Anglicanism

Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a <a href="/facts/Western_Christianity/9YP8vhKs">Western</a> <a href="/facts/Christian_tradition/rre1j3aD">Christian tradition</a> which developed from the practices, <a href="/facts/Liturgy/GlxuzMSY">liturgy</a>, and identity of the <a href="/facts/Church_of_England/A1CoKeGz">Church of England</a> following the <a href="/facts/English_Reformation/BNESA0Ab">English Reformation</a>, in the context of the <a href="/facts/Protestant_Reformation/9ClEbhnL">Protestant Reformation</a> in Europe. It is one of the largest branches of <a href="/facts/Christianity/nKyJHlqq">Christianity</a>, with around 110 million adherents worldwide as of 2001. Most are members of national or regional <a href="/facts/Ecclesiastical_province/64gEGhz4">ecclesiastical provinces</a> of the international <a href="/facts/Anglican_Communion/N8l7GJUE">Anglican Communion</a>, one of the largest Christian bodies in the world, and the world's third-largest Christian communion. When <a href="/facts/United_and_uniting_churches/7t2Ijsk8">united churches</a> in the Anglican Communion and the breakaway <a href="/facts/Continuing_Anglican_movement/CPv3XYdS">Continuing Anglican movement</a> were not counted, there were an estimated 97.4 million Anglicans worldwide in 2020.
Adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans; they are also called Episcopalians in some countries. The provinces within the Anglican Communion are in <a href="/facts/Full_communion/lNXRY9q1">full communion</a> with the <a href="/facts/See_of_Canterbury/x3H2z6bI">See of Canterbury</a> and thus with the <a href="/facts/Archbishop_of_Canterbury/x3H2z6bI">archbishop of Canterbury</a>, whom the communion refers to as its <a href="/facts/Primus_inter_pares/VUEF1tGf">primus inter pares</a> (<a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a>, 'first among equals'). The archbishop calls the decennial <a href="/facts/Lambeth_Conference/UUuA1qxU">Lambeth Conference</a>, chairs the meeting of <a href="/facts/Primate_(bishop)/N60QPnf0">primates</a>, and is the president of the <a href="/facts/Anglican_Consultative_Council/Dlteqkpt">Anglican Consultative Council</a>. Some churches that are not part of the Anglican Communion or recognised by it also call themselves Anglican, including those that are within the <a href="/facts/Continuing_Anglican_movement/CPv3XYdS">Continuing Anglican movement</a> and <a href="/facts/Anglican_realignment/Tqxqy0d2">Anglican realignment</a>.
Anglicans base their Christian faith on the <a href="/facts/Bible/SqkRTKCh">Bible</a>, traditions of the apostolic church, <a href="/facts/Apostolic_succession/nayTFdFC">apostolic succession</a> ("historic episcopate"), and the writings of the <a href="/facts/Church_Fathers/U2aPanJQ">Church Fathers</a>, as well as historically, the <a href="/facts/Thirty-nine_Articles_of_Religion/CSkN7gYN">Thirty-nine Articles of Religion</a> and <a href="/facts/The_Books_of_Homilies/7EvsT1vq">The Books of Homilies</a>. Anglicanism forms a branch of <a href="/facts/Western_Christianity/9YP8vhKs">Western Christianity</a>, having definitively declared its independence from the <a href="/facts/Holy_See/7tK8AceC">Holy See</a> at the time of the <a href="/facts/Elizabethan_Religious_Settlement/rP1WLw8d">Elizabethan Religious Settlement</a>. Many of the Anglican formularies of the mid-16th century correspond closely to those of historical <a href="/facts/Protestantism/NXja4K3g">Protestantism</a>. These reforms were understood by one of those most responsible for them, <a href="/facts/Thomas_Cranmer/80eTlwUF">Thomas Cranmer</a>, the <a href="/facts/Archbishop_of_Canterbury/x3H2z6bI">archbishop of Canterbury</a>, and others as navigating a middle way between Catholicism and two of the emerging Protestant traditions, namely <a href="/facts/Lutheranism/L4pMlRcS">Lutheranism</a> and <a href="/facts/Calvinism/l95AzJtn">Calvinism</a>.
In the first half of the 17th century, the Church of England and the associated <a href="/facts/Church_of_Ireland/6LpcshWL">Church of Ireland</a> were presented by some Anglican divines as comprising a distinct Christian tradition, with theologies, structures, and forms of worship representing a different kind of middle way, or <a href="/facts/Via_media/oqzfRIpr">via media</a>, originally between Lutheranism and Calvinism, and later between Protestantism and Catholicism – a perspective that came to be highly influential in later theories of Anglican identity and expressed in the description of Anglicanism as "catholic and reformed". The degree of distinction between Protestant and Catholic tendencies within Anglicanism is routinely a matter of debate both within specific Anglican churches and the Anglican Communion. The <a href="/facts/Book_of_Common_Prayer/V4zThh2o">Book of Common Prayer</a> is unique to Anglicanism, the collection of services in one prayer book used for centuries. The book is acknowledged as a principal tie that binds the Anglican Communion as a liturgical tradition.
After the <a href="/facts/American_Revolution/zy1F0LxK">American Revolution</a>, Anglican congregations in the United States and <a href="/facts/British_North_America/nqeJLg4A">British North America</a> (which would later form the basis for the modern country of Canada) were each reconstituted into autonomous churches with their own bishops and self-governing structures; these were known as the American <a href="/facts/Episcopal_Church_(United_States)/fmF3F2FM">Episcopal Church</a> and the <a href="/facts/Anglican_Church_of_Canada/BBq5DPHW">Church of England in the Dominion of Canada</a>. Through the expansion of the <a href="/facts/British_Empire/hrsz0j7A">British Empire</a> and the activity of <a href="/facts/Christian_mission/xaxfBxWk">Christian missions</a>, this model was adopted as the model for many newly formed churches, especially in Africa, <a href="/facts/Australasia/KCCr5pqh">Australasia</a>, and the Asia-Pacific. In the 19th century, the term Anglicanism was coined to describe the common religious tradition of these churches and also that of the <a href="/facts/Scottish_Episcopal_Church/bzapplj2">Scottish Episcopal Church</a>, which, though originating earlier within the <a href="/facts/Church_of_Scotland/2bcCCbMP">Church of Scotland</a>, had come to be recognised as sharing this common identity.

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Anglicanism