Thirty-nine Articles

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The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the English Reformation. The Thirty-nine Articles form part of the Book of Common Prayer used by both the Church of England and the Episcopal Church. Several versions are available online.

When Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church and was excommunicated, he formed a new Church of England, which would be headed by the monarch (himself) rather than the pope. At this point, he needed to determine what its doctrines and practices would be in relation to the Roman Catholic Church and the new Protestant movements in continental Europe. A series of defining documents were written and replaced over a period of 30 years as the doctrinal and political situation changed from the excommunication of Henry VIII in 1533, to the excommunication of Elizabeth I in 1570. These positions began with the Ten Articles in 1536, and concluded with the finalisation of the Thirty-nine articles in 1571. The Thirty-nine articles ultimately served to define the doctrine of the Church of England as it related to Calvinist doctrine and Roman Catholic practice.

The articles went through at least five major revisions prior to their finalisation in 1571. The first attempt was the Ten Articles in 1536, which showed some slightly Protestant leanings--the result of an English desire for a political alliance with the German Lutheran princes. The next revision was the Six Articles in 1539 which swung away from all reformed positions, and then the King's Book in 1543, which re-established most of the earlier Roman Catholic doctrines. During the reign of Edward VI, Henry VIII's only son, the Forty-Two Articles were written under the direction of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1552. It was in this document that Calvinist thought reached the zenith of its influence in the English Church. These articles were never put into action, due to Edward VI's death and the reversion of the English Church to Roman Catholicism under Henry VIII's elder daughter, Mary I.

Finally, upon the coronation of Elizabeth I and the re-establishment of the Church of England as separate from the Roman Catholic Church, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion were initiatied by the Convocation of 1563, under the direction of Matthew Parker, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The articles pulled back from some of the more extreme Calvinist thinking and created the peculiar English reformed doctrine.

The Thirty-nine articles were finalised in 1571, and incorporated into the Book of Common Prayer. Although not the end of the struggle between Catholic and Protestant monarchs and citizens, the book helped to standardise the English language, and was to have a lasting effect on religion in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere through its wide use.

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Ten Articles (1536)

The Ten Articles were first published in 1536 by Thomas Cranmer. They were the first guidelines of the Church of England as it became independent of Rome.

In summary, the Ten Articles asserted:

1. The binding authority of the Bible, the three ecumenical creeds and the first four ecumenical councils
2. The necessity of baptism for salvation, even in the case of infants (Art. II. says that "infants ought to be baptised" and that, dying in infancy, they "shall undoubtedly be saved thereby, and else not"; that the opinions of Anabaptists and Pelagians are "detestable heresies, and utterly to be condemned".)
3. The sacrament of penance, with confession and absolution, which are declared "expedient and necessary"
4. The substantial, real, corporal presence of Christ's body and blood under the form of bread and wine in the Eucharist
5. Justification by faith, joined with charity and obedience
6. The use of images in churches
7. The honouring of saints and the Virgin Mary
8. The invocation of saints
9. The observance of various rites and ceremonies as good and laudable, such as clerical vestments, sprinkling of holy water, bearing of candles on Candlemas-day, giving of ashes on Ash Wednesday
10. The doctrine of purgatory, and prayers for the dead in purgatory (made purgatory a non-essential doctrine)

The emerging doctrines of the autonomous Church of England were followed by further explication in The Institution of the Christian Man.

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Bishops' Book (1537)

The Institution of the Christian Man (also called The Bishops' Book), published in 1537, was written by a committee of 46 divines and bishops headed by Thomas Cranmer. The purpose of the work, along with the Ten Articles of the previous year, was to implement the reforms of Henry VIII in separating from the Catholic Church and reforming the Ecclesia Anglicana. It was considered reformatory in basic orientation, though it was not strongly Lutheran. The work functioned as an official formulary of the reformed Anglican faith in England. It was later superseded by other credal and official statements during the successive reigns of Edward VI and Elizabeth I, as the Anglican Church moved toward a more Reformed theological position. It would evolve into the King's Book. "The work was a noble endeavor on the part of the bishops to promote unity, and to instruct the people in Church doctrine."

