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- Symbol of the Anglican Communion: Compassrose
- Center is the Cross of Christ
- Around the Cross in Greek: “The truth will make you free” (John 8:32)
- 32-point compassrose
- At due north is the bishop’s mitre
- “Three-legged stool” of Anglicanism
- Scripture (evangelical, “low church”)
- Tradition (anglocatholic, “high church”)
- Reason (“broad church”)
- Essentials: Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888
- Old and New Testaments
- “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to e required of any man.” (Articles of Religion, 1563)
- Collect for Purity: Matthew 6:6; John 16:8, 13; Romans 8:26-27
- The Peace: Philippians 4:7
- Apocrypha included in Lectionary for instructional purposes
- Creeds
- Apostles Creed: used at Baptism, and Morning & Evening Prayer
- Nicene Creed: used on Sundays and major feasts (except Baptism)
- “Unity in essentials; freedom in non-essentials”
- Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist
- A sacrament is “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given to us” (BCP)
- Eucharist
- “Principal act of Christian worship on the Lord’s day” (BCP)
- Liturgical movement of 20th century led to weekly eucharist
- Anglican theology of the Eucharist: Receptionism
- Baptism
- Normative initiation rite (i.e., you can do anything in the church once you’re baptized)
- Infant baptism
- Five “sacramental rites”: confirmation, ordination, marriage, reconciliation (confession), ministration to the sick/dying
- Apostolic Ministry (“historic episcopate”)
- The Greek word episcopos means overseer (and, later, bishop)
- Each diocese has one diocesan bishop, and perhaps suffragan bishop(s)
- Ordained ministers trace their “lineage” back to St. Peter
- How is the Episcopal Church the same or different from the rest of Christianity?
- Prayer Book
- Example of “prayed theology”
- lex orandi lex credendi: “the law of praying shapes the law of believing”
- Various revisions: 1549, 1552, 1559, 1662, 1789, 1928, 1979
- Scripture
- One-third of the Prayer Book is either a book of the Bible (Psalms) or a guide to reading the Bible (Daily Office)
- The rest of the Prayer Book is largely taken from the Bible
- Focal point of worship is Eucharist
- Other churches focus more on the sermon, or have communion infrequently
- Incarnational
- The body isn’t bad (Jesus Himself was fully human)
- We worship God with more than our minds (thus, we kneel and move)
- God appears to us through all our senses (including smell through incense, and taste through the bread and wine)
- Via media (the middle way)
- Somewhere between Catholicism and the rest of Protestantism
- Ordained ministers
- Are called priests
- Can be women
- Can get married
- What is the relationship between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion?
- Anglican communion is made up of 38 autonomous provinces
- “Communion” refers to communion with the Archbishop
- The Archbishop is the first among equals in the Anglican Communion
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