What does it mean to be an Anglican? Or even a Christian? The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, written and adopted by the Anglican Church in 1571, have a lot to say on the subject. But today, The Thirty-Nine Articles are regarded as more of a formulary, little more than an interesting historical document Anglicans use for reference. Thus this important confession has been relativized, diminished, and reduced from its original importance, when subscription to it was required for ministers of the Church of England.

On Today’s episode of Canterbury Trails, hosts C. Jay Engel and Jared Lovell discuss this important subject in Jared’s forthcoming article, “Toward a Confessional Anglicanism: The Importance of The Thirty-Nine Articles for Anglican Identity and Unity” (to be published in The North American Anglican).

To correct this downgrading trend that has been going on for 150–200 years, The Thirty-Nine Articles must take a more elevated position in the Anglican Church. Without a clear doctrinal standard, the “via media” of the Anglican Way becomes a mere negation: we’re neither this nor that. But what are we? What does it mean to be a Christian in an Anglican context?

Join Jared and C. Jay for a discussion that involves history, liturgy, doctrine, and even politics. The Thirty-Nine Articles were written in a political environment where a degree of compromise with other Christians—without forsaking the Gospel—and of preserving orthodoxy without excessive specificity—was badly needed.

Requiring subscription to this historic Anglican confession today will help but will not solve every problem. Given the many challenges to the Christian faith in our day—including the full spectrum of Wokeness—might there even be a need to add new Articles to the historic 39? And why is it so controversial in our day to suggest that The Thirty-Nine Articles should be the binding confessional document among Anglicans?

Doctrine is historical, rooted in the story of a people as they came to confess their beliefs in specific ways, and in specific contexts. Once we understand this, the church can be seen for what she is—not a dead church, but a living church, a church of history. The Thirty-Nine Articles, as you will soon discover, are steeped in 2000 years of Christian struggle and triumph.

Image of Anglo-Saxon map by Hel-hama - Own work using:InkscapeSource: England and Wales at the time of the Treaty of Chippenham (AD 878). From the Atlas of European History, Earle W Dowe (d. 1946), G Bell and Sons, London, 1910 (see: File:England-878ad.jpg), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19885072