Authorship

The list of the 46 divines as they appear in the Bishop's Book included all of the bishops, eight archdeacons and 17 other Doctors of Divinity, some of whom were later involved with translating the Bible and compiling the Prayer Book:

Thomas Cranmer - Edward Lee - John Stokesley - Cuthbert Tunstall - Stephen Gardiner - Robert Aldrich - John Voysey - John Longland - John Clerk - Royland Lee - Thomas Goodrich - Nicholas Shaxton - John Bird - Edward Foxe - Hugh Latimer - John Hilsey - Richard Sampson - William Repps - William Barlowe - Robert Partew - Robert Holgate - Richard Wolman - William Knight - John Bell - Edmond Bonner - William Skip - Nicholas Heath - Cuthbert Marshal - Richard Curren - William Cliffe - William Downes - Robert Oking - Ralph Bradford - Richard Smyth - Simon Matthew - John Pryn - William Buckmaster - William May - Nicholas Wotton - Richard Cox - John Edmunds - Thomas Robertson - John Baker - Thomas Barett - John Hase - John Tyson

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Six Articles (1539)

In 1538, three German theologians - Francis Burkhardt, vice-chancellor of Saxony; George von Boyneburg, doctor of law; and Friedrich Myconius, superintendent of the church of Gotha - were sent to London and held conferences with the Anglican bishops and clergy in the archbishop's palace at Lambeth for several months. The Germans presented, as a basis of agreement, a number of Articles based on the Lutheran Confession of Augsburg. Bishops Tunstall, Stokesley and others were not won over by these Protestant arguments and did everything they could to avoid agreement. They were willing to separate from Rome, but their plan was to unite with the Greek Church and not with the evangelical Protestants on the continent. The bishops also refused to eliminate what the Germans called the "Abuses" (e.g. private Masses, celibacy of the clergy, worship of angels) allowed by the Anglican Church. Stokesley considered these customs to be essential because the Greek Church practised them. In opposition, Cranmer favoured a union with German Protestants. The king, unwilling to break with Catholic practices, dissolved the conference.

Henry had felt uneasy about the appearance of the Lutheran doctors and their theology within his kingdom. On 28 April 1539 Parliament met for the first time in three years. On 5 May, the House of Lords created a committee with the customary religious balance to examine and determine doctrine. Eleven days later, the Duke of Norfolk noted that the committee had not agreed on anything and proposed that the Lords examine six doctrinal questions which eventually became the basis of the Six Articles. The articles reaffirmed traditional Roman Catholic doctrine on key issues:

1. transubstantiation,
2. the reasonableness of withholding of the cup from the laity during communion,
3. clerical celibacy,
4. observance of vows of chastity,
5. permission for private masses,
6. the importance of auricular confession.

Penalties under the Act, "the whip with six strings", ranged from imprisonment and fine to death. However, its severity was reduced by an act of 1540, which retained the death penalty only for denial of transubstantiation, and a further act limited its arbitrariness. The Catholic emphasis of the doctrine commended in the articles is not matched by the ecclesiastical reforms Henry undertook in the following years, such as the enforcement of the necessity of the English Bible and the insistence upon the abolition of all shrines, both in 1541.

As the Act of the Six Articles neared passage in Parliament, Cranmer moved his wife and children out of seclusion, probably in Ford Palace in Kent, and out of England. The Act passed Parliament at the end of June; subsequently bishops Latimer and Nicholas Shaxton, outspoken opponents of the measure, resigned their dioceses. After Henry's death the articles were repealed by his son, Edward VI.

King's Book (1543)

The Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for Any Christian Man, also known as the King's Book, was published in 1543, and attributed to Henry VIII. It was a revision of The Institution of the Christian Man, and defended transubstantiation and the Six Articles. It also encouraged preaching and attacked the use of images.

Forty-Two Articles (1553)

The Forty-Two Articles were intended to summarise Anglican doctrine, as it now existed under the reign of Edward VI, who favoured a Protestant faith. Largely the work of Thomas Cranmer, they were to be short formularies that would demonstrate the faith revealed in Scripture and the existing Catholic creeds. Completed in 1552, they were issued by Royal Mandate on 19 June 1553. The articles were claimed to have received the authority of a Convocation, although this is doubtful. With the coronation of Mary I and the reunion of the Church of England with the Catholic Church, the Articles were never enforced. However, after Mary's death, they became the basis of the Thirty-nine Articles. In 1563, Convocation met under Archbishop Parker to revise the articles. Convocation passed only 39 of the 42, and Elizabeth reduced the number to 38 by throwing out Article XXIX to avoid offending her subjects with Catholic leanings. In 1571, the Article XXIX, despite the opposition of Bishop Edmund Gheast, was inserted, to the effect that the wicked do not eat the Body of Christ. This was done following the queen's excommunication by the Pope Pius V in 1570. That act destroyed any hope of reconciliation with Rome and it was no longer necessary to fear that Article XXIX would offend Catholic sensibilities. The Articles, increased to Thirty-nine, were ratified by the Queen, and the bishops and clergy were required to assent.

