Via media is a Latin phrase meaning "the middle road" or the "way between (and avoiding or reconciling) two extremes".
79-591: An apostolate is a Christian organization "directed to serving and evangelizing the world", most often associated with the Anglican Communion or the Catholic Church . In more general usage, an apostolate is an association of persons dedicated to the propagation of a religion or a doctrine. The word apostolate comes from the Greek word apostello , which means to "send forth" or "to dispatch". The Christian origin of
158-455: A sacrament ; or the celebration of liturgy and all that pertains to the liturgical functioning of the Church; as such it is specific to those with Holy Orders. Laity have a different role, namely, to spread the truth of Christianity in the world through whatever means they can — this is properly called an apostolate. An example of a Catholic apostolate is Catholic Answers , run by laity whose mission
237-639: A "decisive change" in Hooker’s hands. Later theologians analysed Hooker's approach to the particular doctrine of justification by faith as a middle way between the predestinationism of the extreme Calvinists and Lutheran and Arminian doctrines. The Oxford Movement recast this via media as a middle way not within Protestantism but between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. Its application to early Anglicanism has remained current in Anglican discourse. Some of
316-560: A conservative view on the issue. The 1930 conference, the first to be held since the initial legalisation of abortion in Europe (in Russia in 1920), stated: The Conference further records its abhorrence of the sinful practice of abortion. The 1958 conference's Family in Contemporary Society report affirmed the following position on abortion and was commended by the 1968 conference: In
395-603: A fellowship of conservative Anglican churches, has appointed "missionary bishops" in response to the disagreements with the perceived liberalisation in the Anglican churches in North America and Europe. In 2023, ten archbishops within the Anglican Communion and two breakaway churches in North America and Brazil from the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) declared a state of impaired communion with
474-553: A middle way between Rome and Protestantism itself. In justification of its idea of a via media , the Oxford Movement attributed this position to the works of the Elizabethan theologian Richard Hooker and in particular his book Lawes of Ecclesiastical Polity , which is accepted as a founding work on Anglican theology, a view of Hooker promoted by John Keble , who was one of the first to argue that English theology underwent such
553-510: A reputation as "the classic depiction of the English via media based upon the sound triumvirate of scripture, reason and tradition", the actual term via media nowhere appears in the work (written in English). Hooker's work concerned the form of Protestant church government as an argument against the extreme advocates of Puritanism , arguing that elements of Church of England practice condemned by
632-620: A same-sex civil partnership. The Church of Ireland recognised that it will "treat civil partners the same as spouses". The Anglican Church of Australia does not have an official position on homosexuality. The conservative Anglican churches encouraging the realignment movement are more concentrated in the Global South. For example, the Anglican Church of Kenya , the Church of Nigeria and the Church of Uganda have opposed homosexuality. GAFCON ,
711-651: A term of apologetics . The idea of a middle way , was proposed first, early in the Protestant Reformation , as between the Protestant traditions of Lutheranism and Reformed Christianity ; subsequently by Richard Hooker as between Puritan and rump Roman Catholic practises; then by Bishop Hall as between the Calvinist and Arminianist beliefs; and finally by the Tractarians as between Roman Catholicism and
790-408: A way connecting two opposing extremes, rather than in the sense of a golden mean or Goldilocks principle . This is the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: man, mediator, and way. Because if there is a via media between him who strives and that to whom he strives, there is hope of reaching it. Boethius has been associated with a variant of the term: Non est medium via (There
869-542: Is also the oldest surviving non-Roman Catholic church in the New World . It remained part of the Church of England until 1978 when the Anglican Church of Bermuda was formed. The Church of England was the established church not only in England, but in its trans-Oceanic colonies. Thus the only member churches of the present Anglican Communion existing by the mid-18th century were the Church of England, its closely linked sister church
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#1732852651366948-474: Is both Catholic and Reformed . Most of its members live in the Anglosphere of former British territories. Full participation in the sacramental life of each church is available to all communicant members. Because of their historical link to England ( ecclesia anglicana means "English church"), some of the member churches are known as "Anglican", such as the Anglican Church of Canada . Others, for example
