Because one has no starting point for a rational conversation when one denies the very existence of objective truth.
I do not dislike the Anglican ecclesial communion. I grieve for it.Just because you don’t like the Anglican Church from what I know of your other postings.
In my experience, many priests will tell you what they ‘personally’ think is right and lead you to believe that, and that is the actual church teaching on it but if you look it up on the Church of England Website then that very clearly tells us, that its upto the individual priests… That there is no one set rule on it… I looked it up when similar discussions on other boards. All Roman Catholics ‘think’ the same on this… Church of England, we really can think for ourselves and no one can tell us we are wrong on the issue even priests can’t tell us we wrong though many will try to. It be one of the differences between High Church of England and Low Church of England. It what I don’t like about Roman Catholics, a such. They are told what to think rather than being allowed to work it out for themselves. Though yes, they can work it out for themselves so long as it agrees with the ‘teaching’ Good Church of England Priests are willing to give you the resources to to read and think it through for yourself and allow you the answer you come up with. Faith is so personal and cannot be squashed into the same box. If our faith is alive then my will never ever be the same as yours, even if I sat next to you week in week out in church and disagreed and agreed at the same points. Our relationships with God are entirely different to each other but I fear that the Roman Catholic Church don’t teach that and want people just to totally conform to everything given to them. A lot of people want that. But I want to be free to serve and love God. Not be told I’ve done it wrong and don’t think right and can’t be a Roman Catholic because I don’t agree etc… God isn’t about that for me.
Let me try to understand what you are trying to say…regarding the Real Presence…you are free to believe and disbelieve it…but what is the C of E’s dogmatic stance on it…Real or symbolic.
Having done a thesis on the Eucharist in different Christian traditions, I would challenge what you say about the official position of the Church of England on the Eucharist, which is certainly not as casual as you suggest. Whilst it is certainly a broad church and encompasses both the high and low church wings, even the low church end of the Church would affirm the real presence. Belief in the real presence of Christ is taught in the CofE’s Eucharisitc Theology, and the Eucharistic texts refer to “these gifts of bread and wine may be to us his body and his blood” They believe that body and blood of Christ are truly present distributed and received under the forms of bread and wine.
If I recall correctly, King Henry VIII executed people for denying the real presence. He was very Catholic in his beliefs, except Papal authority of course. He did not accept the Protestant reformers of continental Europe.
This is true. And a quote apparently made by Queen Elizabeth I was:
Henry enforced the doctrine of the Real Presence, under his Six Articles of Religion.
Generally speaking, I agree with you. But, these days, there is no telling what one might find.
I never knew this. So the answer is, they originally use to but now it’s a matter of “what ever floats your boat”.
Just about anything and everything. I know Anglicanism well. I know Anglicans well. Within the Anglican Communion you run the gamut from hard core transubstantialists to hard core Zwinglians. I suppose that the majority of Anglicans fall somewhere in between, just like Richard Hooker did.
Oh this is good. You have good resources.
See also The Porvoo Common Statement of the Porvoo Communion of which the Church of England is a member. (I think it is mentioned in the document cited by FrKimel).