that might be used to re-read John. ...
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.