are protestant and church of england the same
While embracing some themes of the Protestant Reformation, the Church of England also maintains Catholic traditions of the ancient church and teachings of the Church Fathers, unless these are considered contrary to scripture. It accepts the decisions of the first four ecumenical councils concerning the Trinity and the Incarnation. The Church of England also preserves Catholic Order by adhering to episcopal polity, with ordained orders of bishops, priests and deacons. There are differences of opinion within the Church of England over the necessity of episcopacy. Some consider it essential, while others feel it is needed for the proper ordering of the church. In sum these express the 'Via Media' viewpoint that the first five centuries of doctrinal development and church order as approved as acceptable be a kind of yardstick by which to gauge authentic catholicity, as minimum and sufficient; Anglicanism did not emerge as the result of charismatic leaders with particular doctrines. It is light on details compared to Roman Catholic, Reformed and Lutheran teachings. The Bible, the Creeds, Apostolic Order, and the administration of the Sacraments are sufficient to establish Catholicity. Indeed, not one major doctrinal development emerged from the English reformation, Diarmid MacCulloch, The Later Reformation in England, 1990, p. 55. The Reformation in England was initially much concerned about doctrine but the Elizabethan Settlement tried to put a stop to doctrinal contentions. The proponents of further changes, nonetheless, tried to get their way by making changes in Church Order (abolition of bishops), governance (Canon Law) and liturgy ('too Catholic'). They did not succeed because the Monarchy, the Church and resisted and the majority of the population were indifferent. Moreover, ``despite all the assumptions of the Reformation founders of that Church, it had retained a catholic character.'' The Elizabethan Settlement had created a cuckoo in a nest...'' a Protestant theology and program within a largely pre-Reformation Catholic structure whose continuing life would arouse a theological interest in the Catholicism that had created it; and would result in the rejection of predestinarian theology in favor of sacraments, especially the eucharist, ceremonial, and anti-Calvinist doctrine'' (ibid pp. 78--86). The existence of cathedrals ``without substantial alteration'' and ``where the ``old devotional world cast its longest shadow for the future of the ethos that would become Anglicanism,'' p. 79. This is ``One of the great mysteries of the English Reformation,'' ibid that there was no complete break with the past but a muddle that was per force turned into a virtue. The story of the English Reformation is the tale of retreat from the Protestant advance of 1550 which could not proceed further in the face of the opposition of the institution which was rooted in the medieval past, ibid. p. 142 and the adamant opposition of Queen Elizabeth I.
Church of England