Review: Re-Formed Catholic Anglicanism

Re-Formed Catholic Anglicanism, edited by Charles F. Camlin, Charles D. Erlandson, Joshua L. Harper. Dallas, TX: Anglican Way Institute, 2024. ISBN: 978-1-964557-00-7, 478 pp., $30
The Conference
In May 2023, two weeks after my wedding, my wife and I had the privilege of attending the yearly Anglican Way Institute conference in Dallas, Texas, titled โRe-Formed Catholic Anglicanism.โ
These conference lectures have recently been compiled and published as a tour-de-force introduction to traditional Anglican theology. Spanning four hundred and seventy-eight pages, this compilation is a wonderful book for any lay Anglican who desires to engage seriously with their tradition across a wide variety of theological categories.
Book Structure: The Foundation
The book organizes the thirty-seven essays into two parts. The first lays the groundwork of what it means to be a โRe-Formed Catholic Anglican,โ examining ecclesiology, hermeneutics, sacramentology, soteriology, and many other essential topics. Each topic emphasizes how the Anglican Church, with a distinct English expression, has carried on the patristic teaching and practice.
This framing helps to bring the reader into dialogue with the historic faith of the saints while showing continuity with current Anglican doctrine and practice. The aim of viewing Anglicanism as โRe-Formed Catholicโ is to counter the โchronological snobberyโ (as C.S. Lewis termed it) that has crept into many modern Christians’ minds about the ancient and medieval church. Traditional notions of truth, beauty, and goodness are looked at as naively mystical at best or oppressively destructive at worst.
Father Hans Boersmaโs lecture, โHierarchical Power,โ is a particularly compelling example of this corrective to modern chronological snobbery. Through the sixth-century monk Dionysius, Father Boersma lays out a Christian understanding of power and authority where โembedded within a hierarchical, participatory metaphysic, it [power] serves to uplift others into God himselfโ (pg. 166).
This lecture is vital in the modern world, where hierarchies are viewed as โfunctionalโ and โsocial contracts rather than being grounded in the nature of thingsโ (pg. 174). By reclaiming this older catholic understanding of hierarchy, the traditional Anglican understanding of ecclesiology, hermeneutics, holy orders, and sacraments becomes imbued with wonderous beauty and meaning.
The first part of the book aids the Anglican in a wide variety of foundational theological questions, exploring the history and practice of the English catholic church. These lectures unveil the meaning of the foundational Anglican faith by showing its rootedness in the holy scriptures, as understood by the Church Fathers.
Book Structure: Luminaries of the Tradition
The second part of Re-Formed Catholic Anglicanism contains twenty-three essays dealing with historically significant theologians in the English churchโs history. These essays appear chronologically and span from the Venerable Bede (672/3-735 AD) to Martin Thornton (1915-1986). By covering a breadth of Anglican history, these essays show the continuity of the Anglican way amidst the varied challenges and developments the church has undergone.
The section dealing with the Anglican Divines is a wonderful primer on these giants in English ecclesial history. These lectures introduce the reader to Richard Hookerโs โbrilliant defense of the Anglican Way against puritan and papistโ (pg. 220), John Jewellโs demonstration that Anglicanism has โa relationship with the church fathers not found in the other traditionsโ (216) of Rome and the reformation, and the โpivotal roleโ of Lancelot Andrewes in โleading the English Church back to her historic roots at a critical juncture in timeโ (139).
Recent Anglican Theologians
Re-Formed Catholic Anglicanism displays not only the bulwarks in Anglicanismโs founding century but also the lights of recent centuries. Father Ben Jefferiesโ โBecause We Would Be Penitents,โ an introduction to E.B. Puseyโs writings on repentance, is both deeply devotional and theologically rich by demonstrating the error in denying the lifelong nature of genuine penitence.
Clinton Collisterโs lecture on the Anglican response to John Henry Newman’s Development of Doctrine was particularly helpful in providing recent Anglican engagement with the question of tradition and ecclesiology. Through Anglican theologians such as A.P. Forbes and J.B. Mozley, Mr. Collister argues for the Anglican fidelity to the undivided church. He contrasts it with nineteenth-century innovations in the Roman Catholic conception of the papacy.
The later essays on theologians who died only a few decades ago, such as E.L. Mascall and Martin Thorton, will be an encouragement to those who seek strong, modern, Anglican authors addressing fundamental questions such as the sacraments, prayer, or ecclesiology. It is nearly impossible to journey through Re-Formed Catholic Anglicanism and not have your reading list grow substantially by the end.
The Bookโs Aim
In a sense, Re-Formed Catholic Anglicanism does precisely what the Anglican Church claims it does. It maintains continuity with history, tradition, and scripture while seeking to grow deeper in the โfaith once delivered to the saints.โ (Jude 3) The book achieves this through a broad retrieval of catholic theological categoriesโemphasizing the Anglican patrimony and continued use of this framework.
The diverse authorship of the book strengthens its argumentโthere can be diversity in the tradition while maintaining a strong center. The strength of this center is shown in the first part of the book on the fundamentals of the Anglian faith, and the diversity is demonstrated throughout Anglican history in the second.
Recommendation
This book is a much-needed compilation of thoughtful engagement with the Anglican traditionโfrom the broadest foundational theological questions to the particulars of its history. By engaging a vast series of topics, this book provides a starting point for many further years of reading and reflection on the Anglican Way. It is well-suited for laymen who seek to strengthen and expand their current intellectual understanding of their tradition and its history. May this book help the Anglican Church remain faithful to the catholic faith today and throughout coming generations.
Disclaimer: Anglican Compass ministry president Peter Johnston contributed to Re-Formed Catholic Worship, though he does not financially benefit from its sales.
Image: St. Paul Statue, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK. Photo by Andrew Avitt from Getty Images, courtesy of Canva.