Re-Formed Catholic Anglicanism

by Charles F Camlin (editor), Charles D Erlandson (editor), Joshua L Harper (editor)

For Anglicans, the words reform and catholic go together; the English Reformation was more about reforming, or better re-forming, the Medieval Western Church where she had drifted away from the Ancient Church. It was an effort to return or to restore what is catholic or truly universal to the Christian faith. An English Bishop named John Jewel (Salisbury) in his classic, Apology for the Church of England (1562), simply described English Christianity as based "in the Holy Gospel, the Ancient Bishops, and the Primitive Church." It was not about completely throwing out what existed. Nor was it about creating new theology or new structures. It was about recovering or returning to the model of the Undivided Church. Even the method was reformed catholic according to the motto of the day, "back to the sources" (ad fontes). The sources for Anglicans were the Holy Scriptures and the early church fathers. And by means of these sources, the reformed catholic model of Anglicanism was to re-form the Medieval Western Church by returning to the Catholic faith. The essays in this volume present a Re-formed Catholic Anglican approach on a number of foundational topics such as hermeneutics and the interpretation of Scripture, theology, spirituality, worship and the prayer book, the doctrine of the church and the sacraments, and a variety of biographical and historical examples in terms of scholars and movements important to Anglicanism.

478 pages, Paperback

Published July 9, 2024

Reviews

[Scott Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for those interested in an academic understanding of Anglican (Anglo-Catholic) distinctives in leu of all the liberalism found today. It is also a necessary read for those who consider Anglicanism a stepping stone to Rome or the East.

While a contributor to many chapters, Gerald McDermott's book Deep Anglicanism makes Re-Formed Catholic Anglicanism look like the ocean in comparison to a pond. Bishop Sutton's chapters were especially helpful.

The first half is entirely focused on Anglican theology while the second half contains shorter chapters covering key figures in Anglican history and the works they contributed.