Thirty-nine Articles (1563)

The Thirty-nine Articles were not intended as a complete statement of the Christian faith, but of the position of the Church of England in relation to the Catholic Church and dissident Protestants. The Articles argue against some Anabaptist positions such as the holding of goods in common and the necessity of believer's baptism. The motivation for their production and enactment was the absence of a general consensus on matters of faith following the separation from Rome. There was a concern that dissenters who wanted the reforms to go much further (for example, to abolish hierarchies of bishops) would increase in influence. Wishing to pursue Elizabeth's agenda of establishing a national church that would maintain the indigenous apostolic faith and incorporate some of the insights of Protestantism, the Articles were intended to incorporate a balance of theology and doctrine. This allowed them to appeal to the broadest domestic opinion, Catholic and otherwise. In this sense, the Articles are a revealing window into the ethos and character of Anglicanism, in particular in the way the document works to navigate a via media ("middle path") between the beliefs and practices of the Lutheran and of the Reformed churches, thus lending the Church of England a mainstream Reformed air. The "via media" was expressed so adroitly in the Articles that some Anglican scholars have labelled their content as an early example of the idea that the doctrine of Anglicanism is one of "Reformed Catholicism".

Content

The Articles highlight the Anglican positions with regard to orthodox Catholic teachings, to Puritanism, and to Anabaptist thought. They are divided, in compliance with the command of Queen Elizabeth, into four sections: Articles 1-8, "The Catholic Faith"; Articles 9-18, "Personal Religion"; Articles 19-31, "Corporate Religion"; and Articles 32-39, "Miscellaneous." The articles were issued both in English and in Latin, and both are of equal authority.

Summary

Articles I-VIII: The Catholic Articles: The first five articles articulate the Catholic credal statements concerning the nature of God, manifest in the Holy Trinity. Articles VI and VII deal with scripture, while Article VIII discusses the essential creeds.

Articles IX--XVIII: The Protestant and Reformed Articles: These articles dwell on the topics of sin, justification, and the eternal disposition of the soul. Of particular focus is the major Reformation topic of justification by faith.

Articles XIX-XXXI: The Anglican Articles: This section focuses on the expression of faith in the public venue - the institutional church, the councils of the church, worship, ministry, and sacramental theology.

Articles XXXII--XXXIX: Miscellaneous: These articles concern clerical celibacy, excommunication, traditions of the Church, and other issues not covered elsewhere. Article XXXVII additionally states among other things that the Bishop of Rome has no jurisdiction in the realm of England.

Interpretation

In 1628 Charles I prefixed a royal declaration to the articles, which demands a literal interpretation of them, threatening discipline for academics or churchmen teaching any personal interpretations or encouraging debate about them. It states: "no man hereafter shall either print or preach, to draw the Article aside any way, but shall submit to it in the plain and Full meaning thereof: and shall not put his own sense or comment to be the meaning of the Article, but shall take it in the literal and grammatical sense."

However, what the Articles truly mean has been a matter of debate in the Church since before they were issued. The evangelical wing of the Church has taken the Articles at face value. In 2003, evangelical Anglican clergyman Chris Pierce wrote:

This view has never been held by the whole church. In 1643, Archbishop of Armagh John Bramhall laid out the core argument against the Articles:

This divergence of opinion became overt during the Oxford Movement of the 19th century. The stipulations of Articles XXV and XXVIII were regularly invoked by evangelicals to oppose the reintroduction of certain beliefs, customs, and acts of piety with respect to the sacraments. In response, John Henry Newman's Tract 90 attempted to show that the Articles could be interpreted in a way less hostile to Roman Catholic doctrine.

History and influence

Adherence to the Articles was made a legal requirement by the English Parliament in 1571. They are printed in the Book of Common Prayer and other Anglican prayer books. The Test Act of 1672 made adherence to the Articles a requirement for holding civil office in England until its repeal in 1828. Students at Oxford University were still expected to sign up to them until the passing of the Oxford University Act 1854.

