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St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
ANGLICANISM
Lecture Series Led By Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, October 22, 2006

Anglicanism, Session 5, notes

Mark Chapman (p. 58) discusses the formation of church parties, which he distinguishes from earlier movements within the C of E. He says, “What characterized the modern church party was its clamor for an authority and an identity that was distinct from the wider church and nation, and where partisan identity was sometimes as important, or even more important, than ecclesiastical identity.” This developed during a time when being a church member began to be seen as requiring more of a commitment than simply being an Englishman. The two dominant movements, leading to a “party spirit”, were Evangelicalism and Anglo-Catholicism.

Evangelicalism “was marked by a form of religious authenticity based on the security of a personal religious experience as a mark of authenticity.” (Chapman, p. 59) Taking inspiration from the leaders of The Great Awakening of the 18th century, and especially from the Wesleys and others within the Anglican tradition, they began working for changes in the church.

In reaction to the image of humanity presented by the Enlightenment, Evangelicals viewed people as fallen and depraved, and in need of salvation. Accepting Christ as Savior was the only way.

Among the prominent leaders of Evangelicalism were John Venn, William Wilberforce and Hannah More. They gathered at Clapham and became known as “the Clapham Sect.” They pushed for social changes, as well as changes of interior attitudes. Wilberforce, as an MP, is best known for his work in helping to abolish slavery in the UK. They used creative ways, both in Parliament and in society itself, to continue pushing for Abolition. Moorman (pp. 320-321) mentions that they would, for example, invite people to dinner; as the guests ate, they would find written at the bottom of their soup bowls the words “Abolish all slavery.” They also distributed fliers with a picture of a black man and the simple caption “A man and a brother.” In 1833, Parliament abolished all slavery throughout the British Empire.

Several members of the Evangelical movement established “The Society for the Suppression of Vice” which worked for changes in laws on the local level as well.

The Evangelicals came to make more and more of a clear distinction between those who were on the inside and those who were on the outside. “Are you saved?” “Conversion soon became the test of Evangelical belonging; testifying and witnessing to a change of heart, and allowing this change of heart to control one’s whole life, dominated Evangelical piety; the chief object of preaching was to win over converts.” (Chapman, p. 62)

Some of the Evangelicals, led by Charles Simeon, founded the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1799. It began work in parts of Africa and in India. They brought an Evangelical approach to faith and the Church which sometimes contrasted with that promoted by the SPG. The CMS established Sierra Leone as a home for slaves who had been freed.

The Church in England was in great need of reform by the 1820s, but people differed on what form those reforms should take. It was seen a corrupt and greedy with little or no concern for ordinary people and especially for the poor. According to Moorman (p. 330), “Bishops were burned in effigy, the palace at Bristol was destroyed by the mob, and crowds cheered when a speaker proposed that Canterbury Cathedral should be turned into stables for the cavalry. Politicians kept telling the Church that she must put her own house in order, and implied that unless she did so it would be done for her by others. But little was done; for, while some clamored for reform, others saw the Church a bulwark against revolution and chaos and were afraid to start on reforms which might lead further than what was anticipated.” The Evangelicals began to work for reform from within the Church.

Chapman, pp. 65-66: “Many Evangelicals in the first years of the 19th century began to interpret Scripture in terms of the supposed prediction of the end-times. A revolutionary age led many to read their own times using the Book of Revelation as a guide.”

Evangelical leader Henry Venn spoke of the Bible as the “infallible word of God”; yet true fundamentalism with an attempted literal reading of the Bible did not arise until the late 19th century. Literal inerrancy became the hallmark of the newspaper The Record, and it eventually became the dominant form of Evangelicalism.

As the years went by, some of the more prominent Evangelicals began to seek and assert more and more power in the Church and, where possible, in the government. As Chapman points out (p. 67), they began to show open hostility to anyone who did not give, what they perceived to be, sufficient support for their particular points of view. They became virulently anti-Roman and insisted that the first duty of clergy was to protect the Church from anything that, in their minds, even vaguely resembled Romanism.

By the 20th century, the Evangelicals had adopted a fortress-like mentality, one which continued through most of the century. During the 1960s, however, there came a split in adherents of the movement. Some of them continued to retreat into their fortresses, clinging to ultra-conservative view on such topics as the interpretation of scripture, the ordination of women and homosexuality. Many others, however, tried to end their isolation and to bring a more moderate form of Evangelicalism into the mainstream of the C of E. One of their number, George Carey, even served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991-2003.

During the 19th century, there arose another important movement in the C of E which was often diametrically opposed to Evangelicalism. It became know as Anglo-Catholicism. It found its beginnings in the Oxford Movement.

Like Evangelicalism, Anglo-Catholicism began as a response to a crisis of authority. Evangelicalism began to focus on the authority of the individual, converted heart and on a particular interpretation of scripture. Anglo-Catholicism focused instead on the Church as a visible, ordered society.

