Church of England

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

C of E redirects here. For other uses, see Council of Europe.
Church of England
Logo of the Church of England.svg
Abbreviation C of E
Orientation Anglican
Polity Episcopal
Supreme Governor Queen Elizabeth II
Primate Archbishop Justin Welby
Region England, Wales (cross-border parishes)
Isle of Man
Channel Islands
Continental Europe
Headquarters Church House, Westminster, England, United Kingdom
Separated from Roman Catholic Church
(16th century)
Separations English Dissenters
Methodists (18th century)
Plymouth Brethren (1820s)
Free Church of England (1844)
Members 25 million[1][2]
Official website churchofengland.org
Part of a series on
Anglicanism
Canterbury Cathedral - Portal Nave Cross-spire.jpeg
Theology
Christian theology Anglican doctrine Thirty-nine Articles Books of Homilies
Caroline Divines Lambeth Quadrilateral Episcopal polity Sacraments Mary
Ministry and worship
Ministry Music Eucharist King James Version Book of Common Prayer Liturgical year
Churchmanship High Low Central Broad Monasticism Saints
Christianity
Jesus Christ Paul Christian Church First seven Ecumenical Councils
Background and history
Celtic Christianity Augustine of Canterbury Bede Medieval cathedral architecture
Henry VIII English Reformation Thomas Cranmer Dissolution of Monasteries Church of
England Edward VI Elizabeth I Parker Hooker James I Charles I Laud Nonjuring schism
Anglo-Catholicism Oxford Movement
Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion history Archbishop of Canterbury Anglican Communion Primates'
Meetings Lambeth Conference Bishops Anglican Consultative Council Ecumenism
Ordination of women Windsor Report
Continuing Anglicanism
Anglican realignment Bartonville Agreement Congress of St. Louis North American
Anglican Conference
Canterbury cathedral.jpg Anglicanism portal
v t e
The Church of England (C of E) is the state church of England.[3][4][5] The
Archbishop of Canterbury (currently Justin Welby) is the most senior cleric,
although the monarch is the supreme governor. The Church of England is also the
mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the
Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain by the third
century, and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of
Canterbury.[6][7][8]

The English church renounced papal authority when Henry VIII failed to secure an
annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in the 1530s.[9] The English
Reformation accelerated under Edward VI's regents, before a brief restoration of
papal authority under Queen Mary I and King Philip. The Act of Supremacy 1558
renewed the breach and the Elizabethan Settlement charted a course enabling the
English church to describe itself as both Catholic and Reformed

Catholic in that it views itself as a part of the universal church of Jesus Christ
in unbroken continuity with the early apostolic church. This is expressed in its
emphasis on the teachings of the early Church Fathers, as formalised in the
Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian creeds.[10]
Reformed in that it has been shaped by some of the doctrinal principles of the
16th-century Protestant Reformation, in particular in the Thirty-Nine Articles of
Religion and the Book of Common Prayer.[10]
In the earlier phase of the English Reformation there were both Catholic martyrs
and radical Protestant martyrs. The later phases saw the Penal Laws punish Roman
Catholic and nonconforming Protestants. In the 17th century, political and
religious disputes raised the Puritan and Presbyterian faction to control of the
church, but this ended with the Restoration. Papal recognition of George III in
1766 led to greater religious tolerance.

Since the English Reformation, the Church of England has used a liturgy in English.
The church contains several doctrinal strands, the main three known as Anglo-
Catholic, Evangelical and Broad Church. Tensions between theological conservatives
and progressives find expression in debates over the ordination of women and
homosexuality. The church includes both liberal and conservative clergy and
members.[11]

The governing structure of the church is based on dioceses, each presided over by a
bishop. Within each diocese are local parishes. The General Synod of the Church of
England is the legislative body for the church and comprises bishops, other clergy
and laity. Its measures must be approved by both Houses of Parliament.

Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Early Christianity in England
1.2 Separation from Rome
1.3 Stuart period
1.4 19th century
1.5 Overseas developments
1.6 21st century
1.6.1 Deposition from holy orders overturned
1.6.2 Dwindling congregations
1.6.3 Low salaries
2 Doctrine and practice
2.1 Worship and liturgy
2.2 Women's ministry
2.3 Same-sex unions and LGBT clergy
2.4 Liberal theology
2.5 Bioethics issues
3 Poverty
3.1 Church Urban Fund
3.1.1 Child poverty
3.2 Action on hunger
4 Membership
5 Structure
5.1 Primates
5.2 Diocesan bishops
5.3 Representative bodies
5.4 House of Lords
5.5 Crown Dependencies
6 Sex abuse
7 Financial situation
8 Online church directory
9 See also
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
History[edit]
Main article History of the Church of England
Early Christianity in England[edit]
Main articles History of Christianity in England and Anglo-Saxon Christianity
According to tradition, Christianity arrived in Britain in the 1st or 2nd century,
during which time southern Britain became part of the Roman Empire. The earliest
historical evidence of Christianity among the native Britons is found in the
writings of such early Christian Fathers as Tertullian and Origen in the first
years of the 3rd century. Three Romano-British bishops, including Restitutus, are
known to have been present at the Council of Arles in 314.[12] Others attended the
Council of Sardica in 347 and that of Ariminum in 360, and a number of references
to the church in Roman Britain are found in the writings of 4th century Christian
fathers. Britain was the home of Pelagius, who opposed Augustine of Hippo's
doctrine of original sin.[13]

