Andrewes’ Principle for Anglicans High and Low
Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), the clergyman and scholar who served successively as Bishop of Chichester, Ely, and Winchester, lived in a time when swords often marked the divide between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. To downplay denominational differences might cause your head to fall under the executioner’s axe. Praise God, we no longer live in such a society. It is now good and right to have neighbors who are Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, and non-denominational.
Our current peace, however, can lead to compromise, especially in the Anglican Church’s modern expression. The ACNA, for example, is a beautiful expression of the unity of Christ’s body: high-church Anglo-Catholics can be a part of the same diocese and work with low-church Reformed Anglicans. While we should prize this unity, it can come at certain expenses. Camps can err to two extremes: they can either pretend that their differences do not matter or become prideful in their own theological camp’s distinctives. A group finds itself in the middle as well, wondering where Christ is in all of this conflict.
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None of these attitudes is helpful as the Church seeks to pursue the fullness of faith and unity in Christ. While we must continue to expect disagreement, we must do so in a way that honors our Lord and encourages the pursuit of truth. We must be cordial and firm, loving and steadfast, long-suffering and truthful. Bishop Andrewes’ principle of what determines the boundaries of Anglican Christianity, which I’ve broken down in two earlier articles (here and here) can help us as we navigate these waters:
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.
Lancelot Andrewes
Andrewes’ Principle for Reformed Anglicans
Anglicans who focus on the Reformation’s impact on their communion have many heroes they can look to. We can clearly see Thomas Cranmer’s impact: the 2019 Prayer Book retains language specifically crafted by the archbishop and combines the best elements of Luther’s liturgy and Calvin’s sacramentology. Beyond that, the Thirty-Nine Articles itself is a wonderfully Reformed doctrinal statement. It is clearly where the framers of the Westminster Confession drew initial inspiration and where Anglican doctrinal boundaries lie.
However, it is very easy for those with Reformed leanings to develop an aura of superiority toward other believers. They may view those outside not as fellow believers who might be in error but as the uneducated masses who have rejected the clear light. The Apostle Paul fought against such division of Christians into classes in each of his letters: We are one new humanity in Christ; there is no longer any division of any kind.
Reformed Anglicans must look to Andrewes’ statement to receive humility. They rightfully treasure their theological tradition, but they must not do so at the expense of their fellow believers in history or the present. Their fellow congregants, whether Anglo-Catholic or merely Christian, are just as much redeemed sinners as they themselves are. Their doctrines do not define the core of the faith; the good bishop makes that clear.
Andrewes’ Principle for Anglo-Catholics
The Anglo-Catholic Anglicans are at the very other end of the spectrum from their Reformed brothers. While some champion the Protestant heroes, these High Churchmen look to the Early Church. They do not place primacy on Calvin and Cranmer but on Augustine and Irenaeus. The church, in its infancy, is where they believe we should go for our teaching in Christology, ecclesiology, sacramentology, and much else. If a doctrine arises that these early believers did not hold to or outright rejected, we should also reject it. The principle holds for unanimous agreement on doctrines, such as baptismal regeneration and the episcopacy. If it was good enough for the Church Fathers, then it should be good enough for us.
Ex-Evangelicals who yearn for something ancient and unchanging often take to this view. However, we misplace that desire in the Church Fathers. These early Christians cannot be a safety net against change as they themselves are varied on many issues, even to the point of stepping outside accepted orthodoxy as Origen and Tertullian did. Thus, there must be an authority above the Church Fathers by which we humbly evaluate them.
That authority, as Andrewes says, must come from the Scriptures, though we read them through the Anglican Formularies. These formularies do not stand over Scripture but serve us by accurately summarizing its contents.
Andrewes’ Principle for Everyday Anglicans
The last group that Bishop Andrewes can aid is the generic Anglicans. These are the weekly churchgoers: they have their white- or blue-collar jobs, they bring their families dragging into church, they wade through the weeks’ trials, all while simply trying to please the Lord as best as they can. They do not desire to get involved in doctrinal disputes and do not want to ask too many questions about what happens on Sunday mornings. They are the weekly, hard-working, and often exhausted Christians who comprise most of the American congregation.
This group has a temptation to coast. They hear the sermon and partake in the Eucharist. They may even attend an Anglican formation class or listen to podcasts on Anglicanism. What they lack, however, are deep roots.
Bishop Andrewes challenges these Anglicans to remember that no Christian lives in a vacuum. The giants who have gone before us hold us up over 1,500 years later. We should dig into these wells and drink from this water, benefitting from Augustine’s Confessions and musing over 1 Clement. These Anglicans can learn to see how the Reformation put “one canon” in “two testaments” above all else while looking to the Early Church for wisdom and guidance. This backward look is what many crave, and it is what can be had today.
A Prayer for Unity
Almost all Anglicans accept Lancelot Andrewes as an authority in our tradition, and he provides a ballast in what can often be a confusing and conflicting time. He shows Reformed Anglicans that their Church is older than Cranmer while simultaneously pulling Anglo-Catholics back from unchecked obedience to accretions and traditions. He still yet calls those average Anglicans to a deeper appreciation for the “faith once for all delivered to the saints” and reminds them that they are not the first saints to receive this faith. We end with the Collect for Unity, and we pray that Andrewes’ wisdom would give us that very unity:
Gracious Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, and in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where it is in anything remiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.
Photo of the high altar of Winchester Cathedral by jacquesvandinteren from Getty Images, courtesy of Canva.
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