When someone visits an Anglican Church, if they are new to our tradition, they often ask, “What is an Anglican?”

Answering this question depends a great deal of the person who asks it. Christianity has 2,000 years of history and English Christians have participated in its life since the first century. Which is where we should begin:

Anglican Christians are English Catholics

Being a Christian goes beyond merely believing that Jesus was a historical figure. Christians are those baptized into the Catholic Church, which is the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). Every Christian who receives the Gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection is called by the Apostles to be baptized, receiving forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). As the Apostles followed Christ’s command, they spread His Gospel, His Baptism, and His Church throughout the world, uniting both Jews and Gentiles into His body, the Church.

In the first century, the Roman Empire extended its reach into the British Isles, and the Apostolic missionaries carried the Church to the people who would later be known as the English. Here they continued in the liturgy they received from the Apostle John and organized churches in the same episcopal (bishop-led) structure you would find in the early churches of Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. The Catholic faith was deposited in these English lands by the Apostolic Church.

Tertullian (c. 155–220 AD) mentions the spread of Christianity to Britain: “parts of Britain which were inaccessible to the Romans but have been subdued to Christ.” (Adversus Judaeos, ch. 7)

Eusebius (c. 260–339 AD) writes: “The Apostles passed beyond the ocean to the isles called the Britannic Isles.” (Demonstratio Evangelica, Book 3)

These early bishops would participate in the life of the church by traveling from their Celtic islands to the continent to participate in church councils. As Emperor Constantine begin to call local councils in the Western parts of the Church—British bishops were called to offer their votes among the greater Catholic Church (e.g. Council of Arles, 314)

Anglicans are Historic Christians

This Catholic faith spread from Roman Britannia to the Welsh, Picts, Irish, and Northumbrians by the work of early saints like St. Alban, St. Patrick, St. David, St. Columba, and St. Aidan. Later missionaries such as St. Augustine would continue to strengthen the Celtic Church with an infusion of support from the Roman Church—leading to the establishment of monastic centers of Bible scriptoria. The monasteries of Iona, Lindisfarne, and Jarrow became places where not only was the Bible copied by faithful monks, but also served as missionary outposts for insaturating the Celtic peoples with the Gospel. Today, the Lindisfarne Gospels and Book of Kells remain as testimony of the Anglican tradition as Bible Christians.

The monastic tradition played a crucial role in preserving the Bible by serving as centers of education. Monasteries produced literate clergy, which helped prevent copying errors and regional variations from corrupting the Biblical text. By the 8th century, cities like York and Canterbury were internationally renowned for their biblical scholarship. At Canterbury, Archbishop Theodore expanded the monastic school to include not only the Bible but also subjects like Latin, Greek, history, and astronomy. The English Church gained such a reputation for biblical scholarship that St. Alcuin of York was invited by Charlemagne to help standardize the Latin Vulgate.

Viking raids throughout the 8th and 9th centuries devastated monasteries in Britain and Ireland, threatening the survival of Catholicism as Norse Paganism spread. King Alfred the Great (871–899) successfully repelled the “Great Heathen Army” and prevented its domination over the entire island. In addition to defending his kingdom, Alfred worked to rebuild and establish new monasteries in areas that had been plundered by the Vikings. He also initiated the translation of Latin texts into Old English, including parts of the Bible. Alfred’s Anglo-Saxon Psalms have been preserved to this day, serving as a testament to his efforts to make Scripture accessible to his people.

Anglicans are Western Christians

The Anglo-Saxon tradition of the English Church was dramatically interrupted by the Norman Conquest under William of Normandy, who radically transformed both the Church and English society. Alfred’s tradition of English law and its infusion into everyday culture, was displaced as the newly established Norman aristocracy took control. They redistributed land ownership and introduced a legal system based on Roman Civil Law. The ecclesiastical hierarchy was also restructured, with new bishops loyal to William and aligned with the Latin tradition, marking a shift toward a more Roman form of governance and church leadership in England.

By the 12th century, the Latinization of the English Church laid the groundwork for the conflict that would lead to the English Reformation. During this time, both the King and the Pope introduced post-schism doctrines, such as Papal Supremacy, into the English Church. One key issue that sparked tension across Western Christianity was the question of who had the authority to appoint bishops. This conflict, known as the Investiture Controversy (1122), pitted secular rulers against the Pope over control of ecclesiastical appointments. By the 11th century, bishops held both spiritual and secular power, including land and political influence. The Pope sought to strengthen his influence over the Church through these bishops, advocating for papal supremacy and the independence of clergy from secular rule. This stood in contrast to previous English precedent (William appointed Bishops) and also the Eastern (Byzantine/Orthodox) tradition, where the Emperor played a key role in Church life, including the appointment of bishops and the calling of ecumenical councils.

