By Sarah Carter
JUICY ECUMENISM
February 18, 2025
Misrepresented for being born chiefly out of King Henry VIII’s divorce, Anglican reformed teaching was in actuality “a wave breaking on the shores of England that had been building for some time,” according to a prominent reformed clergyman in the Anglican Church in North America.
The Falls Church Anglican (TFCA) Rector Sam Ferguson spoke on doctrinal reforms and expounded upon the history and practice of the English Reformation at History and Hope: Reformed Theology in the Anglican Tradition. The February 4 Reformed Theological Seminary collaboration with TFCA focused on the reformational roots of Anglicanism and its doctrinal convictions.
Anglicanism is the third largest Christian tradition in the world after Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. The worldwide Anglican Communion counts more than 85 million members in more than 40 national churches (known as provinces in Anglican parlance) with diverse expressions of worship informed by the Book of Common Prayer.
English religious figures’ close adherence to Italian church officials decreased at the end of the late medieval period. Social and political momentum brought about change through invention of the printing press, the rise of Renaissance humanism, and eventual disquiet about theological error in the church. This was especially seen in the use of paid indulgences (a practice to reduce time spent in Purgatory after death) to finance construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Reformation figures like John Wycliffe and William Tyndale were condemned and, in the case of Tyndale, martyred for his effort to provide English-speaking people with Bibles in their vernacular, consequently making it illegal to own an English Bible in England from the late 1300s to 1538.
Reaction to clericalism not only sparked reformational change in England, but also in Germany with Martin Luther, and in France with John Calvin, who read the Scriptures in the original form and believed the system of salvation the late Medieval church taught was unbiblical.
The system of salvation in the Medieval church taught that Christians entered the Church through baptism in grace, but that sin after baptism jeopardized salvation. Christ covered the eternal consequences of sin, but acts of penance (such as fasting, saying prayers, charitable giving, or other good works) were necessary to repair the temporal consequences of sin. If a person died without addressing sin’s temporal consequences, a period of temporary suffering (purgatory) purified the soul.
These theological errors in the system of salvation, Ferguson maintained, developed “a spirit of fearfulness and performance instead of a biblical spirit of grace and peace.”
Both clericalism (through no vernacular Bible or liturgy), and reformational tension gave rise to the dispute between King Henry VIII and Pope Clement VII in 1509.
To maintain a political alliance, Henry was persuaded to marry Catherine of Aragon, his older brother’s widow. Although Leviticus 18:16 prevented a man from sleeping with his sister-in-law, Pope Julius II used his papal authority to grant a dispensation to permit the marriage. After Catherine was unable to produce a son, Henry was convinced it was because they violated God’s law by marrying. He pushed for annulment, but the pope rebuffed.
Henry found a young scholar, Thomas Cranmer, and made him Archbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer convened a court in England to issue a final ruling on the “King’s Great Matter” which annulled Henry’s marriage to Catherine. In 1534, the English parliament declared that Henry and his heirs were by “divine right the supreme head on earth of the church” which finalized the Church of England’s independence from Roman authority.
As Reformation scholar Ashley Null explained, “While Henry’s divorce was not the beginning of the English Reformation, it dramatically changed the circumstances for its advancement.”
Henry was neither a fan of Martin Luther nor of Reformation theology but in 1538 he lifted the ban on vernacular Bibles. Two-thirds of the English translation of the “Great Bible”- which was printed and put in every church – came from the work of William Tyndale, whom Henry had executed one year prior.
By Henry’s death in 1547, Cranmer expedited reforms in the Church of England, and by 1603, the reformed faith in England was established.
Even in this modern age, this Reformation Anglicanism is still the state religion. When King Charles III was crowned, he was asked by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby,
“Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant reformed religion established by law?”
Reformation Anglicanism is that Protestant reformed religion still practiced today.
This is part one covering the history of Reformation Anglicanism. Part two on Anglican doctrine and practice, Scripture in Reformation Anglicanism, may be accessed here.
