Editing Anglicanism (section)

{{Short description|Major branch of Protestantism}}
{{redirect|Episcopalian|the ecclesiastical governance structure|Episcopal polity|other uses|Episcopal (disambiguation)|and|Episcopal Church (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2022}}
{{Anglicanism}}
{{Protestantism}}
{{Christianity|expanded=hide}}

'''Anglicanism''', also known as '''Episcopalianism''' in some countries,<ref>{{Cite web |title=episcopalianism |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095755261 |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en |doi=10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095755261}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Collins English Dictionary {{!}} Always Free Online |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/episcopalianism |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140831204348/http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/episcopalianism |archive-date=31 August 2014 |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=www.collinsdictionary.com |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref> is a [[Western Christianity|Western]] [[Christian tradition]] which developed from the practices, [[liturgy]], and identity of the [[Church of England]] following the [[English Reformation]],<ref name="cofe">{{cite web |url = http://www.cofe.anglican.org/faith/anglican/ |title = What it means to be an Anglican |publisher = [[Church of England]] |access-date = 16 March 2009 |archive-date = 30 August 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110830191043/http://www.churchofengland.org/our-faith/being-an-anglican.aspx |url-status = dead }}</ref> in the context of the [[Protestant Reformation]] in Europe. It is one of the largest branches of [[Christianity]], with around 110 million adherents worldwide {{as of|2001|lc=on}}. Most are members of national or regional [[Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion|ecclesiastical provinces]] of the international [[Anglican Communion]],<ref name="acomm">{{cite web |url = http://www.anglicancommunion.org/ |title = The Anglican Communion official website – homepage |access-date = 16 March 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090319004737/http://www.anglicancommunion.org/ |archive-date = 19 March 2009 |url-status = dead }}</ref> one of the largest Christian bodies in the world,{{sfn|Worsley|2015}} and the world's third-largest Christian communion.<ref name="ChristianTrends1">{{cite book |title=World Christian Trends Ad30-ad2200 (hb) |date=2001 |publisher=William Carey Library |isbn=978-0-87808-608-5 |page=272 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IMRsJ1gnIYkC&q=the+anglican+world+in+figures&pg=PA274 |language=en |quote=Total of all Anglicans on broader definition 109,546,970 |access-date=22 May 2021 |archive-date=21 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221122726/https://books.google.com/books?id=IMRsJ1gnIYkC&q=the+anglican+world+in+figures&pg=PA274#v=snippet&q=the%20anglican%20world%20in%20figures&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.igrejaanglicanareformada.com.br/anglicanismo/ |title=Anglicanismo |website=[[Anglican Church in Brazil|Igreja Anglicana Reformada do Brasil]] |language=pt-BR |access-date=2 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102061211/http://igrejaanglicana.com.br/anglicanismo/ |archive-date=2 January 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Elgot |first=Jessica |date=2015-09-16 |title=What is the Anglican communion and why is it under threat? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/16/what-is-anglican-communion-why-is-it-under-threat |access-date=2025-05-13 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-13 |title=What Is the Church of England, and Who Are the Anglicans? |url=https://www.ncregister.com/cna/what-is-the-church-of-england-and-who-are-the-anglicans |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=NCR |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-12-13 |title=Westminster seminar explores ‘conflict and reconciliation’ in the Anglican Communion |url=https://episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/12/13/westminster-seminar-explores-conflict-and-reconciliation-in-the-anglican-communion/ |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=Episcopal News Service |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=published |first=Grayson Quay |date=2022-08-09 |title=Have Anglicans reached a compromise on same-sex marriage? |url=https://theweek.com/christianity/1015750/have-anglicans-reached-a-compromise-on-same-sex-marriage |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=The Week |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Office |first=Anglican Communion |title=At the UN |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/mission/at-the-un.aspx |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=Anglican Communion Website |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Goodstein |first=Laurie |date=2008-06-20 |title=Rival Conferences for Anglican Church |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/world/20anglicancnd.html |access-date=2025-05-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2015-09-16 |title=Archbishop calls talks over divisions in Anglican communion |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34272303 |access-date=2025-05-13 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> When [[united and uniting churches|united churches]] in the Anglican Communion and the breakaway [[Continuing Anglican movement]] were not counted, there were an estimated 97.4 million Anglicans worldwide in 2020.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zurlo |first=Gina A. |isbn=978-0-310-11361-4 |title=Global Christianity: a guide to the world's largest religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe |date=2022 |publisher=Zondervan |location=Grand Rapids}}</ref>