1027-484: Is fully independent, retaining its own legislative process and episcopal polity under the leadership of local primates . For many adherents, Anglicanism represents a distinct form of Reformed Protestantism that emerged under the influence of the Reformer Thomas Cranmer , or for yet others, a via media between two branches of Protestantism— Lutheranism and Calvinism —and for others, a denomination that
1106-486: Is no middle way) discussing a life tending to the godly or tending to the bestial. [2] French theologian and humanist Jean Gerson wrote in his On the Consolation of Theology (1418) about the via media et regia : the middle and royal way. Divine providence and human free will each have a mediating relation on the other: God saves those who humbly condemn themselves as incapacitated but seek him. The middle and royal way
1185-474: Is of hope between despair and presumptuousness. Erasmus of Rotterdam's irenic but anti-fanatic approach is often classed as a via media , however this can be weighed against his repeated denial of leading a movement or setting up a new church, and may be described as extreme tolerance within Catholic borders . The term via media is frequently claimed by Anglican proponents, though not without debate, as
1264-692: Is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Catholicism in the world. Similarly, an example of an Anglican apostolate is The Saint Martin Apostolate of Prayer, whose aim is the "sanctification of all priests through the continual offering of prayers on their behalf by the faithful." Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Formally founded in 1867 in London,
1343-605: The Act of Supremacy 1559 ). The Church of England has always thought of itself not as a new foundation but rather as a reformed continuation of the ancient "English Church" ( Ecclesia Anglicana ) and a reassertion of that church's rights. As such it was a distinctly national phenomenon. The Church of Scotland was formed as a separate church from the Roman Catholic Church as a result of the Scottish Reformation in 1560 and
1422-525: The Church of Ireland (which also separated from Roman Catholicism under Henry VIII) and the Scottish Episcopal Church which for parts of the 17th and 18th centuries was partially underground (it was suspected of Jacobite sympathies). The enormous expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries of the British Empire brought Anglicanism along with it. At first all these colonial churches were under
1501-477: The Church of Ireland and the Scottish and American Episcopal churches, have official names that do not include "Anglican". Conversely, some churches that do use the name "Anglican" are not part of the communion. These have generally disaffiliated over disagreement with the direction of the communion. The Anglican Communion traces much of its growth to the older mission organisations of the Church of England such as
1580-460: The Delphic maxim nothing to excess and subsequent Ancient Greek philosophy where Aristotle (384–322 BCE) taught moderation , urging his students to follow the middle road between extremes, the via media was the dominant philosophical precept by which Ancient Roman civilisation and society was organised. Augustine 's The City of God (chapter 11) uses the phrase via media in the sense of
1659-467: The Episcopal Church (US) consecrated an openly gay bishop in a same-sex relationship, Gene Robinson , in 2003, which led some Episcopalians to defect and found the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA); then, the debate reignited when the Church of England agreed to allow clergy to enter into same-sex civil partnerships , as long as they remained celibate, in 2005. The Church of Nigeria opposed
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#17328526513661738-653: The Magisterial Reformers . Historian Hugh Trevor-Roper has argued that the doctrinal history of the English Church is marked by discontinuities. The idea of the Anglican middle way may also be associated to the teachings of theologians such as Martin Bucer , Thomas Cranmer and Heinrich Bullinger who advocated a religious solution in which secular authority would hold the ring in the religious dispute, and ensure political stability. Anglicanism, which emerged out of
1817-524: The Presbyterian churches). Instead, Anglicans have typically appealed to the Book of Common Prayer (1662) and its offshoots as a guide to Anglican theology and practise. This has had the effect of inculcating in Anglican identity and confession the principle of lex orandi, lex credendi ("the law of praying [is] the law of believing"). Protracted conflict through the 17th century, with radical Protestants on