While Christianity was long established as the religion of the Britons at the time
of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, Christian Britons made little progress in converting
the newcomers from their native paganism. Consequently, in 597, Pope Gregory I sent
the prior of the Abbey of St Andrew's (later canonised as Augustine of Canterbury)
from Rome to evangelise the Angles. This event is known as the Gregorian mission
and is the date the Church of England generally marks as the beginning of its
formal history. With the help of Christians already residing in Kent, Augustine
established his church at Canterbury, the capital of the Kingdom of Kent, and
became the first in the series of Archbishops of Canterbury in 598. A later
archbishop, the Greek Theodore of Tarsus, also contributed to the organisation of
Christianity in England. The Church of England has been in continuous existence
since the days of St Augustine, with the Archbishop of Canterbury as its episcopal
head. Despite the various disruptions of the Reformation and the English Civil War,
the Church of England considers itself to be the same church which was more
formally organised by Augustine.[6]

While some Celtic Christian practices were changed at the Synod of Whitby, the
Christian in the British Isles was under papal authority from earliest times.[14]
Queen Bertha of Kent was among the Christians in England who recognised papal
authority before Augustine arrived,[15] and Celtic Christians were carrying out
missionary work with papal approval long before the Synod of Whitby.

Hereford is one of the church's 43 cathedrals; many have histories stretching back
centuries
The Synod of Whitby established the Roman date for Easter and the Roman style of
monastic tonsure in England. This meeting of the ecclesiastics with Roman customs
with local bishops was summoned in 664 at Saint Hilda's double monastery of
Streonshalh (Streanshalch), later called Whitby Abbey. It was presided over by
King Oswiu, who did not engage in the debate but made the final ruling.

Separation from Rome[edit]

In 1534, King Henry VIII separated the English Church from Rome.[9] A theological
separation had been foreshadowed by various movements within the English Church,
such as Lollardy, but the English Reformation gained political support when Henry
VIII wanted an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry
Anne Boleyn. Pope Clement VII, considering that the earlier marriage had been
entered under a papal dispensation and how Catherine's nephew, Emperor Charles V,
might react to such a move, refused the annulment. Eventually, Henry, although
theologically opposed to Protestantism, took the position of Supreme Head of the
Church of England to ensure the annulment of his marriage. He was excommunicated by
Pope Paul III.[16]

In 153640 Henry VIII engaged in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which

controlled much of the richest land. He disbanded monasteries, priories, convents
and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland, appropriated their income, disposed of
their assets, and provided pensions for the former residents. The properties were
sold to pay for the wars. Bernard argues

The dissolution of the monasteries in the late 1530s was one of the most
revolutionary events in English history. There were nearly 900 religious houses in
England, around 260 for monks, 300 for regular canons, 142 nunneries and 183
friaries; some 12,000 people in total, 4,000 monks, 3,000 canons, 3,000 friars and
2,000 nuns....one adult man in fifty was in religious orders.[17]
Henry maintained a strong preference for traditional Catholic practices and, during
his reign, Protestant reformers were unable to make many changes to the practices
of the Church of England. Indeed, this part of Henry's reign saw the trial for
heresy of Protestants as well as Roman Catholics.

Under his son, King Edward VI, more Protestant-influenced forms of worship were
adopted. Under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, a
more radical reformation proceeded. A new pattern of worship was set out in the
Book of Common Prayer (1549 and 1552). These were based on the older liturgy but
influenced by Protestant principles. The confession of the reformed Church of
England was set out in the Forty-two Articles (later revised to thirty-nine). The
reformation however was cut short by the death of the king. Queen Mary I, who
succeeded him, returned England again to the authority of the papacy, thereby
ending the first attempt at an independent Church of England. During her co-reign
with her husband, King Philip, many leaders and common people were burnt for their
refusal to recant of their reformed faith. These are known as the Marian martyrs
and the persecution led to her nickname of Bloody Mary.

Stained glass window in Rochester Cathedral, Kent

Mary also died childless and so it was left to the new regime of her half-sister
Elizabeth to resolve the direction of the church. The settlement under Queen
Elizabeth I (from 1558), known as the Elizabethan Settlement, developed the via
media (middle way) character of the Church of England, a church moderately Reformed
in doctrine, as expressed in the Thirty-Nine Articles, but also emphasising
continuity with the Catholic and Apostolic traditions of the Church Fathers. It was
also an established church (constitutionally established by the state with the head
of state as its supreme governor). The exact nature of the relationship between
church and state would be a source of continued friction into the next century.