Like so many other movements before it, the Oxford Movement began in response to a change in society and in government. Parliament and other parts of the government began to include more and more dissenters and Roman Catholics, yet it continued to decide issue concerning the C of E. Chapman (pp. 76-77) cites the move to consolidate the sees in Ireland. John Henry Newman traced the beginning of the Oxford Movement to the July 14, 1833, sermon of John Keble in which he spoke of a “National Apostasy.” It emphasized the independence of the Church, and focused its attention on the ordained ministry and the sacraments. (Keble was a Professor of Poetry who specialized in the Caroline Divines and had done extensive study of the writings of Richard Hooker.)

Founded primarily by historians, like Newman, it emphasized the need to study the Church Fathers and other writings reflecting early Church tradition. It asserted that the undivided Church of the first few centuries provided the timeless example of authentic Christianity. It allowed for a broader approach to the interpretation of scripture than that taken by the Evangelicals, calling the Church once again to a reliance on scripture, tradition and reason.

Newman began publishing a series of “Tracts for the Times” which gave the Movement the name “Tractarianism.” He was later joined in his efforts by Richard Froude and Edward Pusey. The series began to emphasize the Church of England as the “Via Media.” They criticized the Evangelicals emphasis on the necessity of an adult conversion, showing that this was not the teaching of the early Church nor of the leaders of the Reformation.

Keble insisted that, because of apostolic succession, the C of E was “the only church in the realm which has a right to be quite sure that she has the Lord’s Body to give to his people.” Participants in the movement focused on the unique role of bishops as the successors to the apostles in leading the Church. They saw the state as essentially betraying the Church, and asserted the need for the Church to defend itself and to exercise authority over itself.

In the late 1830s, the movement’s work began to have a significant effect on the Church’s liturgy and architecture. It emphasized a move away from some of the rather plain styles that had been favored by the Calvinists and, later, by the Evangelicals, and toward a richer style of architecture and worship alike. The altars and chancel areas were elevated and more highly decorated. Rented pews and special places of seating were removed and were replaced with simple pews that were used by all members of the congregation. All were to be given a full view of the altar. Baptismal fonts were moved to the west end of the nave. Organs began to replace parish bands.

Edward Pusey became the leader of the Movement and led a revival of the liturgy. Adherents of the movement began using liturgical vestments and, in a then-controversial move that was subsequently taken to court, began placing candles on the altars and using flowers to decorate it. There was also a heated controversy over the movement’s use of “S.” instead of “St.” before the names of saints: a practice that was strongly denounced by the Evangelicals.

Chapman (p. 84) quotes Lord Shaftsbury, an Evangelical leader in Parliament as declaring indignantly about worship in one Anglo-Catholic church: “In outward form and ritual, it is the worship of Jupiter and Juno. [It was] such a scene of theatrical gymnastics, and signing, screaming, genuflections, and strange movements of the priests, their backs almost always to the people, as I never saw before even in a Roman temple… The communicants went up to the tune of soft music, as though it had been a melodrama, and one was astonished, at the close, that there was no fall of the curtain.” Anglo-Catholic churches were condemned and taken to court for the use of incense and “excessive kneeling” for the use of wafers for bread, and for mixing water with the wine during the Eucharist.

The Episcopal Church, in its 1844 General Convention, debated a resolution condemning the Oxford Movement. The Evangelicals, who then dominated and who continued to insist on the necessity of an adult conversion experience, were up in arms against it. Nine dioceses, including the Diocese of Ohio (there was as yet no Diocese of Southern Ohio), voted in favor of the resolution; 12 voted against it; and six were split. Bishop Philander Chase warned against the “dreadful perversions” of Rome that he thought were part of the Movement. In the end, a watered-down resolution was adopted; the convention was unwilling to rule against the Movement. Many of the bishops were in favor of the strong emphasis on the episcopacy found in the Tracts. In the House of Deputies, the Evangelicals likewise found that they did not have the votes to dominate.

In succeeding years, the battles continued, especially during the elections and confirmations of bishops. The Civil War temporarily interrupted the struggles between the two parties; but after the War, with the southern Church (which tended to be more Evangelical) weakened, the Evangelical movement lost some of its influence. In 1873, a small group of Evangelicals separated to form the Reformed Episcopal Church.

In England the Cambridge Camden Society, led by liturgist and musician John Mason Neale, began a reform of the Church’s liturgy and introduced greater ceremony into the worship of both groups, most of whom began to refer to themselves at Evangelical Catholics and Anglo-Catholics. (Pritchard, pp. 148-9, mentions a tour of English churches that shocked the Society members: “When.. their tours revealed pews that faced away from the altar, chancels that had been closed off, and even a senior warden who climbed upon an altar to open windows during a worship service, they began to campaign for liturgical reform.” Some of their actions set off violent opposition, such as the Exeter surplice riots of 1840.