1896-815: The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (founded 1698), the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (founded 1701) and the Church Missionary Society (founded 1799). The Church of England (which until the 20th century included the Church in Wales ) initially separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 in the reign of Henry VIII , reunited briefly in 1555 under Mary I and then separated again in 1570 under Elizabeth I (the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Elizabeth I in 1570 in response to
1975-570: The one, holy, catholic and apostolic church , with worship being based on the Book of Common Prayer . As in the Church of England itself, the Anglican Communion includes the broad spectrum of beliefs and liturgical practises found in the Evangelical , Central and Anglo-Catholic traditions of Anglicanism; both the larger Reformed Anglican and the smaller Arminian Anglican theological perspectives have been represented. Each national or regional church
2054-463: The Anglican Communion, but the GSFA reiterated that they intend to remain in the Anglican Communion. Debates about social theology and ethics have occurred at the same time as debates on prayer book revision and the acceptable grounds for achieving full communion with non-Anglican churches. The Anglican Communion has no official legal existence nor any governing structure that might exercise authority over
2133-506: The Anglican Communion. In a watershed moment, on 20 February 2023, following the decision of the Church of England to allow priests to bless same-sex partnerships, ten communion provinces and Anglican realignment churches within the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches released a statement stating that they had declared " impaired communion " with the Church of England and no longer recognised Justin Welby as "first among equals" among
2212-676: The Anglican church—the Book of Homilies, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion—expresses a theology in keeping with the Reformed theology of the Swiss and South German Reformation." The Most Rev. Peter Robinson, presiding bishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America , writes: Cranmer's personal journey of faith left its mark on the Church of England in
2291-646: The Church of Ceylon to begin planning for the formation of an autonomous province of Ceylon, so as to end his current position as metropolitan of the two dioceses in that country. In addition to other member churches, the churches of the Anglican Communion are in full communion with the Old Catholic churches of the Union of Utrecht and the Scandinavian Lutheran churches of the Porvoo Communion in Europe,
2370-736: The Church of England accepts the doctrine of predestination and election as a 'comfort to the faithful' but warn against over much speculation concerning that doctrine. Indeed a casual reading of the Wurttemburg Confession of 1551, the Second Helvetic Confession, the Scots Confession of 1560, and the XXXIX Articles of Religion reveal them to be cut from the same bolt of cloth. A recent scholarly study points out that, while Richard Hooker 's Law of Ecclesiastical Polity has
2449-477: The Church of England and announced that they would no longer recognise the archbishop of Canterbury as the "first among equals" among the bishops in the Anglican Communion. However, in the same statement, the ten archbishops said that they would not leave the Anglican Communion. In 2024, the GSFA met again establishing "a new structure," no longer recognising the Archbishop of Canterbury "as the de facto leader" of
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2528-472: The Church of England's General Synod voted to support allowing clergy to enter in civil same-sex marriages. In 2023, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa's bishops approved the drafting of prayers that could be said with same-sex couples and the draft prayers were published for consideration in 2024. The Church of Ireland has no official position on civil unions, and one senior cleric has entered into
2607-471: The Church of England. Most, but not all, member churches of the communion are the historic national or regional Anglican churches. The Anglican Communion was officially and formally organised and recognised as such at the Lambeth Conference in 1867 in London under the leadership of Charles Longley , Archbishop of Canterbury. The churches of the Anglican Communion consider themselves to be part of
2686-410: The Church of England; but even this small beginning greatly facilitated the growth of Anglicanism around the world. In 1841, a "Colonial Bishoprics Council" was set up and soon many more dioceses were created. In time, it became natural to group these into provinces and a metropolitan bishop was appointed for each province. Although it had at first been somewhat established in many colonies, in 1861 it
2765-523: The Church of Sweden an evangelical-catholic church was to Archbishop Söderblom the fact that the Reformation in Sweden was a 'church improvement' and a 'process of purification' which did not create a new church. As a national church, the Church of Sweden succeeded in bringing together medieval Swedish tradition with the rediscovery of the gospel which the Reformation brought with it. Archbishop Söderblom included