In the past, in numerous national churches and dioceses, those entering Holy Orders had to make an oath of subscription to the Articles. Clergy of the Church of England are required to affirm their loyalty to the Articles and other historic formularies (the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons). The Church of Ireland has a similar declaration for its clergy, while some other churches of the Anglican Communion make no such requirement.

The influence of the Articles on Anglican thought, doctrine and practice has been profound. Although Article VIII itself states that the three Catholic creeds are a sufficient statement of faith, the Articles have often been perceived as the nearest thing to a supplementary confession of faith possessed by the tradition.

A revised version was adopted in 1801 by the US Episcopal Church. Earlier, John Wesley, founder of the Methodists, adapted the Thirty-nine Articles for use by American Methodists in the 18th century. The resulting Articles of Religion remain official United Methodist doctrine.

In Anglican discourse, the Articles are regularly cited and interpreted to clarify doctrine and practice. Sometimes they are used to prescribe support of Anglican comprehensiveness. An important concrete manifestation of this is the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, which incorporates Articles VI, VIII, XXV, and XXXVI in its broad articulation of fundamental Anglican identity. In other circumstances they delineate the parameters of acceptable belief and practice in proscriptive fashion.

The Articles continue to be invoked today in the Anglican Church. For example, in the ongoing debate over homosexual activity and the concomitant controversies over episcopal authority, Articles VI, XX, XXIII, XXVI, and XXXIV are regularly cited by those of various opinions.

Each of the 44 member churches in the Anglican Communion is, however, free to adopt and authorise its own official documents, and the Articles are not officially normative in all Anglican Churches (neither is the Athanasian Creed). The only doctrinal documents agreed upon in the Anglican Communion are the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed of AD 381, and the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral. Beside these documents, authorised liturgical formularies, such as Prayer Book and Ordinal, are normative. The several provincial editions of Prayer Books (and authorised alternative liturgies) are, however, not identical, although they share a greater or smaller amount of family resemblance. No specific edition of the Prayer Book is therefore binding for the entire Communion.

References

Citations

Sources

• John Guy, Tudor England Oxford 1991.
• J. D. Mackie, The Earlier Tudors, 1485-1558, Oxford Paperbacks, 1994, paperback, 721 pages, ISBN 0-19-285292-2
• Ayris, Paul; Selwyn, David, eds. (1993). Thomas Cranmer: Churchman and Scholar. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: The Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-549-9. 
• Cross, F. L.; Livingstone, E. A., eds. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed.). USA: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-211655-X. .
• D'Aubigné, J. H. Merle (1972). The Reformation in England, Volume 2 Book 3. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust. ISBN 978-0-85151-487-1. .
• MacCulloch, Diarmaid (1996). Thomas Cranmer: A Life. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-06688-0. .
• Ridley, Jasper (1962). "Thomas Cranmer". Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 398369. .

Further reading

• Bicknell, E J. A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. London: Longmans, 1955. Print.
• Denison, Edward (1835). A Review of the State of the Question respecting the Admission of Dissenters to the Universities. London: John Cochran. 
• Douglas, Brian. A Companion to Anglican Eucharistic Theology, Volume 1, Leiden: Brill, 2012, pp. 234-246.
• Kirby, Torrance. The Articles of Religion of the Church of England (1563/71), commonly called the Thirty-Nine Articles. In Andreas Mühling and Peter Opitz, eds. Reformierte Bekenntnisschriften. Band 2/1, 1559-1563, 371-410. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 2009.
• O'Donovan, Oliver. On the 39 Articles: A Conversation with Tudor Christianity. Paternoster, 1986.
• Redworth, Glyn. A Study in the Formulation of Policy: The Genesis and Evolution of the Act of Six Articles. Journal of Ecclesiastical History 37/1 (1986): 42-67.

External links

• The Ten Articles of 1536
• Audio version of the 39 Articles in mp3 format
• Articles of Religion, text of the 1571 version
• Articles of Religion Church of England website
• Articles of Religion of the Episcopal Church on Wikisource
• Anglican Communion resources relating to the Book of Common Prayer, including the articles of religion
  • facsimile of a 1762 printing from the above site
• Original text in Latin and in English
• Revised 1801 version adopted by the US Episcopal Church
• Irish Articles of 1615
• Thomas Pownall Boultbee, A Commentary on the Thirty-nine Articles (1877)
• Edgar Charles Sumner Gibson, The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England (1908)

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