High Church theology vs Low Church theology?

Discussion in 'Theology and Doctrine' started by ChristusResurrexit, Mar 23, 2015.

  1. ChristusResurrexit

    ChristusResurrexit Member

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    What are some of the major differences between Anglicans who embrace the High Church tradition vs Low Church tradition?
     
  2. anglican74

    anglican74 Well-Known Member Anglican

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    The low churches are liturgically more flexible and emphasize more the Protestant part of our heritage, while the high churches emphasize more the Catholic part of our heritage.

    I hope that helps!
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2015
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  3. brndurham

    brndurham New Member Anglican

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    High Church positions can be summed up in nine points, as in the following by Fr. John Alexander:

    1. A High View of God. Anglo-Catholic worship at its best cultivates a sense of reverence, awe, and mystery in the presence of the Holy One before whom even the angels in heaven veil their faces.

    2. A High View of Creation. At the same time, we delight in the beauty of God’s creation. The Anglo-Catholic view of the world is highly sacramental, seeing signs of God’s presence and goodness everywhere in the things that he has made. In worship, we gather up the best of creation—as reflected in art, craftsmanship, music, song, flowers, incense, etc.—and offer it all back up to God.

    3. A High View of the Incarnation. Our salvation began when Christ took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. God became man in order to transform human existence through participation in his divine life. The Collect for the Second Sunday after Christmas expresses the Anglo-Catholic vision perfectly:
    “O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ…”

    4. A High View of the Atonement. An authentic Anglo-Catholicism looks not only to Christ’s Incarnation but also to his Sacrifice. The image of Jesus on the cross reminds us of the depth and horror of human sin, and of the price that God has paid for our redemption. Anglo-Catholic spirituality entails a lifelong process of turning from sin and towards God. Many Anglo-Catholics find the Sacrament of Penance an indispensable aid in this process.

    5. A High View of the Church. We come to share in the divine life of the risen and ascended Christ by being incorporated through Baptism into his Body, the Church. Thus, we regard the universal Church neither as an institution of merely human origin, nor as a voluntary association of individual believers, but as a wonderful mystery, a divine society, a supernatural organism, whose life flows to its members from its head, Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

    6. A High View of the Communion of Saints. The Church, moreover, consists not only of all Christians now alive on earth (the Church Militant), but also of the Faithful Departed, who continue to grow in the knowledge and love of God (the Church Expectant), and of the Saints in Heaven, who have reached their journey’s end (the Church Triumphant). We have fellowship with all who live in Christ. Anglo-Catholicism thus affirms the legitimacy of praying for the dead, and of asking the Saints in Heaven for their prayers.

    7. A High View of the Sacraments. We believe that Jesus Christ really and truly communicates his life, presence, and grace to us in the Seven Sacraments, thus enabling us to give our lives to God and our neighbour in faith, hope, and love. Holy Baptism establishes our identity once for all as children of God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven (although we can by our own free choice repudiate this inheritance). And in the Holy Eucharist, Christ becomes objectively present in the Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Eucharistic adoration is thus an integral component of Anglo-Catholic spirituality and devotion.

    8. A High View of Holy Orders. Since the days of the Oxford Movement, Anglo-Catholicism has borne witness that the threefold ministry of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons in Apostolic Succession is God-given. The validity of our sacraments, and the fullness of our participation in the life of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, depend upon our faithful stewardship of this divine gift. For this reason, innovations threatening the authenticity of our apostolic orders must be resisted at all costs.

    9. A High View of Anglicanism. We affirm that the Anglican Churches are truly part of Christ’s Holy Catholic Church. The prophetic vocation of Anglo-Catholicism has been to bear witness to the catholicity of Anglicanism. Yet it can be an uncomfortable vocation that requires us to take unpopular stands against developments that threaten this catholicity. Since the days of the Oxford Movement, our standard has been the faith and practice of the ancient, undivided Church. Our vocation as Anglo-Catholics remains one of holding ourselves, and our Anglican institutions, accountable to the higher authority of the universal Church.
     
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  4. Anne

    Anne Active Member Anglican

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    B, excellent points! This bit:

    "and of asking the Saints in Heaven for their prayers."

    ...is the only bit I would object to. I have yet to find any sound reasoning for this practice. Yes, I realize I may have just turned myself into a target -- happy to learn!
     
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  5. brndurham

    brndurham New Member Anglican

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    Anne, I always understood the reason we ask the Saints for their prayers is for the same reason we ask the friends we know on earth to pray for us- because we need all need prayer, and the more prayers on behalf of ourselves and others, the better. Since death only means that those departed in Christ pass into the directly into the presence of God, joining in adoration with the heavenly hosts, shouldn't it make sense to ask those already standing before the presence of His divine majesty to pray for us? After all, prayer is adoration, contrition, petition, and thanksgiving- and if the Church on Earth truly joins in prayer with that in Heaven, then petition should surely be included in that as well?
     
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  6. Anne

    Anne Active Member Anglican

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    Yes, you say it beautifully but all I can see is a leap in the logic -- how can we presume that the departed are somehow omniscient? In life I must speak face to face in order to request prayers on my behalf (and thanks to technology can communicate in other ways), but I do not see how we can stretch the definition of prayer to include those who are with God. I pray for them and they for me, always have, but not to them.
     
  7. Phoenix

    Phoenix Moderator Staff Member Anglican

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    This is a legitimate point. Those of us who are bound in oath and prayer to historic Anglicanism are led to disagree with the invocation of the Saints, when the invocation of our Heavenly Father, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is more sufficient for our needs than any other invocation of the Heavens, and taught as such by our Divines.

    "Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented"
    -Article XXII

    Let us not dispute this point further in this thread however as its subject matter concerns a different topic. I want to remind us however to stay within the bounds of Anglican orthodoxy, especially when answering the questions of those currently outside. We all have bound ourselves in oath precisely for this purpose.
     
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  8. Anne

    Anne Active Member Anglican

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    Phoenix, thanks! You say very well why I'm uncomfortable with the whole idea.

    Back on topic: something not mentioned yet is aesthetic. Music, adornment, even ritual movements, vary widely -- I have found extremes in both directions, although I would say that mainstream Anglicanism tends to be low (sometimes VERY low) and traditional '28 BCP Anglicanism is more middling-high while the continuing churches are quite high. But there are exceptions. It all depends on the parish.
     
  9. brndurham

    brndurham New Member Anglican

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    As far as aesthetics go, I've found mainstream Anglican to be mostly middle-of-the-road. Low Church would be Holy Communion read at the North End in surplice and tippet, no candles, just the BCP, cup and bread. Central Church is the go-to of mainstream Anglicanism- westward position, two candles, albe, stole and chasuble, surplice and stole, or albe and stole, assisting ministers. Traditional High Church '28 BCP and post-Tractarian Anglicanism is generally eastward facing, two candles and a cross, surplice and stole or cope, tippet and surplice, parts of it sung through by the priest and at least an assisting deacon, and possibly use of incense. Full Anglo-Catholic is two candles (or six, if you pay too much attention to Ritual Notes instead of the Parson's Handbook), eastward facing, altar cross in the middle, full altar frontal and possibly riddel curtains, chasuble, amice, stole, albe, and maniple, and dalmatic, albe, stole, and albe and tunicle for the deacon and subdeacon, and a moderate use of incense.

    As for music, it can vary from the insufferable praise band nonsense favoured by modern Evangelical Anglicans, traditional and modern hymns on a pipe organ in most mainstream parishes, and a mix of pipe organ hymns, polyphony and Palmer/Burgess plainchant Propers in Anglo-Catholic ones. As for ritual movements- I've seen most Broad/Central parishes do the basic traditional gestures and a little extra- procession with the gospel to the middle of the nave, bowing at the name of Jesus, bowing at the Creed, stretching out arms for the Preface Dialogue, making the sign of the cross over the Bread and Cup, sometimes even elevating slightly.
     
  10. Lowly Layman

    Lowly Layman Well-Known Member

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    Here is a tongue-in-cheek look at the differences in Anglican churchmanship:
     
  11. coton boy

    coton boy New Member

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    A further point: don't confuse Anglo Catholics with High Church Anglicans. Although most Anglo Catholic church are "high", not all "High" Anglican churches are Anglo Catholic.
     
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  12. Lowly Layman

    Lowly Layman Well-Known Member

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    Very true. but finding a non-AC high churchman is a little like catching a unicorn, at least in my neck of the planet.
     
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  13. Anne

    Anne Active Member Anglican

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    If I understood this correctly....then I think there are more than a handful of such unicorns in the REC!
     
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