In America, Presiding Bishop John Henry Hopkins (1865-1868) wrote liturgical manuals that allowed for the use of cassocks and surplices, bishops robes, stoles etc. Even influential Evangelical Catholics, like William Augustus Muhlenberg approved of the daily celebration of Morning and Evening Prayer and the weekly celebration of the Eucharist; he also founded a boys’ choir at the Church of the Holy Communion in New York City. The Episcopal Church began to incorporate aspects of both Evangelicalism and Anglo-Catholicism into its life and to begin focusing on ecumenical discussions.

In subsequent years, Anglo-Catholicism evolved more extensively in a few places, with the use of certain ritual practices becoming identified as a mark of belonging to the movement. Religious orders of women were permitted for the first time since the Reformation.

The so-called “Broad-Churchmen” of the late 19th century sought to accept and incorporate aspects of both Evangelicalism and Anglo-Catholicism into the life of the Church. They tried to refocus people’s attention away from the often trivial issues that divided them and toward the central mission of the Church. They went on to encourage a critical reading of the scriptures, echoing a movement which was beginning in Germany and which would transform mainline Christianity during the coming century.

During the 20th century, Anglo-Catholicism split into different groups, just as Evangelicalism had done. Some went to greater extremes in practice. Many elements of Anglo-Catholic worship however, became part of the Anglican mainstream and are widely accepted today as part of Anglican life and worship.

One great leader of the movement at the turn of the (19th-20th) century was Percy Dearmer, a liturgist and musician. He published in 1899 The Parson’s Handbook, which became accepted as the authoritative liturgical book for the English Church. He also chose Ralph Vaughan Williams to work with him on the English Hymnal which incorporated music from the English folk tradition.

The Anglo-Catholic movement also came to include a strong emphasis on social involvement. Frank Weston, the Bishop of Zanzibar, declared (Chapman, p. 92): “You cannot claim to worship Jesus in the tabernacle if you do not pity Jesus in the slum… It is folly; it is madness, to suppose that you can worship Jesus in the sacrament and Jesus on the throne of glory when you are sweating Him in the bodies and souls of his children.”

Over the years, Anglo-Catholicism has become part of the Anglican Communion and Episcopal Church mainstream. Archbishops of Canterbury Michael Ramsey (1961-1974), Robert Runcie 1980-1991) and Rowan Williams (2003-?) all came from an Anglo-Catholic background, but embraced its open form rather than its more closed variety.

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St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
ANGLICANISM
Lecture Series Led By Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, October 8, 2006

Anglicanism, Session 4, notes

The first place in the Americas on which England focused was Virginia. The settlement on Roanoke Island (now part of North Carolina) was named “Virginia” in honor of Elizabeth, the “Virgin Queen.” In 1607 when the first lasting English settlement was established, it was called “Jamestown” in honor of James I who had chartered the Virginia Company to establish an English settlement in the Chesapeake region of North America. Religious practices were mandated by Parliament for the Virginia Company: they were to have daily Morning and Evening Prayer, Sunday morning worship, and Sunday afternoon catechism study; clergy were to preach on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Members from other groups in the Church of England soon followed. The Puritans who landed at Plymouth Rock were actually trying to sail to Virginia. Religious practices in the New World developed in different directions.

Because of their distance from England, the colonists made other changes. During the 1630s in Virginia, rectors, who previously had been appointed by legislatures, were now being chosen by vestries. They also developed a system by which vestries could work through the legislatures to dismiss a rector, when there were serious conflicts.

Under Charles I, many more religious groups emigrated to America, settling in what was the Massachusetts Bay colony, including what would become parts of Connecticut and New Hampshire. Other forms of “church” grew there, especially congregational structures.

Colonists coming to Virginia tended to come from England’s north and west, while those settling in New England were mostly from East Anglia. Each brought its own form of church to the colonies. Free from direct English control, the differences became magnified. Some Baptists, who disagreed both with the New England form of church and with the Virginia form of Church, moved to Rhode Island and settled there. At the same time, Charles issued a charter for Roman Catholics to settle in Maryland, although they remained a minority there.

After the Restoration, Charles II issued a proclamation granting a charter to William Penn, a Quaker, for Pennsylvania. Many Presbyterians emigrated to New York and New Jersey, where neither the Congregationalists nor the Episcopal party held influence.

In 1684, Charles II made Massachusetts a royal colony, putting it under direct royal control. James Stuart became the proprietor of New York; and, when he became James II, it too was under royal control. William and Mary made Maryland a royal colony as well. Among other effects of this designation was the fact that the monarchs then had greater control in establishing the place of the Church of England in those places. William and Mary were successful in working through governors to make the C of E the official church in Maryland and South Carolina, and they had limited success in New York. Later monarchs would accomplish the same thing in Georgia and North Carolina. There continued to be some dissatisfaction with this arrangement, especially in Georgia and North Carolina; some folks had moved there in the first place because of their dissatisfaction with the same arrangement in Virginia and South Carolina. Congregationalists, Presbyterians and other non-Anglicans prevented this situation from occurring in the colonies north of Maryland. Queen Anne did, however, use the resources at her disposal to establish the first Anglican churches in these colonies (cf. Prichard, p. 27).

