Are Anglicans Protestants?

[jmt356]

Defining Protestant as one who believes: (i) the Bible (66 books) is the sole arbiter in matters of faith and behavior (sola scriptura), and (ii) mankind can be justified by faith in the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to the faithful (sola fide).

Anglicans believe that the Scripture, coupled with tradition and reason, are sources for matters of faith and behavior. Therefore, Anglicans are not Protestants under the above definition, correct?

 

[Free]

Defining Protestant as one who believes: (i) the Bible (66 books) is the sole arbiter in matters of faith and behavior (sola scriptura), and (ii) mankind can be justified by faith in the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to the faithful (sola fide).

Anglicans believe that the Scripture, coupled with tradition and reason, are sources for matters of faith and behavior. Therefore, Anglicans are not Protestants under the above definition, correct?

According to that definition, it would appear not. However, I think according to the original protest and what was meant by it, they are more Protestant than most (Lutherans perhaps being another of the true protesters).

 

[farouk]

Defining Protestant as one who believes: (i) the Bible (66 books) is the sole arbiter in matters of faith and behavior (sola scriptura), and (ii) mankind can be justified by faith in the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to the faithful (sola fide).

Anglicans believe that the Scripture, coupled with tradition and reason, are sources for matters of faith and behavior. Therefore, Anglicans are not Protestants under the above definition, correct?

You must remember that Anglicanism had its first home in England, where, after the Reformation, instead of the Roman Catholic Church, it was the Church of England that was the Established Church. In this sense, it was known as Protestant.

Interestingly, the many independent groups which would be strong on the authority of Scripture and justification by faith (a key doctrine of the Reformation) would originally not have been called Protestant at all, at least, in England, because they are not Anglican.

In the US, Episcopalianism is not established by law; separation of church and state is an emphasized principle of the US Constitution.

So it's good to know in which context words, with their history, are being used.

 

[Apologette]

Defining Protestant as one who believes: (i) the Bible (66 books) is the sole arbiter in matters of faith and behavior (sola scriptura), and (ii) mankind can be justified by faith in the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to the faithful (sola fide).

Anglicans believe that the Scripture, coupled with tradition and reason, are sources for matters of faith and behavior. Therefore, Anglicans are not Protestants under the above definition, correct?

Anglicans claim to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. When Henry VIII removed the Pope's jurisdiction over England, the Anglican Church continued to function as before, with the same episcopal authority in p;lace. Later on, under his son Edward, the Church moved in a more Protestant direction. However, Edward died young, and Mary Tudor attempted to move the Church back under papal authority. Mary died, and Elizabeth I kept the Church independent of Rome. Within Anglicanism you have several different strains. One is Anglo-Catholic, or sort of a Romanized version of Anglicanism with Masses, veneration of saints, transubstantiation, etc. Another is the evangelical Anglicans who are Calvinistic in their doctrinal views. The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion in the back of the Book of Common Prayer (the Anglican missal) are Calvinistic. The broad church Anglicans generally have a foot in both camps and tend to be liberal. The liberalness of Anglicans in this country (Episcopalians) came to a head when the Book of Common prayer was modified and the Episcopalians began ordaining women. Today the Episcopal Church represents one of the most flagrantly liberal divisions of Anglicanism. It approves of "gay" marriages, etc. Bishop Schori, the current head of the Episcopal Church, is a woman, and has made such remarks as, "personal salvation is a western heresy." This has led to the fragmentation of Anglicanism in this country into several groups:

1. The Anglican Church in North America - moderately liberal, ordains women.
2. Anglican Catholic groups - groups which maintain their Catholic identity and do not ordain women.
3. Anglican Episcopal Church - representative of the evangelical wing of Anglicanism and preserving the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

Hope this answers your question. All these groups have Apostolic Succession traced back to the Apostles (although Rome doesn't like to recognize it), giving Anglicans just as must "authority" as any other Catholic group.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Defining Protestant as one who believes: (i) the Bible (66 books) is the sole arbiter in matters of faith and behavior (sola scriptura), and (ii) mankind can be justified by faith in the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to the faithful (sola fide).

Anglicans believe that the Scripture, coupled with tradition and reason, are sources for matters of faith and behavior. Therefore, Anglicans are not Protestants under the above definition, correct?

By that definition, no, but that's not necessarily a good definition of Protestant. Usually, a broader definition is called for: A member or follower of any of the Western Christian churches that are separate from the Roman Catholic Church and follow the principles of the Reformation, including the Baptist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran churches. Many of those churches do not adhere strictly to sola scriptura, but they do accept the justification by faith in Jesus Christ.

 

[farouk]

There is a broad and imprecise definition to Protestant also, which would be most Trinitarian churches that are not either Roman Catholic or Orthodox. But this is just a very general definition to the term.

 

[Carolyn]

I once had an Episcopal priest who claimed that the 39 articles were inspired by Luther.
Yòur definition of protestant would exclude most of the liberal churches from Methodist to Churches of Christ to Disciples of Christ. Many of these do not believe in personal salvation through reçeiving the suffering and death of Jesus for their sins, or that the Scriptures are wholly inspired of God and without error in the original manuscripts. I guess I would agree with this. Dispite their history, if they have turned away from the truth it is very had to call them Christian let alone protestant. However there is a remnant of believer that still attend these churches as well as the Roman Catholic Church. And the word çatholic means universal; that is the invisible true churçh of Jesus Christ. It is not specific to a denomination.

 

[farouk]

Carolyn: Yes, I would agree with your implication that a lot of churches that are in general terms known as Protestant, are from an historical and Biblical perspective not holding to 'the real McCoy' tenets of Protestantism. I guess it's a question of how far labels are meaningful.

Blessings.