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History
The Anglican Church of Australia is a member church of the Anglican
Communion, that family of churches over which the Archbishop of Canterbury
presides. It owes its origin to the activities of missionaries of and
settlers from the Church of England and adheres to Anglican teaching and
practice.
The formal establishment of the Church of England as a national church
independent of the Pope, was the work of King Henry VIII in the third
decade of the sixteenth Century. Its origins were political, but under
Queen Elizabeth, Anglicanism as a doctrinal system distinguishable from
that of other communions, both Catholic and Protestant, emerged. Its
liturgical and doctrinal formularies - the Book of Common Prayer and the
Thirty Nine Articles - in their settled form, date from Elizabeth's reign.
Although it took a century of controversy and conflict culminating in the
English Civil War, the final settlement which followed the Restoration of
King Charles II remained true to its Elizabethan Settlement.
While elements of Church life in pre-reformation England anticipate some
later, specifically Anglican, features, Anglicanism as such originates at
the Reformation. At the same time it is a development out of, not a
reaction against, historic English Christianity.
What made the English Reformation different and Anglicanism unusual was
its conservatism. As a result, the post-Reformation Church of England took
over a great heritage of material organisation, of custom, and tradition.
In addition, it maintained its essential continuity in faith and doctrine
with the Church of the early fathers as it developed from its New
Testament roots and found expression in the Creeds of the Church. The
centuries-old structuring of dioceses under bishops and parishes under
parish priests continued to function. An ordered and uniform liturgy was
prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer. The Articles of Religion are
inclusive rather than exclusive with truth being sought in the joint
testimony of Scripture and Tradition intelligently understood.
Attempts to impose an Anglican pattern on the Church of Scotland failed
and in the Church of Ireland succeeded only to a limited extent. By the
Eighteenth Century, religious passions had spent themselves, and while the
challenges of Deism and rationalism were successfully met, the Church made
little impact on intellectuals and the newly-emerging industrial
communities. The Evangelical Revival went far to raise the levels of
personal religion, but it remained for reforming bishops and supporting
politicians and to the Oxford Movement to renew the institutional life of
the Church of England.
ANGLICANISM IN AUSTRALIA
Members of the Church of England in the newly-independent United States
organised themselves as the Protestant Episcopal Church. In the following
years, the expansion of the British Empire saw bishops appointed for
Canada, India and, in 1836, Australia. William Grant Broughton, the first
bishop, worked hard to plant churches in new settlements beyond the early
chaplaincies. The outcome of this was the creation of dioceses of the
Church of England in each Australian colony.
However, this development took place in a setting of denominational
pluralism. While occupying a prominent position in society, the Church of
England in Australia had no formal links with the State. Hence, all the
pioneer bishops had to evolve new forms of church government, typically a
Synod of clergy and parish representatives. As well, lacking the endowment
of its parent, Australian Anglicans had to accept responsibility for the
support of their clergy, the buildings of their churches, and the
development of educational and charitable institutions. This has meant
that while basic parish and diocesan structures have been in place for
over a century, the Anglican Church of Australia has remained a church of
large responsibilities, but limited resources.
The various dioceses of the Australian Church, by and large, continue to
reflect the theological emphasis of their first bishops. Apart from the
largest diocese, Sydney, which remains staunchly Evangelical, Australian
dioceses exhibit varying shades of Anglo-Catholicism relieved by
Pentecostalism and Liberalism.
Their Anglicanism is usually defined by reference to the Lambeth
Quadrilateral - that summary of essentials agreed to by the Anglican
bishops in their world-wide assembly at the Lambeth Conference of 1888.
This comprises four Articles:
"The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as 'containing all
things necessary to salvation', and as being the rule and ultimate
standard of faith.
The Apostles' Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the
sufficient statement of the Christian Faith.
The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself - Baptism and the Supper of
the Lord - ministered with unfailing use of Christ's Words of Institution,
and of the elements ordained by Him.
The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its
administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of
God into the Unity of His Church."
By the Right Revd James Grant