2844-485: The English Reformation, was originally seen as a via media between two forms of Protestantism— Lutheranism and Reformed Christianity . Thomas Cranmer , the Archbishop of Canterbury who played a chief role in shaping Anglicanism, sought a middle way between Lutheranism and Calvinism, though he was closer to Calvinism. Historic Anglicanism is a part of the wider Reformed tradition, as "the founding documents of
2923-689: The Episcopal Church's decision as well as the Church of England's approval for celibate civil partnerships. "The more liberal provinces that are open to changing Church doctrine on marriage in order to allow for same-sex unions include Brazil , Canada , New Zealand , Scotland , South India , South Africa , the US and Wales ". In 2023, the Church of England announced that it will authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples". The Church of England also permits clergy to enter into same-sex civil partnerships. In 2024,
3002-704: The India-based Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian and Malabar Independent Syrian churches and the Philippine Independent Church , also known as the Aglipayan Church. The churches of the Anglican Communion have traditionally held that ordination in the historic episcopate is a core element in the validity of clerical ordinations. The Roman Catholic Church, however, does not recognise Anglican orders (see Apostolicae curae ). Some Eastern Orthodox churches have issued statements to
3081-523: The Nordic Lutheran Churches, chiefly the national churches of Sweden , Finland and Norway , likewise consider themselves as via media churches. The latter professes its faith as "truly catholic, truly reformed, truly evangelical", a statement likewise echoed in the Canons of the Church of Sweden which states that the faith, confession and teachings of the Church are understood as an expression of
3160-734: The Old and New Testaments, as "containing all things necessary to salvation," and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith. (b) The Apostles' Creed , as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed , as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith. (c) The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself – Baptism and the Supper of the Lord – ministered with unfailing use of Christ's Words of Institution , and of
3239-814: The Puritans, in particular the Book of Common Prayer and the institution of bishops , are proper and accord with Scripture. Bishop of Norwich Joseph Hall (1574–1656) wrote a book Via Media: The Way of Peace, in the five Busy Articles, Commonly Known by the Name of Arminius (1619) in which he argued that Article 6 of the 39 Articles , Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation , precluded adopting officially any doctrine like irresistible grace that were not clear or explicit in Scripture. Two centuries later,
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3318-486: The agreement of the communion prior to these steps being taken. In response, the American Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada answered that the actions had been undertaken after lengthy scriptural and theological reflection, legally in accordance with their own canons and constitutions and after extensive consultation with the provinces of the communion. The Primates' Meeting voted to request
3397-549: The archbishop of Canterbury's refusal to be in communion with the affected jurisdictions. In line with the suggestion of the Windsor Report , Rowan Williams (the then archbishop of Canterbury) established a working group to examine the feasibility of an Anglican covenant which would articulate the conditions for communion in some fashion. The Anglican Communion consists of forty-two autonomous provinces each with its own primate and governing structure. These provinces may take
3476-517: The autonomous provinces of the communion. Taken together, however, the four do function as "instruments of communion", since all churches of the communion participate in them. In order of antiquity, they are: Since there is no binding authority in the Anglican Communion, these international bodies are a vehicle for consultation and persuasion. In recent times, persuasion has tipped over into debates over conformity in certain areas of doctrine, discipline, worship and ethics. The most notable example has been
3555-568: The bishops of the communion. Some effects of the Anglican Communion's dispersed authority have been differences of opinion (and conflicts) arising over divergent practices and doctrines in parts of the communion. Disputes that had been confined to the Church of England could be dealt with legislatively in that realm, but as the communion spread out into new countries and territories, and disparate cultures, controversies often multiplied and intensified. These controversies have generally been of two types: liturgical and social. Rapid social change and
