Homilies, Primers, Catechisms

When we think about the standards for Anglican doctrine (if we ever think about the standards for Anglican doctrine... ), we often turn to the 39 Articles, the Prayer Book and the Ordinal. And that makes sense for a few reasons.

First, at least here in Aus, these are the standards set by the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia (see http://www.anglican.org.au/Web/Website.nsf/content/Constitution), and for anyone ordained into Anglican ministry, this is the stuff you sign off on when you join up.

Secondly, this reflects our historical position. Since 1571 (Articles), 1662 (Prayer Book) and 1550 (Ordinal) these documents have officially captured what we believe, the ways we pray and worship together and how we recognise authority in the church.

Thirdly, is 'lex orandi, lex credendi' - the law of prayer is the law of belief. That is to say, as a denomination, our doctrine is captured in our prayers, not in a confession. So it's right to turn to our Prayer Book for our doctrine.

However, beyond these three, there are actually other - lesser-known but still historically important - Anglican documents that expound our doctrine. For example, tonight I'm presenting a paper on doctrine in the Anglican Homilies, Primers and Catechisms.

Although these are no longer officially sanctioned, they're very interesting because they capture the teaching that all the churchgoing people of England were meant to digest. Unlike the Articles that were primarily for the clergy, the Prayer Books that were primarily to guide corporate worship and the Ordinal that was for the setting aside of clergy, the documents I'm talking about were specifically to instruct the masses in the sum of the faith. Homilies for the pulpit on Sundays, Primers for private study and prayer and Catechisms for teaching children or converts the basics of the faith. It's well worth reading through these sometime because they show that the bread and butter beliefs for the Church of England were nothing especially novel, but largely just mainstream, reformed Christianity.

The Catechisms focus on expounding the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments as the basics of the faith and it's interesting to see that it's these that are often reproduced on big, arched boards facing the pews in the chancels of Anglican Churches. So, next time you want to think about the standards of doctrine in the Anglican Church, just look up the front on a Sunday - they may be written out and hanging right there right in front of you!