The Commissary system: cf. Prichard, p. 27-28

The Congregational Church became the established church in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

In 1706, clergy from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania petitioned Queen Anne (1702 – 1714) to appoint bishops for the colonies. She decided to grant their request, but died before any were actually appointed. George I (1714 – 1727) knew very little about the English Church, or even the English language, so he allowed his Prime Minister to appoint bishops and allowed Parliament to decide other religious issues. In 1718, clergy from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland petitioned the English bishops to appoint a bishop for the colonies. The church in Rhode Island worked through a visitor, the philosopher George Berkeley, in hopes of getting a bishop. None were successful.

English clergyman Thomas Bray helped establish 44 SPCK libraries in America, intending them to help educate the clergy and to help convince non-Anglicans of the reasonableness of Anglicanism. In 1701, he participated in establishing the SPG, which began to send missionaries to the colonies.

George Whitefield, along with John and Charles Wesley, led The Great Awakening (1740-1776). Other forms of church grew and prospered. Presbyterianism spread through the middle colonies. According to Pritchard, Anglicans came to oppose the Great Awakening (TGA), Baptists supported it, and Presbyterians and Congregationalists split into competing factions.

During the 1760s and 1770s, some Anglicans embraced a modified form of TGA. They continued to hold to apostolic succession and a set liturgy, but also began to preach in a sentimentalist style and to advocate adult conversion. The movement enhanced the role of women and of blacks in the church. It led also to a renewed call for an American bishop.

Those C of E churches that were influenced most by TGA were designed, or redesigned, to place a large pulpit in front, sometimes even obscuring the altar. They also began using recently composed hymns, such as those by the Wesleys. Other churches resisted these hymns and instead focused on biblical based texts and older canticles like the Te Deum. After the Revolution, the new Episcopal Church would gradually come to accept as a whole the singing of hymns. Conventions would authorize hymnals in 1789 (27 texts), 1808 (57 texts) and 1826 (212 texts. 14 of those in the 1826 Hymnal were by Charles Wesley.

Three organizations, formed in the mid-1700s, were critical in the formation of the Episcopal Church after the Revolution: a convocation of the clergy of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, a convocation of the clergy of the southern colonies, and the Society for the Relief of Orphans and Widows of Clergymen (formed by the clergy of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware).

By the 1770s, the effects and attitudes and the rhetoric of TGA had spilled over into political circles. In March 1775, the young nephew of an Anglican priest spoke to a gathering at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. His name was Patrick Henry. Quoting Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11, he proclaimed, ”Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace, but there is no peace. The war is actually begun. The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Churches began to choose between one side and another. In general, the Anglican churches chose the wrong side. Charles Inglis, who would later become bishop for Nova Scotia, was one of the leaders of the loyalist cause. He proudly proclaimed that most Anglican clergy were opposed to the Revolution. This was true, especially in the north. By the end of the war, there were only four active clergymen in Massachusetts, one in New Hampshire and none in Rhode Island. Connecticut, however, retained almost 20. In the south, there was more support for the revolutionaries. In Maryland 1/3 of the clergy supported the revolutionaries, and in South Carolina, ¾ did. In Virginia, vestries served as communications offices for the revolution, and most clergy supported the cause. About half of the clergy in North Carolina were supportive of the effort. The churches in Georgia, however, took a stance that was more like that in New England. In the middle colonies, loyalties varied.

Organization of the Episcopal Church following the Revolution:

The leadership came from the middle colonies, who were accustomed to religious pluralism. Especially influential were the two clergy conferences and the Society for Relief of Orphans and Widows of Clergymen. By 1783, the church in Maryland had adopted the name “the Protestant Episcopal Church”, distinguishing itself from the RC Church in Maryland and from those English churches which rejected the office of bishop. They planned a state convention that would exercise the authority for the church.

William White (b. 1748) was educated and ordained in England. He served as Assistant to the Rector at the United Parish of Christ Church and St. Peter’s in Philadelphia. After the Rector of the church departed with the British, the Continental Congress appointed White as Rector. He was related by marriage to some of the leading revolutionaries and served as Chaplain to the Continental Congress. On August 8, 1782, he published The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States Considered. In it, he proposed that other states adopt Maryland’s practice of holding “general vestries” that would choose presiding clergy for the churches. They would perform many of the functions of bishops until the new nation had its own bishops. The presiding clergy and elected lay representatives would meet together on a district level and, every three years, on a national level. At all levels, presiding clergy, other clergy and lay representatives would participate together. Representatives from several of the states met in a General Convention in 1784, 1785 and 1786.

Clergy from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island objected to White’s plan, asserting that it did not give a sufficiently prominent role to bishops. Some of them met in 1783 and nominated two New York clergymen for the office of bishop. One of them declined. The other, Samuel Seabury, accepted. He had been a British loyalist during the War and had served as a chaplain to English forces. He sailed to England but was refused consecration because he could no longer take the oath of loyalty to the king.