3634-485: The catholic Christian faith. It further states that this does not serve to create a new, confessionally peculiar interpretation, but concerns the apostolic faith as carried down through the traditions of the Church. These sentiment of these churches as a via media are expressed outright in the Common Statement of the Porvoo Communion , a communion of European Anglican and Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches: What made
3713-405: The church; but it agreed to pass only advisory resolutions. These Lambeth Conferences have been held roughly every ten years since 1878 (the second such conference) and remain the most visible coming-together of the whole communion. The Lambeth Conference of 1998 included what has been seen by Philip Jenkins and others as a "watershed in global Christianity". The 1998 Lambeth Conference considered
3792-544: The colonies which remained linked to the crown, the Church of England began to appoint colonial bishops. In 1787, Charles Inglis ( Bishop of Nova Scotia ) was appointed with a jurisdiction over all of British North America; in time several more colleagues were appointed to other cities in present-day Canada. In 1814, a bishop of Calcutta was made; in 1824 the first bishop was sent to the West Indies and in 1836 to Australia. By 1840 there were still only ten colonial bishops for
3871-554: The communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The traditional origins of Anglican doctrine are summarised in the Thirty-nine Articles (1571) and The Books of Homilies . The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, recognised as primus inter pares ("first among equals"), but does not exercise authority in Anglican provinces outside of
3950-430: The communion together: first, the shared ecclesial structure of the component churches, manifested in an episcopal polity maintained through the apostolic succession of bishops and synodical government; second, the principle of belief expressed in worship, investing importance in approved prayer books and their rubrics; and third, the historical documents and the writings of early Anglican divines that have influenced
4029-419: The communion's bishops, first convened in 1867 by Charles Longley , the archbishop of Canterbury. From the beginning, these were not intended to displace the autonomy of the emerging provinces of the communion, but to "discuss matters of practical interest, and pronounce what we deem expedient in resolutions which may serve as safe guides to future action". One of the enduringly influential early resolutions of
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#17328526513664108-551: The conference was the so-called Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888. Its intent was to provide the basis for discussions of reunion with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, but it had the ancillary effect of establishing parameters of Anglican identity. It establishes four principles with these words: That, in the opinion of this Conference, the following Articles supply a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing made towards Home Reunion: (a) The Holy Scriptures of
4187-481: The development of the modern communion was the idea of the Lambeth Conferences (discussed above). These conferences demonstrated that the bishops of disparate churches could manifest the unity of the church in their episcopal collegiality despite the absence of universal legal ties. Some bishops were initially reluctant to attend, fearing that the meeting would declare itself a council with power to legislate for
4266-417: The dissipation of British cultural hegemony over its former colonies contributed to disputes over the role of women, and the parameters of marriage and divorce. In the late 1970s, the Continuing Anglican movement produced a number of new church bodies in opposition to women's ordination , prayer book changes, and the new understandings concerning marriage. The first such controversy of note concerned that of
4345-413: The effect that Anglican orders could be accepted, yet have still reordained former Anglican clergy; other Eastern Orthodox churches have rejected Anglican orders altogether. Orthodox bishop Kallistos Ware explains this apparent discrepancy as follows: Anglican clergy who join the Orthodox Church are reordained; but [some Orthodox churches hold that] if Anglicanism and Orthodoxy were to reach full unity in
4424-494: The elements ordained by Him. (d) The Historic Episcopate , locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the Unity of His Church. As mentioned above, the Anglican Communion has no international juridical organisation. The archbishop of Canterbury's role is strictly symbolic and unifying and the communion's three international bodies are consultative and collaborative, their resolutions having no legal effect on
4503-427: The episcopate's role in manifesting visible catholicity and ecumenism. Early in its development following the English Reformation , Anglicanism developed a vernacular prayer book, called the Book of Common Prayer . Unlike other traditions, Anglicanism has never been governed by a magisterium nor by appeal to one founding theologian, nor by an extra-credal summary of doctrine (such as the Westminster Confession of