Adherents of Anglicanism are called ''Anglicans''; they are also called ''Episcopalians''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Episcopalian |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/episcopalian |website=Cambridge Dictionary}}</ref> in some countries. The provinces within the Anglican Communion are in [[full communion]] with the [[See of Canterbury]] and thus with the [[archbishop of Canterbury]], whom the communion refers to as its {{lang|la|[[Primus inter pares#Anglican Communion|primus inter pares]]}} ([[Latin]], 'first among equals'). The archbishop calls the decennial [[Lambeth Conference]], chairs the meeting of [[primate (bishop)|primate]]s, and is the president of the [[Anglican Consultative Council]].<ref>[http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/acis/docs/unity.cfm Anglican Communion official website.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629194420/http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/acis/docs/unity.cfm |date=29 June 2011 }}</ref><ref name="ODCC">The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (editor) Oxford University Press, US; 3rd edition, p.&nbsp;65 (13 March 1997)</ref> Some churches that are not part of the Anglican Communion or recognised by it also call themselves Anglican, including those that are within the [[Continuing Anglican movement]] and [[Anglican realignment]].{{sfn|Percy|2005|p=217}}

Anglicans base their Christian faith on the [[Bible]], traditions of the apostolic church, [[apostolic succession]] ("historic episcopate"), and the writings of the [[Church Fathers]], as well as historically, the ''[[Thirty-nine Articles of Religion]]'' and ''[[The Books of Homilies]]''.<ref name="Samuel2020">{{cite book |last1=Samuel |first1=Chimela Meehoma |title=Treasures of the Anglican Witness: A Collection of Essays |date=28 April 2020 |publisher=Partridge Publishing |isbn=978-1-5437-5784-2 |language=en |quote=In addition to his emphasis on Bible reading and the introduction to the ''Book of Common Prayer'', other media through which Cranmer sought to catechize the English people were the introduction of the First Book of Homilies and the 39 Articles of Religion. Together with the ''Book of Common Prayer'' and the Forty-Two Articles (which were later reduced to thirty-nine), the Book of Homilies stands as one of the essential texts of the Edwardian Reformation, and they all helped to define the shape of Anglicanism then, and in the subsequent centuries. More so, the Articles of Religion, whose primary shape and content were given by Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Ridley in 1553 (and whose final official form was ratified by Convocation, the Queen, and Parliament in 1571), provided a more precise interpretation of Christian doctrine to the English people. According to John H. Rodgers, they "constitute the formal statements of the accepted, common teaching put forth by the Church of England as a result of the Reformation."}}</ref><ref name="cofe" /> Anglicanism forms a branch of [[Western Christianity]], having definitively declared its independence from the [[Holy See]] at the time of the [[Elizabethan Religious Settlement]].{{sfn|Green|1996|pp=58–59}} Many of the Anglican formularies of the mid-16th century correspond closely to those of historical [[Protestantism]]. These reforms were understood by one of those most responsible for them, [[Thomas Cranmer]], the [[archbishop of Canterbury]], and others as navigating a middle way between Catholicism and two of the emerging Protestant traditions, namely [[Lutheranism]] and [[Calvinism]].{{sfn|MacCulloch|1996|p=617}}

In the first half of the 17th century, the Church of England and the associated [[Church of Ireland]] were presented by some Anglican divines as comprising a distinct Christian tradition, with theologies, structures, and forms of worship representing a different kind of middle way, or ''[[via media]]'', originally between Lutheranism and Calvinism,{{sfn|MacCulloch|1996|p=179}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gibbs |first=Lee W. |date=1981 |title=Richard Hooker's Via Media Doctrine of Justification |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1509447 |journal=The Harvard Theological Review |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=211–220 |issn=0017-8160}}</ref> and later between Protestantism and Catholicism – a perspective that came to be highly influential in later theories of Anglican identity and expressed in the description of Anglicanism as "catholic and reformed".<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the Church of England |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/church-england-glance/history-church-england |website=The Church of England |language=en |access-date=23 April 2020 |archive-date=12 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412151713/https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/church-england-glance/history-church-england |url-status=dead }}</ref> The degree of distinction between Protestant and Catholic tendencies within Anglicanism is routinely a matter of debate both within specific Anglican churches and the Anglican Communion. The ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'' is unique to Anglicanism, the collection of services in one prayer book used for centuries. The book is acknowledged as a principal tie that binds the Anglican Communion as a liturgical tradition.<ref name="Samuel2020"/>

After the [[American Revolution]], Anglican congregations in the United States and [[British North America]] (which would later form the basis for the modern country of Canada) were each reconstituted into autonomous churches with their own bishops and self-governing structures; these were known as the American [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] and the [[Anglican Church of Canada|Church of England in the Dominion of Canada]]. Through the expansion of the [[British Empire]] and the activity of [[Christian mission]]s, this model was adopted as the model for many newly formed churches, especially in Africa, [[Australasia]], and the Asia-Pacific. In the 19th century, the term ''Anglicanism'' was coined to describe the common religious tradition of these churches and also that of the [[Scottish Episcopal Church]], which, though originating earlier within the [[Church of Scotland]], had come to be recognised as sharing this common identity.