Church of England

[Novocastrian]

The doctrine of the Church of England is Protestant and Reformed. There are a number of revisionistic views on this, but the 1662 Prayer Book and the other named formularies of the Church of England following the Reformation are distinctly Calvinist. The C of E has bishops, yes, as chief overseers of their priests (presbyters) who act as bishop’s representatives (vicars or rectors) in the various parishes.

Jesus Christ is the head of the church.

The Church of England is undoubtedly a Reformed Church, and her formularies bear the clear imprint of the influence of Bucer, Peter Martyr and Calvin. That said, she recognises no essential contradiction between being Reformed and being Catholic. Indeed, it is precisely her Catholicism which she regards as Reformed. The Reformation, in other words, re-presents the Catholic Faith within the theological framework of Calvin & co. This can’t be denied by any honest historical theologian.

Two things need to be recognised, though.

(1) Calvin and later Calvinism are not identical. Those who read Calvin’s Institutes and his Biblical commentaries are often surprised at how Catholic, or at least mediaeval, he sounds. People assume, for example, that Calvin is the origin of later Calvinist sacramental theology; when they read the Institutes, Calvin’s own theology of the eucharist is shockingly ‘high’.

(2) Calvin’s theology is not canonised by the Church of England, but utilised. The Declaration of Assent (below) makes clear that the Faith of the Church of England is that of the Catholic Creeds, confirmed from the Holy Scriptures in which it is revealed, to which the formularies (i.e. the Prayer Book, the Articles) bear witness. The Church of England holds that Calvin’s theology (and Luther’s) as utilised in the formularies are capable of bearing witness to the Catholic Faith. It does not make them essential to it. In other words, Anglicans hold that the Faith may be expressed in such terms, not that it must, nor even that it is best expressed in such ways.

Declaration of Assent:

I, A B, do so affirm, and accordingly declare my belief in the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness; and in public prayer and administration of the sacraments, I will use only the forms of service which are authorized or allowed by Canon.

 

[benjohnson]

(1) Calvin and later Calvinism are not identical. Those who read Calvin’s Institutes and his Biblical commentaries are often surprised at how Catholic, or at least mediaeval, he sounds. People assume, for example, that Calvin is the origin of later Calvinist sacramental theology; when they read the Institutes, Calvin’s own theology of the eucharist is shockingly ‘high’.

Agreed! I went though this precise picture upon reading the Institutes.