What Do Episcopalians Believe?
A Brief Overview
For clarification, the Episcopal Church in the United States is the same as the Anglican Church in England. The Catholic Church was the official Church of England when King Henry VIII desired to divorce his wife. The Catholic Church would not grant him a divorce, so he started his own church, the Anglican (Episcopal) Church. The new church took the opportunity to change several practices and doctrines which had been in the Catholic church which some felt were unscriptural.
In doctrine and belief, the Episcopal Church shares some traits in common with Protestantism. However, the "flavor" of the worship services are strongly Catholic. Priests wear robes, perform the readings of the creeds, and the music and style of worship is strongly liturgical, or, "high church". The Episcopal Church services aim to accomplish three purposes: Worshipping God, teaching on the Bible and relevant social issues, and giving Christians the opportunity to fellowship with each other.
The Episcopal Church believes that all world religions (Jews, Christians, Muslims, etc.) worship the same God in different ways, which distinguishes it from most other Protestant denominations.
They emphasize the ministry of Jesus as one of teaching humanity that God loves them and that He wants us all to live good, moral lives.
They do not believe that the Bible is accurate in all areas. They believe that modern science and reason should be the guide for determining the "how" of human history and that the Bible should be viewed as the "why" of human history.
Baptism is considered a ritual cleansing performed upon entry into the church. Both babies and adults may be baptized by sprinkling. Baptism is required before a person may receive Communion. Baptism and Communion are considered to be sacraments, as in the Catholic Church.
Though Episcopalians believe there is a literal heaven (that is attained by living a moral life) they do not teach a literal hell.
It has been said that the Anglican/Episcopalian Church rests on three pillars; They are faith, reason, and tradition. The Church feels that this diversity gives them an ideal balance of ideas.
Published by Amy Kreger
Amy is a stay at home mom who resides in northern Minnesota. She has been married for 9 years and has 4 young children. View profile
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- Episcopalians do not believe that the Bible is necessarily historically or scientifically accurate.
- Episcopalians evaluate the Bible using reason and critical analysis.
2 Comments
Post a CommentThis could be broken down further to read Bible, tradition, and reason. As Christians we are taught to follow the Bible. Some denominations would say as long as the Bible is translated correctly. Others would ask what was the intent at the time it was written. Did the words have any other meanings in the original language the scriptures were written in? What words were lost in translation? Does the scripture have the same meaning after translation? And finally he main qualification I believe to be a true Episcopalian is reason. We are taught to be followers of the risen Lord Jesus Christ and his teachings here on Earth. We know what he said on a broad range of subjects and we know especially what he said about love, forgiveness, and non judgment. This to me defines reason.
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