Traveling north to Scotland, he was consecrated there on November 14, 1784, by three non-juring bishops. He signed a concordat with the Scottish Church, in which it recognized the Church in America and in which Samuel Seabury agreed to try to incorporate the Scottish rite into the Communion service. The consecration prayer in the new American Prayer Book would be based on the 1549 BCP rather than the 1552 which served as the basis for the English 1662 BCP. Returning to America, Seabury at first refused to attend the ongoing General Conventions in the south. Instead he called for clergy-alone convocations in the north. He began using the title “Bishop of All America.”

The Conventions in the south began to move toward greater similarity with the Protestant churches in the north. Seabury and those with him in the north headed in the opposite direction, seeking to distinguish themselves further from the Congregationalists and taking a higher-Church position.

Meanwhile, after the 1783 Treaty of Paris, John Wesley who had been a strong opponent of the War and a supporter of the loyalists, began calling together meetings of the Methodist supporters. They established their own ordinations, Prayer book etc.

By 1787, American Episcopalians had effectively established three denominations:

· a middle and southern states’ church with English lines of consecration and a representative convention of both clergy and lay delegates

· a New England Church, directed by a bishop with Scottish ordination and governed through a clergy-only convocation and

· a Methodist-Episcopal Church with a form of government drafted by John Wesley.

Reconciliation with the Methodist-Episcopal faction would never take place. The other two groups were hostile to each other and kept their distance. The leaders in the middle and southern states had supported the Revolution; those in Connecticut had been loyalists (Seabury not only had served as a chaplain to British forces, but drew maps for them and even now was receiving a pension from England.) The New England clergy disliked the southern clergy who had given lay people an equal role in making decisions for the church; and the southern clergy questioned whether the style of authority that Seabury used in New England was compatible with the new democracy.

From July through September of 1789, the first General Convention of the entire Episcopal Church met in Philadelphia. Bishop Samuel Provoost, a bitter enemy of Seabury’s, was unable to attend. (Provoost, along with William White, had been consecrated in England in 1786.) Provoost, from New Jersey, had been perhaps the only member of the clergy in his state to support the patriots. White used Provoost’s absence to make some concessions to Seabury in order to heal the division. There would be a separate House of Bishops which would have veto power; a 4/5 vote of the Deputies would be necessary to override the veto (in 1808, this was raised to a full veto). The participation of lay deputies was made optional. The Convention adopted the 1789 BCP.

1789 BCP

Following their Prayer Book of 1637, the Church in Scotland began in 1722 to publish a series of “Wee Bookies” which made modifications to the existing book. The day after Samuel Seabury was consecrated in 1784, he signed a concordat which included the words on Sydnor, page 56. When Seabury met with the clergy in Massachusetts and Connecticut, there is no evidence that he even mentioned the concordat. The people seemed to have wanted to keep the familiar 1662 Prayer Book, but with the changes made necessary by the new political situation.

In 1786, the southern states’ Convention adopted a Prayer Book which was basically the 1662, with some changes because of the new political situation and some at the request of the Latitudinarians. The one major change was a proposal to place the Collects, Epistles and Gospels after the Communion, a reflection of Scottish usage at the time. The book was not well-received.

A move in the south to accept the proposed northern book of Samuel Seabury was likewise rejected. Thomas Claggett, who was to become Bishop of Maryland, declared, “the people of this congregation (I mean ye Church’s real Friends, ye communicants) universally disapprove of ye new Book.”

The southern states met in Convention on July 28, 1789, and renounced any intention of using their new book. This opened the way for a reconciliation with the north. The first General Convention of the Protestant Church met in Philadelphia on September 29, 1789. There were two house: the House of Bishops (Seabury and White, because Provoost was absent) and the House of Deputies, including representatives from Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as well as the southern states. See description in Sydnor, pp. 60-61.

Negotiations on the new BCP continued for ten days. The major change from the 1662 book was in the Prayer of Consecration, which now reflected the Scottish usage. It bore the title The Book of Common Prayer, and the Administration of the Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, According to the Use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America: Together with the Psalter, or Psalms of David. (The 1979 book uses the same title, but omits the term “Protestant.”) The bishops of New York and New Jersey authorized special services for July 4, but these were not included in the Prayer Book. Events were too recent and still too divisive.

In 1790 James Madison (a cousin of the president by the same name, and President of William and Mary) was consecrated in England as Bishop of Virginia, bringing the number of English-consecrated bishops to three, along with Seabury. The combined English-heritage and Scottish-heritage bishops then continued consecrating new bishops for the new country.

The new nation now had an Anglican church, but that church was exhausted by the struggles of its birth. Its presence in North Carolina was weak; NC did not send a delegation to General Convention until 1817. In Georgia, only one congregation (Christ Church in Savannah) remained active; GA did not sent representatives to General Convention until 1823. The church was in great need of a new generation of leaders.

