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AN INTRODUCTION

TO THE HISTORY OF

ANGLICAN

CHRISTIANITY

Did Henry VIII really start

the Church of England?

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Christianity Arrives

in the British Isles

A Movement On the Move

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Evolving Leadership

JESUS

Linus Cletus ClementPolycarpSimeon Ignatius

AP

OS

TLE

SB

ISH

OP

S

IrenaeusJustus PothiniusEvaristus

Peter James

John

OTHERS

Early Celtic Christianity

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A Unique Tradition

Celtic Christianity was unique in its• focus on monasticism

• being less hierarchical

• distinct monastic tonsure

• different penitential routine

• different date of Easter

• simpler baptismal rite

• unique tradition of “living in exile” for Christ

Early Celtic Martyrs

St. Aaron & St. Julius

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Other Celtic Saints

St. Patrick St. Brigid St. Columba

Iona Abbey

• St. Columba traveled to an island off of

Scotland and established Iona Abbey there

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St. Augustine Arrives

• In 597, the Pope sent Augustine with other

missionaries to establish churches in Britain

• He succeeded in converting the Kingdom of

Northumbria

• He established

his diocese at

Canterbury

St. Augustine & the Celts

• St. Augustine was successful in establishing

new churches and growing the church.

• But, many of the

pre-existing Celtic

bishops would not

recognize his authority

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St. Augustine & the Celts

• St. Augustine was successful in establishing

new churches and growing the church.

• But, many of the

pre-existing Celtic

bishops would not

recognize his authority

The Romanizing of Britain

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Synod at Whitby

• The Kingdom of Northumbria now followed the Roman practices

• After the death of King Edwin, King Oswald inherits the throne

• King Oswald grew up at Iona while in exile as a youth; like the Ionans, he followed the Celtic practices

• King Oswald marries Eanfled of Bernicia, who followed the Roman practices as well

Synod at Whitby

• Can you have a King and Queen that observed different forms of Christianity and celebrate Easter at different times?

• The King sets up synod at the monastery of Hilda to settle the matter. Bishop Colman advocates for the Ionan tradition; Wilfrid advocates for the Roman tradition.

• Ultimately the Roman tradition wins out and the Ionan/Celtic tradition is suppressed

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Moving Towards An

English Reformation

Those Defiant Brits

• In 1306, Edward I’s Parliament rules

that no religious tax can be sent out

of the country

• In 1351, Edward III’s Parliament rules

that the Pope has no authority over

English property

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Those Defiant Brits

• In 1353, the same Parliament rules no citizen may appeal to any higher power outside of England (i.e. the Pope):

“that the right of recovering the presentments to churches, prebends, and other benefices … belongeth only to the king’s court of the old right of his crown, used and approved in the time of all his progenitors kings of England”

Pre-Reformation Figures

Erasmus

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King Henry VIII

• 1491, Henry is born

• 1501, Henry’s brother

Arthur marries Catherine

of Aragon

• 1502, Arthur dies

• 1505, the Pope grants a

dispensation so Henry

can marry Catherine.

• 1509, Henry’s father dies

King Henry VIII

• 1509, Henry marries

Catherine

• 1509, weeks later he

becomes King.

• 1511, a son is born but

dies 52 days later

• 1513, a 2nd son is

stillborn

• 1514, another son

is stillborn

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King Henry VIII

• 1516, Mary is born

• 1521, Pope Leo X declares

Henry “Fidei Defensor”

• 1527, Henry petitions the

Pope Clement VII for an

annulment (it was denied)

• 1528, Henry openly begins

a relationship with

Anne Boleyn

King Henry VIII

• 1528, Henry continues

to negotiate for an

annulment

• 1529, it becomes clear

the Pope will not budge

• 1532, Henry appoints

Thomas Cranmer as the

new Archbishop of

Canterbury

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King Henry VIII

• 1532, Henry secretly

marries Anne Boleyn

• 1533, Archbishop Cranmer

rules that Henry’s marriage

to Catherine was invalid &

that his marriage to Anne

is valid

• 1533, Elizabeth is born

King Henry VIII

• 1533, Henry passes theFirst Act of Succession

• 1534, Parliament’s 2nd

Act of Succession declaresthe Church of Englandindependent of Romeand declares the Kingto be the head ofthe Church

• Pope Clement excommunicates Henry & Cranmer

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The English Church

in Reformation

The Church under Henry

• All services still in Latin

• The Church and its theology virtually

unchanged

• Confession still compulsory

• Transubstantiation and Purgatory still taught

• Celibacy still required for clergy

• Private masses still continue

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King Edward VI

• After Henry’s death in 1547, Edward becomes

King at age 16

• Edward’s advisors are very Protestant

• The Church of England begins to

become more Protestant:

– The vernacular used in churches

– A new English Prayer Book

– The Articles of Religion are published

– Changes in Rites & Theology

Queen Mary

• In 1553, when Edward dies, Mary becomes

queen

• She restores things to the way they were:

– Country is Roman Catholic again

– Protestant-minded clergy are

deposed, some even executed

– All liturgical and church changes

are undone

• Mary dies childless in 1558

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Queen Elizabeth I

• In 1558, Elizabeth becomes queen

• She tries to find a compromise, so

Catholic-minded and Protestant-minded

people can remain together in

the same independent Church

of England

• A new Prayer Book is issued

in 1559

• Revised Articles of Religion are

published in 1563

The American Church

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Religion in the Colonies

• The Church of England

comes to America as

English colonies are

established.

• 1607, the first mission

at Jamestown, VA

• American missions are under the authority of the

Bishop of London—although he never visited

• Clergy must travel to England to be ordained,

generations go unconfirmed in America

The Revolution

• 1776, Declaration of

Independence

• Many clergy are loyalists

• By necessity, the

American church

must become

independent too

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Birth of the American Church

• 1784, Samuel Seabury sent to

Scotland to be ordained a

Bishop

• 1789, the Episcopal Church

organized in Philadelphia.

• 1789, a revised American

Prayer Book is adopted

A Revolutionary Church

• Absalom Jones ordained as first black priest

in 1804

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A Revolutionary Church

• First monastic community in Anglicanism after

the Reformation is established in Valley Crucis,

NC in 1847

A Revolutionary Church

• Many Episcopalians were actively involved in

fighting segregation and discrimination during

the Civil Rights Movement

• One bold seminarian

Jonathan Daniels,

dies while doing so in 1965

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A Revolutionary Church

• In 1976, 11 women were ordained—in

violation of the canons—in Philadelphia,

paving the way for women’s ordination

(England would not ordain women

until 1994)

A Revolutionary Church

• A completely revised

Prayer Book, with

much original material,

is adopted in 1979

• It represents the first

significant departure

from the 1662 BCP text

• It inspires prayer books in other provinces in the

world

• Other denominations also borrow from its liturgies

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A Revolutionary Church

• Barbara Harris becomes

the first female bishop,

ordained as an assisting

bishop in Boston, in 1989

A Revolutionary Church

• Gene Robinson is

consecrated as a bishop,

making him the first-ever

openly gay man to serve as

bishop in any church

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A Revolutionary Church

• Katharine Jefferts Schori is

elected Presiding Bishop in

2006 and becomes the first-

ever Primate (national

head) of an Anglican

province