I get a fair number of great questions from our readers via our contact form (which goes straight to my email inbox). I’m going to start sharing some common questions and my answers in these blog posts. I hope they’re helpful. If you have a clear, charitable suggestion for how my answer to a given…
Are Anglican Priests Allowed to Marry? I Sure Hope So!
Can Anglican priests get married? What about deacons? Bishops? As a married Anglican priest myself, I’m happy to report that the answer is “Yes“! As Article 32 of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion puts it: Of the Marriage of Priests Bishops, priests and deacons are not commanded by God’s law, either to vow the estate…
What Do Anglicans Believe? An Overview of Anglican Beliefs
When someone visits an Anglican church, if they are new to our tradition, they often ask, “What do Anglicans believe?” As you can imagine, it is not that easy to summarize the doctrinal beliefs of a global communion with a long history and various schools of thought and practice. Nevertheless, here at Anglican Compass, we…
Where Did Christ Descend To? The Rationale Behind the BCP 2019’s Translation of the Apostles’ Creed
Where did Christ descend to? If you worshiped in an Anglican Church between 1552 (when the Creed was first printed in full in the Prayer Book) and 1979 you would answer “he descended to hell” because in the Apostles’ Creed as you would have learned it, that is what it says: “[He] was crucified, dead,…
Why Do Anglicans Bow to the Cross?
I was a new Anglican, trying to participate by watching everyone else. I heard a voice shout “Please stand” and then “Blessed be God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!” As a cross passed, some people bowed their heads. Parade of Clergy? Everyone stood up as we sang a hymn. I was looking…
Anglican Definition: What Does “Anglican” Mean?
What does “Anglican” mean? This is a great, common, complicated question! First, let’s get this out of the way: It’s “ANGLican,” not “ANGELican.” We don’t worship angels! “Anglican” Means “English” Next, let’s go to Merriam-Webster. On its own, the word “Anglican” simply means “English”—“of or relating to England or the English nation.” When applied to…
Should We Pray Written Prayers? Didn’t Jesus Tell Us Not to Repeat Prayers?
Jesus teaches us how to pray by example and by explicit teaching. Embedded within the Sermon on the Mount written in the Gospel according to Matthew, there is an instruction from Jesus that seems to speak directly against repeating our prayers to God. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For…