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SCRIPTURE IN REFORMATION ANGLICANISM
Sarah Carter
JUICY ECUMENISM
February 25, 2025
Following the death of King Henry VIII, Edward VI, Henry’s son by his third wife, Jane Seymour, became King. Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer had the opportunity to reshape biblical interpretation and push for theological reform. During these years preceding the reign of Roman Catholic Queen Mary, many writings developed which helped bring about Reformation doctrinal reform. Critical to these writings were the Book of Homilies, the Book of Common Prayer 1549 and 1552 editions, and the Articles of Religion.
The Falls Church Anglican (TFCA) Rector Sam Ferguson spoke on doctrinal reforms and expounded upon the history and practice of the English Reformation at History and Hope: Reformed Theology in the Anglican Tradition. The February 4 Reformed Theological Seminary collaboration with TFCA focused on the reformational roots of Anglicanism and its doctrinal convictions. Part I – History (English Bibles, Refuted Clericalism, and Reformation Anglicanism) may be accessed here.
Word of God
Chief among these reformation doctrines is a focus on the word of God which set apart Christianity in England from other medieval trends. Cranmer established that the Bible is not only God’s word but is sufficient, powerful, satisfying, and authoritative.
Scripture is Sufficient
The first homily in the Book of Homilies by Cranmer was A Fruitful Exhortation on the Reading of Holy Scripture. It declares that Holy Scripture is sufficient for knowing all we need for salvation.
Stated plainly, “There is no truth or doctrine necessary for our justification and everlasting salvation but that is or may be drawn out of that fountain and well of truth, the Bible.”
This focus on the sufficiency of scripture for all things salvific was an attack on a late medieval church belief that Church leaders, filled with the Holy Spirit, could declare new authoritative teachings. Reformational doctrines, emphasizing the word of God and its sufficiency, would reject this Roman Catholic belief. Instead, Scripture became understood as solely sufficient for salvation.
Scripture is Powerful and Satisfying
In the same homily, Cranmer describes the power of Holy Scripture through the images of light, food, and fire. Further, he describes that Scripture is wholly satisfying.
“As a drink is pleasant to them that be dry and meat to them that be hungry so is the reading, hearing, searching, and studying of Holy Scripture to them that be desirous to know God.”
Scripture is Authoritative
Among the most important doctrines developed in the Reformation was in Scriptural authority. The reformers reaffirmed Scripture’s authority over the church, contrary to trends in late medieval Christianity which claimed otherwise.
For the Church of England, this truth was articulated in the 39 Articles of Religion:
20. Of the Authority of the Church.
“The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: and yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree anything against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce anything to be believed for necessity of Salvation.”
Although reason, Scripture, and tradition are often seen as a “three-legged stool” in the Anglican tradition, Ferguson explained that a more proper analogy for the church’s authority would be a garden bed. In this example, Scripture is the garden bed, and reason and tradition are tools to unlock its beauty. Reason and tradition are seen within Anglican Christianity as tools for biblical revelation, but not equal in authority to biblical revelation itself.
Justification by Grace Through Faith
Ferguson explained the reformational doctrine of justification by grace through faith, compared with the late medieval church’s understanding.
While the reformers believed that grace permutated the entire process of salvation, especially justification, Roman Catholics believed that since works of penance must remit the temporal consequences of sin, the process of justification is not wholly grace.
This was stated explicitly at the Council of Trent:
Canon 12
“If anyone saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ’s sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema.”
The Reformers took these words and compared them to biblical passages such as Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV).
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.”
The 5 Solas
Ferguson concluded with a re-focusing upon the “5 Solas” of the Reformation, describing how they all play a role in the grace-filled salvation that the reformers reaffirmed.
It is by Scripture alone that rests full authority and is how God presents Christ to us, which includes everything necessary for salvation. It is grace alone that God works out salvation. By faith alone, we trust the person of Christ for salvation. It is Christ alone who sufficiently cleanses all one’s sins. It is to the glory of God alone that all things are done.
These Solas are: Scripture alone, Grace alone, Faith alone, Christ alone, and Glory to God alone.
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