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May. 11th, 2011 12:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tree_and_leaf"High Church" and "Anglo-Catholic" - synonyms or not?
No, or at least, not exactly. Anglo-Catholics are, at least in Anglican terms (the Orthodox are always going to be higher than you) as High Church as it gets, but there are plenty of high church Anglicans who wouldn't call themselves Anglo-Catholics.
Defining Anglo-Catholicism is harder than it used to be, largely due to the issue of the ordination of women, and the willingness of the media to buy the claims of some 'traditionalist' Anglo-Catholics (i.e. the opponents of women's ordination) that Anglo-Catholics, by definition, are opposed to it. This is not in fact the case.
There's been some attempts to use the term 'liberal catholics' for Anglo-Catholics who are in favour of the ordination of women, but I personally dislike the term, partly because 'liberal' in a theological context has a lot of baggage (and might be taken as implying you don't believe in many doctrines that I would wish to affirm), but mostly because it's been used so loosely that it really is synonymous with 'high church', though you're much more likely to hear "Shine Jesus shine" or "Be Still for the Glory of the Lord" at a church that calls itself liberal catholic.
The other problem with definition is that people tend to think that Anglo-Catholic, or indeed high-church, is primarily a statement about worship style. Of course it's true that Anglo-Catholic worship is characterised by a love of bells, smells, tat, and elaborate liturgy, but the most important elements are doctrinal (Keble or Pusey didn't give a damn about chasubles, after all): a strong commitment to episcopacy as vital to being a church (this goes for high church people too), the centrality of the Eucharist, Eucharistic devotions such as Benediction and a belief in transubstantiation or its modern cousin transignification, use and promotion of the sacrament of reconciliation (better known as confession), and so on. There also tends to be a suspicion or outright dislike of penal substitution combined with a strong devotion to the Passion (usually the Christus Victor theory is preferred). Anglo-Catholics can also be distinguished by their love of Mary - it's quite usual for Anglo-Catholic High Masses (always referred to as such) to conclude with the recitation of the Angelus, often centred on a staute or image of Mary - and often by prayers to other saints, which you wouldn't get among the merely high church. Prayer for the dead is also perfectly normal (though high church people will also often do this).
Anglo-Catholics are a bit of a peculiar subculture, even within the church, though they seem to produce a disproportionate number of young, often very bright, vocations to the priesthood, though it's fair to say that other sections of the church are usually better at youth work. On the other hand, it seems to appeal to a lot of students.
No, or at least, not exactly. Anglo-Catholics are, at least in Anglican terms (the Orthodox are always going to be higher than you) as High Church as it gets, but there are plenty of high church Anglicans who wouldn't call themselves Anglo-Catholics.
Defining Anglo-Catholicism is harder than it used to be, largely due to the issue of the ordination of women, and the willingness of the media to buy the claims of some 'traditionalist' Anglo-Catholics (i.e. the opponents of women's ordination) that Anglo-Catholics, by definition, are opposed to it. This is not in fact the case.
There's been some attempts to use the term 'liberal catholics' for Anglo-Catholics who are in favour of the ordination of women, but I personally dislike the term, partly because 'liberal' in a theological context has a lot of baggage (and might be taken as implying you don't believe in many doctrines that I would wish to affirm), but mostly because it's been used so loosely that it really is synonymous with 'high church', though you're much more likely to hear "Shine Jesus shine" or "Be Still for the Glory of the Lord" at a church that calls itself liberal catholic.
The other problem with definition is that people tend to think that Anglo-Catholic, or indeed high-church, is primarily a statement about worship style. Of course it's true that Anglo-Catholic worship is characterised by a love of bells, smells, tat, and elaborate liturgy, but the most important elements are doctrinal (Keble or Pusey didn't give a damn about chasubles, after all): a strong commitment to episcopacy as vital to being a church (this goes for high church people too), the centrality of the Eucharist, Eucharistic devotions such as Benediction and a belief in transubstantiation or its modern cousin transignification, use and promotion of the sacrament of reconciliation (better known as confession), and so on. There also tends to be a suspicion or outright dislike of penal substitution combined with a strong devotion to the Passion (usually the Christus Victor theory is preferred). Anglo-Catholics can also be distinguished by their love of Mary - it's quite usual for Anglo-Catholic High Masses (always referred to as such) to conclude with the recitation of the Angelus, often centred on a staute or image of Mary - and often by prayers to other saints, which you wouldn't get among the merely high church. Prayer for the dead is also perfectly normal (though high church people will also often do this).
Anglo-Catholics are a bit of a peculiar subculture, even within the church, though they seem to produce a disproportionate number of young, often very bright, vocations to the priesthood, though it's fair to say that other sections of the church are usually better at youth work. On the other hand, it seems to appeal to a lot of students.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-11 10:30 pm (UTC)I think the most normative Anglican position is actually "Thou are here, we ask not how." Lancelot Andrewes, Jeremy Taylor etc will be quite definite about Real Presence, but also quite definite that it is a mistake to try to define too precisely the nature of that Real Presence ... very like the Orthodox, in fact, as classic Anglicanism often is.