Anglicanism has fallen on hard times, to the extent that many look on it with suspicion and pity as liberal teaching and eroding morality gut many of its churches from within. Even worse, many confessional, Reformed Christians also see Anglicanism as inherently prone to theological instability, supposedly founded on a “middle way” between Rome and Geneva. However, the Anglican tradition was in fact a vital contributor to the Protestant Reformation and is still intimately involved in the Reformation’s ongoing legacy. That truth is what editors Ashley Null and John Yates seek to emphasize in this introductory volume of The Reformation Anglicanism Essential Library series.
Through contributors representing the worldwide sweep of the Anglican Communion, Null and Yates seek to wed Anglicanism with the key distinctives of the Reformation, showing that in its original form as instituted under Thomas Cranmer (the archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII and Edward VI), Anglicanism was a powerful force in spreading confessional, Reformed doctrine. Null and Yates contend that a recovery of Anglicanism’s roots will prove essential in preserving and spreading biblical Christianity in today’s turbulent and forlorn world.
Undoubtedly, the most valuable aspect of this book is its heavy emphasis on how the founding fathers of the sixteenth-century Church of England deliberately shaped their tradition in line with the key teachings of the Protestant Reformation, such as sola scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide, and soli Deo gloria. Excerpts from Anglican formularies (such as the Book of Common Prayer, the Homilies, and the Thirty-Nine Articles) clearly show that the Church of England was committed to preserving the pure gospel. Heartfelt and firmly grounded quotations from key figures (such as Thomas Cranmer, Katherine Parr, and Augustus Toplady) provide vivid examples of Reformed faith and piety. For this reason, this volume will prove especially helpful to confessional Presbyterians and Continental Reformed Christians who desire to understand and encourage their Anglican brethren.
One excellent example of this volume’s emphasis on the reformational heritage of Anglicanism is found in chapter 4, “Sola Gratia,” in which Null takes us through a detailed exposition of Thomas Cranmer’s four “Comfortable Words” in the Book of Common Prayer (111–20). Cranmer’s liturgy allures us into the beautiful assurance of the gospel as we prepare for Communion:
Hear what comfortable words our Savior Christ says to all that truly turn to him. “Come to me all that travail, and are heavy laden, and I shall refresh you.” God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son to the end that all that believe in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. Hear also what Saint Paul says. “This is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be received, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” Hear also what Saint John says. “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins.”
By hearing such words each time we come to partake of the body and blood of Christ, we are enabled to “lift up our hearts” and be filled with thankfulness and comfort.
Even though Reformation Anglicanism is on the whole an excellent and informative book, I do feel it could benefit from a better organized placement of the content in the first two chapters. Chapter 1, a survey of the Anglican missionary tradition, begins well as it describes how Christianity came to the British Isles. However, the chapter bogs down when it moves on to discuss contemporary issues in the Anglican Communion—issues difficult to fully grasp for readers unfamiliar with them. For this reason, I think chapter 2, Ashley Null’s survey of the Reformation in England, is a more effective opener, because it eases the reader into the turbulent and exciting events surrounding the reigns of the Tudor monarchs and the break of the Church of England from Rome. This could then be an appropriate backdrop for discussing the extensive efforts of Anglican missions, which do not receive much prominence in other Reformed circles. A volume that seeks to recover the Reformed origins of Anglicanism benefits from being “user-friendly,” so to speak, because many who read it may be either Anglicans who need to be better exposed to their heritage or outsiders who are curious in learning more about the true essence of Anglicanism. The rest of the book flows smoothly, however, so I would advise the reader to go through the first sections of chapter 1 (15–24), then move ahead to chapter 2, and return to the rest of the first chapter at a later point in the book.
Reformed Anglican pastors and laypeople, along with their fellow Protestant Reformed brothers and sisters, face many challenges in cultivating the rocky spiritual soil across the world. However, they have much to be thankful for as they contemplate their heritage. As Ashley Null and John Yates emphasize at the end of Reformation Anglicanism, the Anglican faith is apostolic, catholic, reformational, mission-focused, episcopal, liturgical, transformative, and relevant. It is an honorable Christian tradition that has great power and potential to revitalize the gospel in many lands. I am thus delighted that this book has been written, and I hope that the future volumes in Crossway’s Reformation Anglicanism Essential Library series will continue to build on this good beginning and further establish the body of Christ in the beauty and comfort of the gospel.
