Wednesday, August 15, 2012

A Very Well Grounded Anglicanism


An Anglican in our time might sometimes wish for a Countess of Huntingdon to provide us with a simple alternative to the confused and defective body our communion has become. Such a prospect or pipedream would be tempting but it would be a false option and a betrayal.

Anglicanism is an attempted comprehensive expression of all that is best in historic Christianity. Its Reformers were skilled in the scholarship of the ancient church and the fathers, their expertise ranged through the gamut of medieval development, and they were in accord with the principal voices of the Continental Reformation.

They were not innovators but advocates and guardians of revealed truth wherever it came to light in the thought and teaching of godly and Spirit-guided expositors of the word of God. They perpetuated what was sound in the catholic tradition and protested the truth of Holy Scripture against the deviation of Rome (see Jewel's Apology). They were kin to every honest believer and proponent of grace in every generation that preceded them and they plundered the wealth of wisdom that was available to them. Read more

No comments: