Anglicanism

**Anglicanism** is a denomination of Protestantism that is made up of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, which is a group of Anglican churches from many other countries. The term "Anglicanism" includes the churches that have accepted the English Reformation as embodied in the Church of England and the offshoot churches in other countries that have followed closely to its doctrines and its organisation.

During the English Reformation, the English Church kept the early Catholic ministry of bishops, priests, deacons, and most of the doctrine and liturgy. The event that led to the Anglican Church was England's outright rejection of the Pope. That meant England also rejected the Catholic Church as an organisation.

Anglicanism is a form of Chritianity that is sometimes seen as being the middle way between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism and so is not always thought of as a form of Protestantism.

The ajective "Anglican" comes from the phrase *ecclesia anglicana*, a Medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that "the English Church". Over time, the Church of England changed even more in what is known as the English Reformation, when it gained a number of characteristics which has finally formed the modern Anglican Communion.

In the British Isles and the early British colonies, that was done to try to defeat both the followers of the Roman Catholicism and all other kinds of Protestants by having the best of their ideas, traditions, and practices in the Anglican Church. Now, the only place in the British Isles in which Anglicanism is still the official religion is England, where the monarch, King Charles III, is the Supreme Governor on Earth of the Church of England. The effective government of the church is by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the legal Church Parliament is known as the General Synod.

#### Spread of Influence 
In the rest of the world, Anglicanism was spread by overseas colonisation, settlement, and missionary work. It functions there as an ordinary denomination of Christianity without special status. Anglicans around the world join together in a group of national churches in countries where there are Anglican Churches to make the Anglican Communion. There are now more than 80 million Anglicans in the world. Most live in Africa and Asia, and only a few are still of British ethnic heritage.

## Issues 
The Anglican Communion struggles today with questions about the role of women and gay people in the Church. As the Anglican Communion deals with those serious issues, some have split into liberal and conservative groups. Already, Anglicans have broken from the main churches to form their own separate groups of believers. Some use the term Anglican, combined with the words Catholic, Christian, Reformed, or Episcopal.

Leaders from the Anglican Communion hold talks with the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches to try to work toward Christian unity. At times, there has been some progress. Also, the Anglican and the Lutheran Churches have agreed to a high level of shared beliefs, leadership, and practices, called intercommunion.

## Related pages
***History**
** Protestantism
** Catholicism
** English Reformation
* **Movements and denominations**
** Methodism
* **Prominent thinkers**
** T. S. Eliot
** C. S. Lewis
** John Wesley

## References 
## Bibliography 
* Hein, David, ed. (1991) *Readings in Anglican Spirituality*. Cincinnati: Forward Movement.
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## Other websites 
* Anglican Communion - The official site of the Anglican Communion.
* What it means to be an Anglican: Official Church of England site
* Anglican Historical Texts
* Anglicans Online - An unofficial site of the Anglican Communion. One of the biggest resources of Anglicanism in the world.
* Anglicanism: ReligionFacts.com  - Articles on Anglican history, ritual, and organisation, plus an image gallery of people and places.