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St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
ANGLICANISM
Lecture Series Led By Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, October 1, 2006

Anglicanism, Session 3, notes

While some in the Church in England were pursuing some sort of reconciliation with – or return to – the Church in Rome, Puritans were trying, not to overthrow the government, but to replace the established religion with a form in the Calvanist tradition. Some of them openly advocated rebellion and were treated as traitors, but other found ways to follow the letter of the law (and the BCP) but also to use other forms of worship, to render the bishops powerless and substitute their own ministers (whom they often ordained themselves).

The Via Media: The BCP’s title page explicitly referred to the “Church in England”, maintaining a conviction of its continued place in the greater Church. Some changes had been made, of course, but it retained the ancient traditions and worship. Elizabeth distrusted the conservatives because of their allegiance to Rome, and the reformers for their allegiance to Geneva. She wanted an English Church.

Matthew Parker worked well with her. He wanted a Church that was (Moorman, p. 213) “based upon true scholarship, drawing upon the best traditions of the primitive church, faithful to scripture, vital, honest, dignified… It is to him, perhaps more than to anyone else, that we owe the type of churchmanship which we associate with ‘Anglicanism.’”

The 1562 Convocation modified the 1553 42 Articles and established 39 of them. They reflect the conflicts of that specific time, but have continued in use in the C of E.

Writing around the year 1600, Richard Hooker wrote his Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, which provided a reasoned defense of the English Church’s way of life and sense of authority. It defined Anglicanism for future generations.

After Elizabeth’s death, James I from Scotland (1603 – 25) had to deal with the increasing power of the Puritans and with a movement to take power from the king and invest more of it in Parliament. In the January following his accession, he met with a group of 1000 Puritans who presented him with changes that they wanted incorporated into the BCP. After hearing their views and those of the bishops, James issued the 1604 Book (the Jacobean Prayer Book) which included several changes that went in the opposite direction from what the Puritans wanted. This movement was led by Archbishops of Canterbury Lancelot Andrews and William Laud. Those who supported them became known as the Laudians. (cf. Sydnor, pp. 40-41 for more details)The most lasting decision to come of the conference was the decision by King James to sponsor a new translation of the Scriptures, the Authorized Version. It would be published in 1611.

Many Puritans were exasperated by the actions of the king. Some of them left England for Holland in 1609 and settled there for a time. A group of them later returned to England briefly in order to prepare to emigrate to the New World. On September 6, 1620, they set sail from Plymouth aboard the Mayflower, arriving at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts on November 11. They formed a covenant to establish a society which followed strictly their religious principles.

James’ son and successor, Charles I (1625-49) took the divine right of kings to its extreme. Soon after his accession, he declared, “I owe the account of my actions to God alone,” regarding himself as above the law. During the time of the Commonwealth (1649-60), the Puritan influence held sway along with Puritan forms of worship in place of the BCP.

When Charles II (1660-85) came to the throne, a group of scholars known as the “Caroline Divines” pursued a Via Media which sought, not the lowest common denominator between Romanism and Puritanism, but a return to the beliefs and practices of the early Church. Their work would form the basis of Anglicanism for centuries to come.

The Puritans still held sway in Parliament, but Laudians had prepared a generation of scholars and church leaders who ensured that the Church was restored as it had existed historically in England.

A revised BCP was issued in 1662, with August 24 as it mandatory usage date. It was based on the 1604 book, but contained some modifications requested either by the Puritans or the Laudians. Neither party was fully satisfied. The Epistles and Gospels were now to be read from the 1611 Authorized Version, although the Psalms, 10 Commandments and excerpts in the Communion service continued to be from the 1539 Great Bible. (For other changes, cf. Sydnor, pp. 48-50).

James II (1685-1688), the brother of Charles II, was an acknowledged papist, and the people of England became increasingly suspicious of his intentions. 

In July 1688, revolutionaries issued an invitation to William of Orange and his wife Mary Stuart (a daughter of James by his first wife, Anne Hyde) to come to England in an attempt to overthrow the king. The invasion came on November 5, and James fled the country on December 18. In 1689, Parliament declared that William and Mary now ruled jointly. As William III and Mary II, they reigned from 1689-1702.

It was a time when the Church was still recognized as THE Church of England, but when toleration of non-jurors and non-conformists grew. However, advocates of both extremes continued to stir up trouble. William and Mary agreed to a separate Scottish Church with Presbyterian polity. Parliament passed “The Toleration Act” which allowed for the existence of other churches, though not on a par with the C of E; RCs and Unitarians were not included – toleration would only go so far.

At this same time, there came a renewal in the life of the church itself. “Clubs” were formed in which men came together weekly for prayer, study and good works; Samuel Wesley, John’s father, was a leader in this movement. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was formed in 1698. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was begun in 1701 and began its missionary efforts. Increased focus was places on addressing the needs of the poor.

