As you know, I greatly admire the post written by Al Kimel at Pontificator entitled Is the Anglican Communion Worth Saving? However, I think that we should be fair to the fact that there are many elements of Anglicanism that are worth saving and propogating. Below are five elements that I quickly jotted down.
1. Architecture
If you go to almost any city in America, there is a very likely chance that the Episcopal Church is stunning. There is a long tradition of building solid, beautiful buildings. Even smaller towns contain fantastic Episcopal Churches. It is widely known that Episcopalians take great joy in their places of worship.
2. Choral Tradition (in the Vernacular)
Anglianism has a wonderful choral tradition. Due the its history of vernacular liturgy, the Anglican tradition has had to recreate a choral tradition and it is quite spectacular. A sampling of the Anglican tradition can be seen from the following names:
William Byrd
Orlando Gibbons
George Frideric Handel
Herbert Howells
John Marbeck
William Mathias
Frederick Ouseley
Osbert Parsley
Robert Parsons
Henry Purcell
John Rutter
Martin Shaw
Thomas Tallis
John Tavener
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Healey Willan
3. Lay Appreciation for the Divine Office
Anglicanism has a deep love and reverence for the Divine Office. Many lay people pray Morning and Evening Prayer at home or at their parish on a regular if not daily basis. In some Anglican African regions, entire families begin their days at the parish church with Morning Prayer and meet again for Evening Prayer before returning to their homes. Evensong (Choral Vespers) maintains a a cherished place in the hearts of traditional Anglicans.
4. Educated Clergy and Laity
This is somewhat hit or miss these days. In fact the academic nature of the the clergy may have contributed to its “brilliant heresies” of the latter days. Regardless, it is a noble thing to encourage the continued education of priests and bishops. Anglicanism has a long tradition of highly trained academic men in the priesthood, even at the parochial level. The poetic priest George Herbert explained that the parish priest is to be the physician, educator, counselor, and pastor to his cure.
An educated laity is witnessed by the profound influence Anglicans have had in our country. The Founding Fathers and a great majority of our leaders have come from the Anglican tradition. Also, the witness of the laymen like C.S. Lewis demonstrates that Anglicanism promoted (at least at one time) a culture of study and theological literacy.
5. Liturgial Discernment
From a combination of domestic contraversy surrounding the Book of Common Prayer and from Roman critique abroad, Anglicans have a precise understanding of how liturgy communicates idealogy. The Ritualist movement of the late 19th century reveals the deep Anglican awareness for liturgical form, regardless of ecclesiastical party affiliation (e.g. ‘high’ or ‘low’). Anglicans understand that liturgy always communicates theology. This is one reason why Anglo-Catholics have a hard time accepting the present Roman Catholic Church – their liturgy doesn’t seem to communicate a transcendent God-oriented sacrifice, and thus they have concerns about where Roman theology truly stands.
It is no secret that while traditional Roman Catholics are disgusted by Anglicanism, they typically love it when an Anglican crosses the Tiber, usually for no other reason than that such converts usually have liturgical sense about them.
So there are five things. I’d be interested to hear from others. What other precious resources does traditional Anglicanism possess?
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