4582-422: The ethos of the communion, an ethos reinforced by its interpretation and expansion by such influential early theologians such as Richard Hooker , Lancelot Andrewes and John Cosin . With the expansion of the British Empire and the growth of Anglicanism outside Great Britain and Ireland, the communion sought to establish new vehicles of unity. The first major expressions of this were the Lambeth Conferences of
4661-424: The ethos of the communion. Originally, the Church of England was self-contained and relied for its unity and identity on its own history, its traditional legal and episcopal structure, and its status as an established church of the state. As such, Anglicanism was from the outset a movement with an explicitly episcopal polity, a characteristic that has been vital in maintaining the unity of the communion by conveying
4740-484: The faith, perhaps such reordination might not be found necessary. It should be added, however, that a number of individual Orthodox theologians hold that under no circumstances would it be possible to recognise the validity of Anglican Orders. Via media Its use in English is highly associated with Anglican self-characterization, or as a philosophical maxim for life akin to the golden mean which advocates moderation in all thoughts and actions. Originating from
4819-452: The form of a Liturgy that remains to this day more closely allied to Lutheran practice, but that liturgy is couple to a doctrinal stance that is broadly, but decidedly Reformed. ... The 42 Articles of 1552 and the 39 Articles of 1563, both commit the Church of England to the fundamentals of the Reformed Faith. Both sets of Articles affirm the centrality of Scripture, and take a monergist position on Justification. Both sets of Articles affirm that
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#17328526513664898-403: The form of national churches (such as in Canada, Uganda, or Japan) or a collection of nations (such as the West Indies , Central Africa, or Southeast Asia). In addition to the forty-two provinces, there are five extraprovincial churches under the metropolitical authority of the archbishop of Canterbury. In September 2020, the Archbishop of Canterbury announced that he had asked the bishops of
4977-514: The growing influence of the Catholic Revival manifested in the Tractarian and so-called Ritualist controversies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This controversy produced the Free Church of England and, in the United States and Canada, the Reformed Episcopal Church . While individual Anglicans and member churches within the communion differ in good faith over the circumstances in which abortion should or should not be permitted, Lambeth Conference resolutions have consistently held to
5056-564: The hierarchy, sacraments and liturgy. (A hypothesis, a substitute for direct evidence and hard reasoning) is the Via Media, a possible road, lying between a mountain and a morass, to be driven through formidable obstacles, if it is to exist, by the boldness and skill of the engineers. It is projected and planned for a definite necessity, the necessity of the Anglican position, except for which it would never have been imagined; and, as many other projects and plans, it may be made to look very fair on paper. Newman's tracts in particular used
5135-410: The issue of the theology of same-sex attraction in relation to human sexuality. At this 1998 conference for the first time in centuries the Christians of developing regions, especially, Africa, Asia and Latin America, prevailed over the bishops of more prosperous countries (many from the US, Canada and the UK) who supported a redefinition of Anglican doctrine. Seen in this light, 1998 is a date that marked
5214-415: The jurisdiction of the bishop of London . After the American Revolution , the parishes in the newly independent country found it necessary to break formally from a church whose supreme governor was (and remains) the British monarch . Thus they formed their own dioceses and national church, the Episcopal Church in the United States of America , in a mostly amicable separation. At about the same time, in
5293-405: The later formation of the Scottish Episcopal Church began in 1582 in the reign of James VI over disagreements about the role of bishops. The oldest-surviving Anglican church building outside the British Isles (Britain and Ireland) is St Peter's Church in St George's , Bermuda , established in 1612 (though the actual building had to be rebuilt several times over the following century). This
5372-399: The member churches. There is an Anglican Communion Office in London, under the aegis of the archbishop of Canterbury , but it serves only in a supporting and organisational role. The communion is held together by a shared history, expressed in its ecclesiology , polity and ethos , and also by participation in international consultative bodies. Three elements have been important in holding