Anne (1702-1714) was not equal to the task of leading the nation and the church during the continued struggles between competing interests and visions. (Cf. Moorman, p. 270) In 1711 The Occasional Conformity Act levied fines on dissenters who held high office in church or state. The High-Church Tories held power until Anne’s death and passed legislation to enforce their kind of churchmanship.

George I (1714-1727): The Low-Church Whigs came to power and held onto it until 1760. They repealed the Occasional Conformity Act and other such legislation, allowing much more freedom in religion. Roman Catholics were still greatly limited and were suspect, and Quakers were considered dangerous. Many fled to America to begin a new life there.

While the two parties were battling each other, Deism rose throughout the country and began to exert greater influence.

George II (1727-1760): The bishops closely allied themselves with the Whig party, supporting them financially and even by raising armies to help suppress rebellions. The Whigs, in turn, repaid them with promotions. e.g. from a poor diocese in Wales to the wealthy and powerful ones in York, Westminster or Durham. The bishops were expected to live on a par with the wealthy.

Movements began to attempt a reconciliation with the Presbyterians, but that would have endangered the financial positions of the bishops, and so went nowhere. At the same time, these Broad churchmen freely welcomed and communicated with the Protestant churches in Europe.

relationship with the Church of Rome (see Moorman, p. 283)

Bishops were required to spend at least half the year in London for their official work as part of the government, so the churches were severely neglected. Confirmations were done in large numbers; e.g. one service lasted from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. with 1200 people being confirmed. Other bishops just gave a general blessing instead of a laying on of hands. Clergy began holding more than one church office at a time, enriching themselves but neglecting their work. The public’s opinion of the bishops plummeted. Parish clergy, in general, went about their work as best as they could, despite the lack of an active bishop. Because many served multiple churches and because the Low Church faction held power, many churches had either Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer on Sundays; Eucharist was celebrated quarterly, on Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide and Michaelmas. Some parishes celebrated it more often, some less.

George III (1760-1820): The SPG was active, promoting the faith in America among the colonists, slaves and native Americans, but the church in England was not much interested in their welfare. They saw the colonies as sources of materials and revenue. Requests for bishops to serve the colonies were repeatedly turned down, so that anyone wishing to be confirmed or ordained had to travel to England. No English bishop served the colonies until 1787 when Charles Inglis was ordained to serve in Nova Scotia.

Meanwhile, the American Revolution took place. The church in the new nation immediately faced a critical issue: authority over the church had rested in the British monarch as “Supreme Governor” of both Church and State. Now that, for America, there was no king, who was in charge?

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St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
ANGLICANISM
Lecture Series Led By Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, September 24, 2006

Anglicanism, Session 2, notes

Henry VIII died in 1547 and was succeeded by the nine-year-old Edward VI. Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset became “Protector of the Realm.” Henry had educated his son with the reformers and had prepared a council of regency with a strong protestant influence.

The first English liturgical text had come in 1544, “The Great Litany.” Its original form (cf. Chapman, p. 23) was later toned down (cf. BCP pp. 148-153).

The First BCP was published in 1549 and the official date for its use throughout England was set at June 9, 1549. It is also referred to as the first Book of Edward VI. At the time, it was considered to be a compromise version, but changed far too little to suit the reformers. Reformation influences were quickly spreading. Wider-ranging changes were begun in parts of England, and it was clear that a book reflecting those changes would be needed. See the Preface to the book in BCP, pp. 866-7.

Edward Seymour favored reform and was often supported in his efforts by Thomas Cranmer. Convocation rarely met, and so the decision-making for the Church was by default a matter of state. Parliament passed a series of laws intended to remove any shrines or objects that were considered to be supportive of superstition. It repealed the Six Articles of Henry VIII.

Henry had proposed suppressing the chantries, but had not done so. The new regime carried out that plan, seizing the money. They claimed that the money would go for education, but it was never used that way. Wardens began selling of the works of art in the churches as part of the so-called “reform.”

Conservative bishops were put in the Tower and eventually deprived of their sees. They were replaced by a group of “yes-men” who supported the more radical “reformers.”

The Second BCP (a.k.a. the second Book of Edward VI) was introduced on November 1, 1552. The book was highly influenced by reformers from the continent, especially by Martin Bucer who had come to England in 1549. He, along with other reformers, were facing a great deal of opposition (and threats) in Europe. Cranmer invited him to England. His views tended to fall somewhere between those of Calvin and Zwingli. Along with the 1552 BCP came the Forty-two Articles of Religion, which condemned both Romish practices and some of the more radical changes from the continent. Liturgical scholars have commented that, with the 1552 BCP, the English liturgy reached a low point. It apparently was unpopular everywhere. The book, however, was in use officially for only eight months, until the 1553 death of Edward VI.

After the nine-day, uncrowned reign of Lady Jane Grey (1553), Mary Tudor became queen. She was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon and a devote RC.