The conflict between the monarchy and the papacy escalated between the 12th and 15th centuries, culminating in the dramatic break with Rome under Henry VIII. Leading up to this moment, several English kings found themselves in tension with the Church. Archbishop Thomas Becket famously resisted Henry II over the Constitutions of Clarendon, where Henry had tried to return to earlier church-state relations. Before Henry II’s reign, English monarchs had long been involved in Church affairs, but the struggle for control intensified over time. In 1213, when King John following English precedent attempted to appoint the Archbishop of Canterbury. In response, the Pope issued an interdict, effectively excommunicating the entire English Church until it submitted to papal authority. In the 13th through 15th, Papal wars between the Pope and the Holy Roman Empire as well as the failure of the later Crusades (4th to 9th) undermined confidence and deteriorated relationships among European powers. For the English, the Hundred Years’ War with France ignited memories of the Norman conquest. All of this combined with the chaos of anti-Popes and the Western Schism (Pope of Rome v. Pope of Avignon) paved the way toward Reformation in England.

Anglicans are Reformed Christians

The Reformation in England is distinct from the Lutheran, Calvinists, and Anabaptists in that our Reformation was primarily political and historical and then developed theologically with the broader Protestant movement. Men like John Wycliff (1320-1384) and William Tyndale (1494–1536) who appealed to the Bible in the vernacular English represented a continuity with the English traditions of King Alfred and Pre-Norman England. But their Reformation was not just an appeal to the Bible, but to an English understanding of the Church’s relationship with the monarch and Pope.

Alessandro Conti writes, “Wylcliff claimed the supremacy of the king over the priesthood…” and “the Pope should not interfere in worldly matters…” (see De ecclesia – quotes from The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) In The Practice of Prelates, WIlliam Tynale similarly write, “Let the king of England be the judge of his own realm, and let no foreign prince or prelate come between the king and his people.” The reform of the church begins with returning to a pre-schims understanding of the Papacy—a desire the English Reformation shares with our Orthodox Christian Brothers.

The Reformation therefore should be understood in terms of its Monarchs:

Henry VIII (1509-1547)

It’s often erroneously repeated that Henry VIII’s desire for a divorce from the Spanish Catherine led to the creation of the Church of England. However, the situation was more complex. The above history should show the continuity from Christ to the present in our understanding of the English Church. While it is true that Henry VIII’s reign marked the beginning of England’s break with the Roman Pope, this was largely due to the political maneuvering of Cardinal Wolsey—who was Lord Chancellor of England. Henry sought an annulment at the urging of Wolsey who had hoped to arrange a new marriage increase his own political power. Wolsey regretted his failure to secure the papacy for himself after the death of Pope Adrian and, in response, promoted Anne de Boulogne as a pseudo-French alliance to create a rift between England and France on one side, and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, on the other. (It’s important to note that Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s wife, was Charles’s aunt, further complicating the political dynamics.)

While Henry’s personal desires played a role, it was Wolsey’s failure to secure the papacy for himself that pushed England toward separation. The break with Rome, though often associated with Martin Luther’s ideas, was as much the result of Wolsey’s overreach and his zealous attempts to manipulate both politics and the Church for his own ambitions.

His theological beliefs largely unchanged, but he rejected papal authority while maintaining many Catholic practices until later reforms under his successors. The Six Articles of 1539 affirmed transubstantiation, clerical celibacy, private masses, and a catholic view of confession.

Edward VI (1547-1553)

Edward VI, under the influence of Protestant reformers like Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, John Knox, Martin Bucer, and Peter Martyr Vermigli, pursued more drastic reforms during his short reign, shifting the Church of England towards Protestantism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549 and revised in 1552) and the Forty-Two Articles were introduced to solidify this new direction. The influence of the Lutheran Augsburg Confession can be seen in the new set of Articles while Martin Bucer’s critiques helped shape the revisions to the Prayer Book between 1549 and 1552.

Mary I (1553-1558)

Mary was a staunch Roman Catholic and sought to reverse the Reformation in England, restoring papal supremacy and persecuting Protestants in the process, which earned her the nickname “Bloody Mary.”

Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

Elizabeth I returned the English Church toward the Reformation through a delicate balance, affirming the Church of England’s Protestant identity while maintaining historical catholic theology. One example of her leadership is on her famous eucharist quote:

“Twas God the Word that spake it,
He took the bread and brake it,
And what the Word did make it,
That I believe and take it.”

Her reign produced the 1559 Prayerbook which established a moderate Protestantism as the national religion and resisted further papal interference. During her reign the Articles restored #29 which teaches, ““The wicked, and such as be void of a lively faith, although they do carnally and visibly press with their teeth (as Saint Augustine saith) the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ: yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ.” She also removed several of the Edwardian articles creating the “39 Articles” that are commonly known among Anglicans today. The removed articles generally dealt with eschatology or extreme Protestant ideas that were not as relevant to Elizabethan reforms.

