The Anglican Imagination: Portraits and Sketches of Modern Anglican Theologians

What is it about?

Balance is at the heart of Anglican life and practice. It came with the Benedictine missionaries to England who brought a disciplined and practical life of prayer, labor, and study. They are the ancestors of modern Anglicanism, and the tradition continues to live out of the Benedictine heritage. Centuries later Richard Hooker's Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity points to a balance of Scripture, tradition, and reason as sources of authority in Anglicanism. This allows interpretation of each of the three to be informed and corrected dynamically by the other two, so that no one of the three is understood in isolation from the others. Anglicans tend to be more pragmatic and occasional than systematic or speculative. The Elizabethan Settlement allows flexibility and local adaptation instead of dogmatism, and this approach continues to inform Anglicanism today.

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Why is it important?

Anglican theology can be likened to the English common law tradition in the sense that it favors a case-by-case application of a large body of understanding. It does not attempt an elaborate and systematic code of propositions to resolve questions before the fact.Some of the most significant writings in Anglican theology have been occasional in nature. Anglican theology tends to be balanced and practical, rooted in the stories and imags of experience, and shared with the perspective of reflection on experience. The emphasis on the practical in Anglicanism is also seen in the fact that many of the most significant Anglican theologians and spiritual writers have been working pastors in parishes and not professional academics. Anglican theology upholds the truth that God works through people, and in their daily lives.

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