· tried to restore the links with Rome and the religious practices that had existed

· restored many of the old bishops

· imprisoned the reformers who had not fled, including Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley; removed about 20% of the clergy

· renounced the title “Supreme Head of the Church in England” but acted like one anyway

· Within a few months, Parliament had repealed all religious laws that had been enacted since 1547.

· brought back stone altars, statues, vestments etc; met with support from the public who did not care about the Reformation, nor about superstitions, but just wanted things to be the way they were accustomed to having them, without troublesome questions being asked

· On January 12, 1554, Mary signed a marriage treaty between herself and Prince Philip of Spain. This caused great alarm throughout England, with the prospect of the country being ruler by the half-Spanish Mary and the future King of Spain.

· As Mary and Philip planned a reconciliation with Rome, a key concern was that all formerly church property now belonged to the merchants. A compromise, passed by Parliament and accepted by the pope, repealed all ecclesiastical legislation since 1528, except for the dissolution of the monasteries.

· On October 16, 1554, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were burned at the stake. Latimer cried, “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as I trust shall never be put out.”

· Thomas Cranmer, now 65, was burned at the stake on March 21, 1556.

· About 300 other reformers were likewise burned alive on orders from “bloody Mary.”

· The reconciliation with Rome failed. War broke out between the pope and the king of Spain, who was then also the king of England.

· Mary died on November 17, 1558. She, whose return to the “old ways” had been greeted by the people five years earlier, was gone. At the news of her death, according to a contemporary “the same day all London song and sayd Te deum laudamus in evere chyrch in London.”

Mary was succeeded by Elizabeth (1558-1603). The nation was in a disastrous state, both internally and internationally. As for the church, three groups then existed:

1) the bishops and active priests, all of whom were conservative and wanted to continue Mary’s attempt to reconcile with Rome; all the others had been exiled or burned at the stake

2) those church leaders who had fled the country and who often wanted reforms like those on the continent

3) a group of lay and clergy leaders who wanted a middle road: maintaining Catholic traditions, but ridding them of superstitions and abuses

In January 1559, Elizabeth’s first Parliament met and passed two critically important measures:

1) The Act of Supremacy, which restored the independence from Rome of the Church in England, and named Elizabeth at the “Supreme Governor” of both Church and State

2) The Act of Conformity, which provided for the use of a revised Prayer Book, based principally on the 1552 book but with some changes, and mandated its use throughout the realm. To ensure conformity, Elizabeth sent delegates throughout the country to visit the churches and “clarify” any differences in their practice with the law of the land.
[The official, mandatory date for use of the Prayer Book was June 24, 1559. The Book included elements from both the 1549 and 1552 book. The regular Sunday service consisted of Morning Prayer, the Litany, and Holy Communion. Despite the opposition of the more radical reformers, music was encouraged.]
Together, these two acts comprised the “Elizabethan Settlement.”

Bishops were required to take an oath to follow the law, and a few chose to go into exile rather than comply.

Archbishop of Canterbury Reginald Pole, who had served with Mary Tudor, had died just a few hours after her. Elizabeth chose a moderate, Matthew Parker as his successor. He had remained in England, concerned with academic affairs, during the preceding years. Previously he had associated with many of the reformers, but advocated for a middle position. With his help, Elizabeth managed to assemble a new group of bishops who were supportive of her approach.

Elizabeth at first tried to exercise more leniency toward dissenters than Mary had done. However, after the Council of Trent, Pius V decided to make a more forceful attempt to reassert Rome’s authority in England. He allied himself with Mary, Queen of Scots, who was at the center of an attempt (the Northern Rebellion) to replace Elizabeth as Queen. (Mary was descended form Henry VII.) The pope excommunicated Elizabeth and in 1570 issued a decree declaring that she was no longer queen. A sympathizer nailed a copy to the door of the Bishop of London’s palace. The recusants, who had been tolerated by simply paying a small fine for not worshipping in the official churches, were now forced to choose between Pope and Queen; according to the papal decree, those who did not reject that authority of the queen were excommunicated.

The pope tried to rally the Catholic leaders of Europe to mount an armed invasion of England. When he failed at that, he launched a missionary effort. It was allegedly non-political in nature but in fact encouraged rebellion and even the assassination of the queen. A letter from the papal secretary to the nuncio in Madrid declared, “whosoever sends her out of the world with the pious intention of doing God service not only does not sin but gains merit.” The Jesuits were expelled from the country and Mary, Queen of Scots, who served as the center of Roman hopes, was executed on February 8, 1587. With Mary gone, any support for reunion with Rome appeared to the people to be a attempt to impose Spanish or papal rule over England. The launch of the Spanish Armada was Spain’s and the pope’s last, futile attempt to “retake” England. In the aftermath, Roman sympathizers were further limited in their actions by the law. 250 were put to death, but most lived quiet lives.

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St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
ANGLICANISM
Lecture Series Led By Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, September 17, 2006

Anglicanism, Session 1, notes

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