5451-508: The need for "programmes at diocesan level, involving both men and women ... to emphasise the sacredness of all human life, the moral issues inherent in clinical abortion, and the possible implications of genetic engineering." In the context of debates around and proposals for the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide , the 1998 conference affirmed that "life is God-given and has intrinsic sanctity, significance and worth". More recently, disagreements over homosexuality have strained
5530-422: The objection of many provinces of the communion (particularly in Africa and Asia) to the changing acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals in the North American churches (e.g., by blessing same-sex unions and ordaining and consecrating same-sex relationships) and to the process by which changes were undertaken. (See Anglican realignment ) Those who objected condemned these actions as unscriptural, unilateral, and without
5609-467: The one hand and Roman Catholics who recognised the primacy of the Pope on the other, resulted in an association of churches that was both deliberately vague about doctrinal principles, yet bold in developing parameters of acceptable deviation. These parameters were most clearly articulated in the various rubrics of the successive prayer books, as well as the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (1563). These articles have historically shaped and continue to direct
5688-583: The phrase was used by John Henry Newman in setting out his influential views on Anglicanism , as part of the argument he brought forward with the Tractarian movement. Via Media was the title of a series of the Tracts for Today , published by Newman around 1834 and expanded into published lectures. Newman, at that time, claimed that Anglican Church is, or could be, Catholic because it adopts Reformation theology without Roman accretions, but Apostolic because it kept
5767-525: The shift from a West-dominated Christianity to one wherein the growing churches of the two-thirds world are predominant. Many of the provinces in developed countries have continued to adopt more liberal stances on sexuality and other issues, resulting in a number of de facto schisms, such the series of splits which led to the creation of the Anglican Church in North America . Many churches are now in full communion with only some other churches but not others, although all churches continue to claim to be part of
5846-446: The strongest terms Christians reject the practice of induced abortion or infanticide, which involves the killing of a life already conceived (as well as a violation of the personality of the mother), save at the dictate of strict and undeniable medical necessity ... the sacredness of life is, in Christian eyes, an absolute which should not be violated. The subsequent Lambeth Conference, in 1978, made no change to this position and commended
5925-652: The title to pay homage to the inception of the Thirty-Nine Articles and in so doing claim that the Tractarian movement was of the same vein as early Church of England scholars and theologians. They examined the Elizabethan Settlement and reinterpreted it as a compromise between Rome and Reform. The Tractarians promoted the idea of Anglicanism as a middle way between the extremes of Protestantism and Catholicism , which became later an idea of Anglicanism as
6004-590: The two churches to withdraw their delegates from the 2005 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. Canada and the United States decided to attend the meeting but without exercising their right to vote. They have not been expelled or suspended, since there is no mechanism in this voluntary association to suspend or expel an independent province of the communion. Since membership is based on a province's communion with Canterbury, expulsion would require
6083-560: The unity of the communion as well as its relationships with other Christian denominations, leading to another round of withdrawals from the Anglican Communion. Some churches were founded outside the Anglican Communion in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, largely in opposition to the ordination of openly homosexual bishops and other clergy and are usually referred to as belonging to the Anglican realignment movement, or else as "orthodox" Anglicans. These disagreements were especially noted when
6162-411: The word comes from the twelve apostles who were selected by Christ; they had a "special vocation, a formal appointment of the Lord to a determined office, with connected authority and duties". An apostolate can be a Christian organization made up of the laity or of a specific Christian religious order . Within Anglican theology and Catholic theology , "ministry" pertains to the administration of
6241-433: Was ruled that, except where specifically established, the Church of England had just the same legal position as any other church. Thus a colonial bishop and colonial diocese was by nature quite a different thing from their counterparts back home. In time bishops came to be appointed locally rather than from England and eventually national synods began to pass ecclesiastical legislation independent of England. A crucial step in
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