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The 39 Articles of Religion

In the first and second centuries AD it was not uncommon for rumors to persist about the Christian community. It was said that they offered human sacrifices and drank blood. Perhaps they were vampires or cannibals? After all, their leader said to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It was said that they practiced infanticide, drowning their own children because their founder told them to. These rumors are perhaps excusable if we seek to put ourselves in the shoes of outsiders hearing about the practices of baptism and communion for the very first time. This only serves to illustrate that an outsider’s perspective is not always the most accurate perception of the beliefs or practices of an otherwise unknown group. One of my aims then in this blog is to dispel some of the myths and put straight the record on what we believe as Anglican Christians (or, as I would prefer it for sake of emphasis, Christians who happen to fellowship and worship in an Anglican style).

Toward this end one of the themes of posting I hope to make a regular feature on this blog will be an exploration of the substance of the Christian faith – what it is that Christians believe. Not simply what Anglicans believe that marks them as distinct; but first, where do Anglicans stand with millions of believers worldwide and throughout history, proclaiming the historic faith of the Church.

The guide that I always come back to in shaping a discussion on Anglican beliefs is a 500-year-old document called The 39 Articles of Religion. The 39 Articles were a summary statement of the essentials of the faith which became necessary as the English Church struggled to sift through the unhelpful and unbiblical practices that had crept into the medieval Roman Catholic Church while Anglicans at the same time tried to avoid the pitfalls of the “anything goes” Anabaptist ethos that emerged on the other side of that continuum. So the Articles were an attempt to codify and preserve an essentially “Reformed-catholicity.”

There are 39 different points to these Articles, but they can helpfully be subdivided into 3 sections. First are the essential foundations of the Christian faith. Then there is a second section that follows from it that spells out some of the implications of this faith in the life of the Christian believer. This section addresses how we relate to the God who has revealed Himself in Scripture and in the God-man Jesus Christ. And finally there is a practical application section. It’s the “so what” section. What does all this mean for the way we organize ourselves as a Church and live out this witness of faith in the world. Clearly this document was written by a bunch of preachers because it is essentially a three-point sermon, divided into 39 sub-points!

In future posts I will explore some of the content of the Articles but today I simply wanted to introduce them to you. You can find a good edition of the Articles online to begin further reading. As always, feel free to post any questions or comments as you do so.

Peace.