James I (1603-1625)

He is likely most famous for the Authorized Version also know as the King James Bible. He appointed forty-seven scholars (Anglican and Puritans form Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster) to revise previous English bibles such as the Tyndale and Bishop’s Bible. This Bible speaks to the theological controversy of the age Presbyterian (Scottish) and Puritan views against the Episcopal and Anglicans (English). King James had succeeded Elizabeth and united the Kingdoms of Scotland and England for the first time. While John Knox was ordained in the Anglican church, he led a more puritan Reformation in Scotland in 1560 that embraced presbyterianism. James appointed Bishops over Scotland’s presbyteries in 1606 and is famous for saying “No bishop, no king.” James also reformed some of the Scottish church’s liturgy by requiring kneeling for communion, confirmation, and celebrating Holy Days. Resentment of English rule could be conflated and was often intertwined with the theological and ecclesiastical differences of the day.

A notable theological voice of this period is Lancelot Andrewes was one of the translators on the Authorized Version committee. He is considered a “High Church Anglican” and one of the greatest preachers among Anglican divines. Andrewes was deeply influenced by the patristic tradition informed his theological perspectives, including his views on the sacraments, the nature of the Church, and the role of bishops.

He is famous for this definition of Christianity:

“One canon reduced to writing by God himself, two testaments, three creeds, four general councils, five centuries, and the series of Fathers in that period – the centuries that is, before Constantine, and two after, determine the boundary of our faith.”

Among his High Church practices were the use of incense, ablutions, candlesticks, and a raised high altar. He also hung a golden egg above the altar, symbolizing the Resurrection in a manner like some Orthodox traditions.

Charles I (1625-1649)

A year into his reign, Charles I dissolved Parliament after it refused to fund his wars against Spain and France. Determined to rule by divine right, he governed without Parliament until financial necessity forced him to seek funds, deepening divisions between Royalists and Parliamentarians.

Charles continued James I’s religious reforms by imposing the Book of Common Prayer on Scotland, sparking the Bishops’ Wars and setting the stage for the English Civil War. His Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, implemented High Church reforms, including ad orientem (east-facing) altars, altar rails, and the use of candles, copes, and surplices, further alienating Puritans and Presbyterians. Laud was firmly opposed to Calvinism, which had significantly influenced the English Church in the 16th century, particularly the Puritan movement and the Scottish Church. During his time at St. John’s College, Oxford, he was shaped by several Arminian influences, including his relationship with John Cosin, who served as Charles I’s chaplain and was also an Arminian. This theological divide created significant tension between Charles and Puritan factions, led by figures like John Owen and Thomas Goodwin. The conflicts between these religious factions played a central role in the tensions leading up to the English Civil War, as both sides fought not only for political power but also for control over the nation’s religious identity.

Charles I’s efforts to enforce religious uniformity and raise revenue—without parliamentary approval—provoked widespread resistance, ultimately leading to civil war, his execution, and the temporary abolition of the monarchy.

The Interregnum (1649–1660)

The Interregnum, following the execution of Charles I, saw England governed as a republic under Oliver Cromwell, who established the Commonwealth and later the Protectorate. The Puritans suppressed Anglican practices and Catholicism, favoring a more austere, Reformed faith, though the Church of England was not formally abolished.

1662 and Beyond

The Preface to the 2019 Book of Common Prayer describes it this way:
“The English Civil War of the seventeenth century drove the Church of England and her liturgy underground. Nevertheless, with the Restoration of the Monarchy, the Book of Common Prayer, authorized by Parliament and Church in 1662, became Anglicanism’s sine qua non.”

The restoration of the monarchy under Charles II marked a return to Anglicanism as the established church. After the Act of Uniformity in 1662, Anglican had a standardized prayerbook and theology in the 39 Articles.

In the 18th century, John Wesley and George Whitefield helped shape the Evangelical Revival, bringing more emphasis on personal piety and salvation, while maintaining the structure and liturgical aspects of the Church of England.

In the 19th Century, the Oxford Movement led by figures like John Henry Newman, John Keble, and Edward Bouverie Pusey, sought to recover the Church of England’s Catholic heritage following in the footsteps of Andrewes.

Today, for Anglicans in North America —particularly those in the ACNA and REC—The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral (1888) and The Jerusalem Declaration (2008) play significant roles in guiding the Anglican Church today by providing clear theological frameworks for its beliefs and practices.

The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, with its emphasis on Scripture, the Creeds, the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, and the historic episcopate, lays the foundational principles for Anglican unity and doctrine.

The Jerusalem Statement (2008) represents a global Anglican response to contemporary issues such as biblical authority, human sexuality, and the nature of the Church, calling for faithfulness to traditional Anglican teachings. Together, these documents shape the direction of the Church by providing a coherent understanding of Anglican theology, practice, and mission in the modern world.

The future of Anglicanism will not be met out by monarchies, but by the Bishops of Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON). The Gafcon movement is a global family of authentic Anglicans standing together to retain and restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion.